Stand up, rise up

Everywhere we go,

Everywhere we go,

People want to know

People want to know

Who we are,

Who we are,

So, we tell them!

So, we tell them!

-Call-and-response excerpt Reign FC Anthem, Stand Up

The lights dim in a packed room. To the right of the glass door sits an empty screen, and in front of that screen are rows of seated fans in blue and gold. Further back stand many more Reign faithful, from young toddlers to senior citizens. Some munch on hors d’oeuvres, others sip on water, still others gather hot food from containers in the corner. There is much chatting throughout the venue. The last vestiges of sunlight dwindle beyond the glass doors to the left and the glass windows to the right.

Ten minutes later, every ear in the crowd is turned to the now-active screen. This time, the prime subject is not a soccer player, but a musician: Brittany Davis, whose calm voice has a slight rasp as it echoes from the speakers. Each time Brittany appears on the screen, a pair of gem-adorned dark glasses covers the eyes.

Davis is a blind Seattleite singer and keyboardist who has starred in multiple acts, notably Painted Shield – headlined by Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam fame – but at the KEXP Gathering Space on Friday, February 28, 2025, Davis and the Seattle Reign were unveiling a new team anthem. Or, I should say, previewing: the audience – consisting of season ticket holders, Reign players and staff, and a few roaming journalists – were strictly instructed to keep the new song under wraps until the team’s official press release.

This wasn’t Davis’ first rendezvous with the Reign – that came in the Megan Rapinoe jersey retirement ceremony on August 25, 2024. Struck by her rendition of Andra Day’s Rise Up, the Seattle Reign tasked Brittany with designing a team anthem to be played as the players take the field before each match.

The anthem itself, titled Stand Up, is like much of Davis’ music in that it mixes soul, funk, and rock. Stand Up leans more to rock at times – the booming notes of the melody would transfer well to the electric guitar – but the mix of horns and drums gives the piece some funk.

In the promotional video, Davis uses an unusual musical analogy: “I see music as little stacks of bubblegum. And each one of the stacks have a height, and each one of them have a different color,” Davis explains. “All of these stacks of bubblegum pieces – in my mind – they’re all supposed to go in a certain order. That’s how I create full, canvassed paintings of sound. I’m trying to paint something.”

Davis said she devised the song in a two-day period. Once she found the melody she was looking for, the rest flowed quickly.

“I couldn’t resist it, as soon as I played it! I just was messing with some virtual horns,” Davis said. “I was like ‘Yes! It’s gonna rock!”

The audience received the song well – the beat only took a couple of courses before the fans were clapping along to it. For those at home, it’s two claps on the first beat, a clap on the third beat, and rests on the second and fourth beats. Simple but powerful: the essence of an anthem.

“Seeing the fans get into it just really lifted my heart,” Davis said. “And I was nervous a little bit, but I was like: ‘I know they’re going to love it once they’re here.’”

I don’t know about the nervous part. I didn’t detect anything but confidence from the sightless songwriter.

The song also features the voices of several Reign players – Angharad James-Turner, Hanna Glas, Ryanne Brown, and Ana-Maria Crnogorčević – as well as instrumentals performed by Reign City Riot and Sound Wave.

The Royal Guard also took some roles in the anthem-creation process. Nicole Lynn Ó Catháin, a member of the Royal Guard since the 2019 season, was on the team tasked with filming and recording Davis’ anthem, along with other Royal Guard members. Like most of the crowd that night, she enjoyed the finished product.

“So much energy – I love it,” Ó Catháin said.

While some members of the Seattle Reign worked with Davis more closely on the song, Friday’s festivities were the first listen for others. Lu Barnes, for example, had only had a brief glance at the song before seeing it on the KEXP Gathering Space screen.

“It gave me chills, it’s pretty cool to hear. To have an anthem is something unique and something so special – and that’s what this club has always been,” Barnes said. “Especially when you play at Lumen, it’s another 12^th man, like we always talk about playing in Seattle. We’re backed by our community, and I love that.”