Laura Benanti Offers A Message Of Gratitude In Her Uplifting Rendition Of ‘Sucker’ & At-Home Video

Laura Benanti has been a voice of hope throughout the pandemic for so many. Her cover of ‘Sucker’ & the new music video is just another way she’s bringing positivity during this time.

We’re absolute suckers for Laura Benanti’s incredible personal take on the Jonas Brothers’ hit song, “Sucker.” The Tony Award winner released the song on April 14 and revealed she would be donating 100 percent of the proceeds from the single to FoodCorps, “ensuring children who rely on school for their nutrition will not go hungry.” This idea then prompted Laura to create a music video to go along with the single to show her gratitude to the frontline workers who are dedicating their lives and time to fighting the Coronavirus. “I hope it feels like a bit of a time capsule of what we’re all going through right now and how people are dealing with being at home,” she explained in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife.com. “I wanted something that would also highlight people being of service within their communities, as well as our medical professionals who are putting their lives on the line every single day.”

In the video for “Sucker,” Laura shows personal FaceTime sessions with her in-laws, healthcare professionals in full scrubs dancing to the song, and footage of her young daughter at home. “A lot of those people are my family and friends, but they’re also people that I have met on social media, either through my hashtag #SunshineSongs, or through simply asking, ‘How are you being of service in your community?'” she said. “I had a ton of responses and reached out to them… what I love is being able to use social media for good.” Since the beginning of this unprecedented time, Laura has referred to her social media as an outlet of hope connecting with so many people, especially young students of the arts.

Laura offered her personal expertise to watch and critique student artists’ performances, specifically those whose Spring shows and musicals were cancelled due to the pandemic. “I was thinking about how much my school musical meant to me. It was the one time of year where I like didn’t feel like an outcast, where I felt special and I felt like people in my community saw me and and saw my special talents,” she told HL. “This generation self identifies as anxious, more than any previous generation in our nation’s history and that is a concern to me. So, the combination of being predisposed to anxiety, being in isolation, not knowing when it was going to end and then having the one thing to look forward to all year taken from them… I was concerned.”

Laura’s post calling for student submissions has been viewed over 4.8 million times and she has watched every single video that has been sent. “It really spoke to a tremendous need in our communities and it’s not showing any signs of stopping!” she said. “I’m just honored that the that these young artists trusted me with their talents and I’m just blown away by all of them. I really am.”

Laura is hosting a live #SunshineConcerts series kicking off Saturday May 2^nd at 6 PM ET. The live stream will feature performances and interviews from the #SunshineSongs initiative. They are distributing the livestream to senior communities and Children’s Hospitals, as these groups have been particularly impacted by the strict quarantine guidelines and are unable to visit with friends or family. The live stream can be viewed by everyone here: https://sunshinesongs.com/. Be sure to use the #SunshineSongs if you’d like to submit a video of your own and to learn more about the initiative, please visit www.SunshineSongs.com!