Songwriter Dixson on Collaborating with Beyonce on ‘Be Alive’: ‘I Couldn’t Imagine Anyone Else Doing This’
variety.comJazz Tangcay Artisans EditorBeyonce is a contender for the best original song Oscar this year with “Be Alive,” her end-credits number that provides a musical epilogue at the close of “King Richard.” Alongside her, producer/songwriter Dixson helped craft the soaring ballad, which is on the Oscars’ shortlist of 15 eligible songs.Dixson says he hadn’t seen the film at the time of writing the lyrics. “I had to believe blindly that what she would say and what I would say would work,” says the songwriter.He credits his personal experience in helping him write the lyrics, as well as his familiarity with the story of the Williams sisters and their father, Richard.
The film stars Will Smith as Richard Williams, father and coach of future tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. “My father was very similar to Richard Williams — he had a strategy for his kids,” Dixson says. “I didn’t need to see the film to know the story; I lived it myself.” Dixson, whose real name is Darius Scott, has collaborated with artists such as Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa, and is under the Roc Nation label.
He says the song’s third verse, which he wrote, was inspired by the strong women in his life: “And can’t nobody knock it if they tried / This is hustle personified / Look how we’ve been fighting to stay alive / So when we win, we will have pride / Do you know how much we have cried?
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