Earlier this week, President Trump visited the tiny U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, surveying the damage caused by Hurricane Maria.
The massive storm killed 34 people, leaving more than 90% of the island without power as many residents struggled to find clean drinking water. In the aftermath of the disaster, 20 of Latin music's biggest names came up with a heartwarming way to support the island.
Last week, Lin Manuel-Miranda, the star and composer of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, starting teasing a new charity single as he urged his fans to donate to relief funds for the island.
He calls the new song "a love letter to Puerto Rico," and reveals he taped an early demo for the song in a bathroom at 3 a.m. while on vacation in Austria.
He also recruited an all-star group of actors and musicians connected to Puerto Rico, including Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Luis Fonsi (the "Despacito" singer), Gloria Estefan and actor John Leguizamo.
After teasing snippets of the song on Twitter all week, the full version has finally been released...
The song is called "Almost Like Praying," in reference to the song "Maria" from West Side Story.
While the song starts with lyrics from the classic song, Miranda has rewritten the lyrics to include all 78 of the towns and cities of Puerto Rico. To get recordings from all 22 singers, Miranda had to travel across the country. At one point he recorded in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami within 72 hours.
He even managed to include a verse recorded on Puerto Rico, when there was no way it to be sent back to America because of power outages. To pull that off, singer Gloria Estefan had to collect the verse on a USB stick during a humanitarian mission to the island.
"Almost Like Praying" is for sale on iTunes and other music providers today, with all proceeds from the song going to The Hispanic Federation's disaster relief fund.
Share this song so everyone will help contribute to the relief effort!