David Hernandez & Jacqueline Lord Unite for Rendition of “True Colors”

American Idol’s David Hernandez and Magnum PI’s Jacqueline Lord united this Pride season for a cover and music video of Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” Recorded and filmed during the COVID-19 shutdown, the song is meant to be a reminder that is it more important than ever to remain true to yourself. Coincidentally, “True Colors” was released in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests. The duo never guessed that the world would resonate so deeply with its meaning.

Introduced by a mutual friend, Hernandez and Lord have been looking for the right time to come together on a project. According to Lord, they chose to work on an arrangement of Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick’s version of the song because it has a beautiful expression of comradery with one friend encouraging the other to find the courage and confidence to express their truth to the world. That it delivers a positive message in this unprecedented time of negativity.

OUT FRONT had the opportunity to catch up and talk more with Lord about collaborating with Hernandez for “True Colors,” and how significant it became.

Hi, Jacqueline! Thank you so much for chatting with me. How are you holding up during these troubling times?
Oh my gosh [laughs]. I’m in L.A., West Hollywood, so I am right in the middle of troubling times. It’s been crazy. I mean, with COVID and just when things were starting to get back to normal and opening up, then the protests and riots happened. As an artist, I have to say, I was sort of living my best life because you have so many feelings about everything. I started to become very prolific in my writing. I was writing so much to get out all these feelings about being locked in and fear. Then the protests and Black Lives Matter, that whole thing started, and it was like a whole other wave of feelings. I live in West Hollywood, there were marches going down literally across the street from where I live. I was watching looting from my balcony. It was nuts. So, it’s been intense and a little scary, but I have to say, as an artist, I feel like these are the times that really make things fruitful for art, and I think that is when people need art the most.

I have been writing and singing a lot. I am an actress a well, so all of that sort of just came to a grinding halt when everything shut down, so I haven’t been running around to auditions. It has just been me and music. When David and I decided to do “True Colors” for Pride, we had no idea that there were going to be all these other things going on at the same time.

I must say, your cover of “True Colors” with David is absolutely beautiful.
Oh, thank you so much!

Why did you two decide to duet this song?
Well, we got introduced by a mutual friend. I had heard him sing before, and my friend has showed me his videos online and Instagram, and I was like, my God, I would love to work with this guy. I could listen to him sing all day long. It’s incredible and inspiring. We got together, and we were going through songs that we were wondering what would sound good as a duet, and we were just kind of playing around and he’s the one that brought it up. He was the one that said “True Colors” would be great. We weren’t evening thinking of Pride at that point. We were literally just thinking, we want to collaborate.

This is your first time collaborating together?
Yes, it was our first time collaborating. He was like “True Colors” because it’s about finding the beauty in yourself and other people, and then he was like oh my god, we have to do this for Pride. It would be so perfect. It’s right around the corner. So, that is pretty much how it came up. It pretty quick process because I had so much time on my hands, he had so much time on his hands, neither of us could go anywhere. I recorded everything in my studio.

The music video was also shot in your space, right?
Yes, that was also in my office, and we did that at like separate times. We never filmed in the same room together.

You social distanced from each other?
Yes, we were social distancing. Technology is just so great. It was so funny because I recorded the piano parts and got the arrangement together, and I sent it off to my friend who’s an engineer. David sent me his vocal parts, I did my vocal parts, we did everything separately. It is amazing how you are able to do everything separately these days. You don’t even need to be in the same room. It’s nuts, we did the whole thing like never being together.

This song is perfect for LGBTQ Pride, so I want to ask, what does Pride personally mean to you?
To me, it’s about celebrating your authenticity as a person. I think it’s hard for people to not be able to be themselves for so long, and being able to celebrate now and have people behind you. It’s powerful. I have a lot of LGBTQ friends, I always have. I have been in the entertainment and modeling industry for like 15 years, more, and a lot of creative people are gay. People that I have worked with. I’ve never understood what the problem was. I didn’t grow up like that. Growing up, it wasn’t a taboo thing for my family. So, when I got introduced to the gay community when I moved to L.A., I became naturally attracted to it. I support my friends and people that have not been able to be true to themselves. I think it is so wonderful that people get to be their authentic selves.

Do you believe “True Colors” is also significant to current state of the world with Black Lives Matter?
Yes. It’s an interesting combination what’s happened with Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community because now you’re running into a situation where there’s a whole other level of acceptance happening. I think it is beautiful that they are joining forces because the bigger, the better. The more people that join forces into acceptance, it’s going to make the movement so much more powerful. Both movements. This past weekend, Black Lives Matter joined with Pride. They did this huge protest. By doing so, it only advanced the causes of both groups. I think it is really powerful, and I hope more groups want to join in on the cause.Are you and David big Cyndi Lauper fans?
I don’t know about David; he is quite a bit younger than me. I definitely grew up with her more than he did. She was definitely in my periphery when I was growing up. The first Cyndi Lauper song I loved was “Good Enough” from The Goonies. It was my everything! Huge Goonies fan. So, I have always been a fan. I think she is truly unique. She actually didn’t write “True Colors,” and I was surprised to learn that.

Really? I didn’t know that either.
Nope, she didn’t write the song. The first thing I did when I looked into recording “True Colors” was licensing and stuff. We have to figure out anything in that way if we want to release it on iTunes or anything like that. But yeah, she didn’t write the song, so she doesn’t really own any rights to it.

Do you know if she has seen the video yet?
I don’t know. She’s been tagged on her YouTube and Instagram, but I don’t know if she’s seen it. I want her to see it! That would be so cool!

How has “True Colors” been received so far by viewers?
We have had a phenomenal reception. People have been telling me that it really moves them. Like they want to cry when they watch it. I’m like, really? I definitely don’t want to make you sad!

It’s just so touching!
I guess that’s the perfect word to use. I mean, it’s about acceptance. Like, I accept you. For you. Everyone wants to be accepted, everyone wants to be loved unconditionally. Bottom line, that’s what everyone wants.

Is that what you hope people take away from this song?
I would love people to take that away. I would love people to be inspired by that. That you can be loved unconditionally. Find someone who loves you unconditionally. If they don’t, get out of that room. Get out of that space. Wherever you are, find that person that sees your true colors and loves them. Even if they are ugly [laughs]. We’re not all like rainbows every day!

What’s next for you? Any other upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?
You know, what’s been so great about this project is that David and I are so inspired to do so many more things right now. We are actually working on a live set. We just started rehearsing with the band and brainstorming ideas for songs. We are getting a set list together and we can’t wait for venues to open up so we can start playing live.

Make sure to follow Hernandez and Lord on social media to stay up to date with new projects and releases.