Mary-Clair Releases “Rise Up” featuring Steven Malcolm

A Contemporary Christian Pop Banger

Mary-Clair | Photo: Heather Durham

Contemporary Christian Music rising star Mary-Clair releases her new single, “Rise Up,” featuring CCM rapper Steven Malcolm, via Nashville’s Vere Music.

Recorded and mixed at Fleauxmotion, Franklin, TN, the song was written by Mary-Clair, Steven Malcolm, and Tedd Tjornhom, and produced by Tedd T.

Talking about the song, Mary-Clair shares, “‘Rise Up’ is a summertime jam to listen to by the pool or dancing with your friends. It glorifies God and gives a listener an anthem to turn up when they need encouragement.”

She adds, “Featuring Steven Malcolm, this song is guaranteed to turn your day around!”

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Timed to Kanakuk Kamp’s annual Memorial Day Weekend blowout, “Rise Up” was this year’s theme song, extending the singer-songwriter’s run after 2025’s “Kanakuk Song,” a Tinashe-assisted entry that already hinted at bigger, better things to come.

While “Rise Up” was still taking shape, Mary-Clair touched down in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a debut set on May 16 at the 2026 Jfest Music, Arts and Lifestyle Festival, a sprawling Christian-music gathering that is the Tennessee Valley’s annual main-stage event.

Mary-Clair’s performance pulled from the songs that have already become streaming standouts and crowd pleasers: “Your Love,” “Homesick,” “Heaven in the Way,” “There’s a God,” “Enough,” and “Never Be the Same.”

In a wide-ranging chat with WDEF-TV’S News 12 This Morning, Mary-Clair didn’t play it cool: “Playing Jfest meant the world to me. It was my first big show as an artist, and I couldn’t wait for such a wonderful day.”

She doubled down on that gratitude, adding, “J103 was the first radio station to play one of my songs, so being there for Jfest was an honor and privilege for me, seeing some great music and putting on my first real show.”

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“Rise Up” kicks in with a bassline that doesn’t just throb, it struts and then breaks into an alt-pop rush custom-made for hands-in-the-air release. Mary-Clair’s voice glows at the center of it all, sweet without going syrupy, sharp enough to cut through the shimmer. There’s a flicker of Katy Perry-style gloss in the delivery, but the real hook is her forward momentum: every line feels like it’s dripping with delicious timbres.

Steven Malcolm’s rap verse drops into the track like a voltage spike, roughing up the polish just enough to make the whole thing feel edgy. It’s the jolt that keeps “Rise Up” brimming with energy.

Together, Mary-Clair and Steven Malcolm turn “Rise Up” into a blast of faith-pop adrenaline: part summer anthem, part praise eruption.

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