Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story Review and Ending, Explained

Lifetime’s ‘Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story’ chronicles the life and exploits of Lisa Velez, more popularly known as Lisa Lisa, a Latina pop star who rose to prominence during the 1980s. The film is told through her eyes and shines a light on her challenges as a woman in a male-dominated music industry. As Lisa fights her way through a myriad of injustices and unfair working conditions, her life takes an even more drastic turn when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite the harrowing adversity in her path, Lisa manages to tackle them head-on with the support of her best friend, Toni Menage. The Tailiah Breon directorial is a close examination of their incredible friendship and how they helped each other through a host of personal and family issues. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story is an Emotional and Heartfelt Biopic Centered on 80s Nostalgia

‘Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story’ is a compelling depiction of resilience, perseverance, and overcoming hardship in life. The film has a vibrant protagonist, Lisa Velez, whose infectious enthusiasm for life and music brings the audience into her colorful world. The distinction is crucial, as the further the narrative progresses, the more complex her life becomes. To that end, the story commendably illustrates the intersection of her personal and professional life. It becomes a huge factor in how Lisa navigates the challenges waiting around the corner. While her decisions may turn out to be good, bad, or indifferent, a great deal of effort is spent on understanding the young artist’s point of view and the passion driving her.

One thing that sticks out when watching the Lifetime movie is its adherence to the 1980s period era. Everything is drenched in the 80s aesthetic, from the giant billboards on the New York streets to the Walkman the protagonist uses to listen to her songs. These elements help flesh out and ground her struggles in the specific context of the period. However, the most critical aspect of the story is undoubtedly Lisa’s relationship with Toni Menage, an essential figure in her life. Their friendship and sisterhood are utterly convincing and provide much of the emotional and heartfelt depth in the film. As such, the movie captures not only Lisa’s musical journey but also her relationships within the family/friend circle. All in all, ‘Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story’ is a balanced portrayal of Lisa’s experiences, with a lot of verve and commitment driving it.

Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story Plot Synopsis

The movie begins with an introduction to Lisa Velez, a fifteen-year-old girl who dreams of breaking into the music industry. Lisa’s family life is fraught with complications as her mother struggles to keep up with the family’s expenses. Her brother, Eladio, the eldest of the children, urges Lisa to abandon her unrealistic ambitions of becoming a music star and focus on helping their mother instead. However, Lisa is determined to show her talent on the big stage. At work, she learns that one of her colleagues is connected with a popular artist named Jellybean, who is playing at a local nightclub. Although hesitant at first, Eladio agrees to accompany Lisa to the club. She arrives at the popular spot hoping to make an impression, only to realize that her work friend lied about knowing Jellybean.

Desperate not to let the trip slip away in vain, Lisa flags down Jellybean in the backroom and demonstrates her sharp singing ability. The audience is impressed by her voice, and by the end of the night, Lisa finds herself being approached by a percussionist named Mike Hughes. He offers her the opportunity to join their band. Despite her brother’s protestations, Lisa meets them and again showcases her talents. Subsequently, she takes on the stage name Lisa Lisa and forms the freestyle music group Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Hughes and his partner, Spanador. The band is managed by Rocco, who is tied up with a big-wig music producer named Barry Conner. He signs Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam to his record label, sparking their career into action.

As the group forge ahead with their album releases and newfound success, they have to solve another issue – recruiting a backup vocalist. They struggle to land the perfect candidate until Toni Menage walks through their doors. Toni is immediately hired, and the band can go out on their tours. As Lisa’s popularity skyrockets, she is called on to do a number of shows across the country. Eventually, she even finds love after meeting a man named Javi, who she impulsively marries against her family’s wishes. At this point, Lisa’s struggles begin to ramp up as she finds it difficult to reconcile the pressures of being an artist with her personal commitments. A more significant blow arrives after the Puerto Rican singer is diagnosed with breast cancer. With so many issues plaguing her life, Lisa finds a strange comfort in the presence of Toni, who becomes like a sister to her.

Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story Ending: Why is Toni Fired?

Although Lisa turns to Toni in her weakest moments, her fellow band members and Barry disapprove of her relationship with the backup vocalist. From the beginning, Barry and Rocco show themselves to be hiding ulterior motives when they sign Lisa into their roster of talent. The contracts they draft up for the band members allow Barry full control over their creative and commercial objectives. However, it is only later that Lisa finds out the truth about the contract terms. By this point, it is far too late to change things. Still, the Latina artist begins to rebel against the draconian control Barry has over her life, particularly with the help of Toni. The backup singer is the first person to warn the band members about the cutthroat nature of the music business and how they may get chewed up by the industry if they are not careful.

In the movie’s latter half, Toni becomes an even more influential figure in Lisa’s life as the singer constantly turns to her for advice about what to do next. Meanwhile, Toni does her best to look out for Lisa and make sure Barry and Rocco’s antics do not damage her. Her constant support for Lisa starts to annoy Barry and the other band members. They fail to understand why the lead vocalist would pay so much credence to what Toni had to say, especially as she was merely a backup singer and not a part of the main crew. These antagonistic feelings keep rising throughout the story and eventually come to a head near the final parts. Lisa walks into the recording booth and realizes that Barry, Rocco, and Mike have fired Toni. Subsequently, she goes searching for her best friend, hoping nothing bad happens to her.

Does Toni Survive? Does She Reconcile With Lisa?

Lisa and Toni have a small fallout before the latter’s firing. In an earlier scene, the Latina singer lashes out at Toni for constantly hovering over her like a protective mother. While she realizes that Toni is simply doing this out of loyalty towards her, she also feels hamstrung by her responsibilities and duties as a pop star. Thus, she angrily tells off Toni for interfering in her life and reminds her to mind her business. However, when Toni is fired, Lisa finally lets go of her responsibility and decides to embrace her friendship with the backup vocalist. She has a furious altercation with Barry, reprimanding him for using Toni’s lesbian identity against her. However, deep down, Lisa knows that Toni has been let go because everyone is threatened by their friendship and what it could mean for the band moving forward.

Lisa goes searching for Toni immediately after her firing. She meets up with Jellybean, who informs the protagonist that she should hurry with her mission as Toni might be in danger. It is also the first time Lisa learns about Toni’s drug problem and her personal difficulties with her family. Meanwhile, at her residence, Toni overdoses on drugs while her father remains indifferent to her plight. His friend pleads with him to help Toni, who lies on the couch unconscious. Lisa arrives soon after, making her way to Toni as quickly as possible. She tells Toni’s dad that his daughter needs to be taken to a hospital. However, he disagrees and bars the artist from leaving. The protagonist uses a bluff to convince him to let Toni go, which works in her favor. They both head off to the nearest medical center.

At the hospital, Toni regains consciousness and wakes up to find Lisa in her room. The duo finally start talking about their issues, with Toni revealing everything about her difficult childhood, family life, and struggles while growing up. Their candid discussion eventually prompts Lisa to do the same. The Latina lays out the truth regarding her breast cancer, explaining how she hid it from everyone for fear that it might mean the end of her career. Toni is upset to learn the truth but supports Lisa nonetheless. After several misunderstandings, the pair finally connect properly and realize what they mean to one another.

What Happens to Lisa? What Does Eladio Tell Her?

In the film’s final scene, Lisa prepares for a major stage performance. Her mom and brother, Eladio, show up to the event and greet her in the dressing room. They share a tender moment together. When their mother leaves, Eladio turns to Lisa and tells her that he never doubted her capacity for greatness or her ability. He explains that he always picked a fight with her because he did not wish for her to go through the same hardships and struggles he did. As the eldest in the family, he felt a particular responsibility to keep his younger sister away from life’s tough challenges and to look after the family on her own. Instead, he wanted to shoulder those burdens himself and was frustrated that he never could. He tells Lisa that he is incredibly proud of her and her achievements.

The last scene shows Lisa taking to the stage and performing in front of a live audience. Toni joins her performance, and the two share a moment of triumph. Meanwhile, an agitated Barry watches the two singers own the stage from a spot among the audience. He likely regrets letting Lisa slip through his fingers. A scrawl plays at the end of the film, stating that Lisa managed to recover from her breast cancer. Another frame also reveals that Lisa and Tony are best friends and collaborators in real life to this day. Thus, after walking through the crucible of fire together, the two best friends came out of their ordeal stronger and more resilient. Consequently, they have maintained close connections with one another and remain a vital influence in each other’s lives.