DreamWorks Pictures and Geffen Records announced yesterday that Mary J. Blige will lend her talents to the soundtrack for the upcoming film The Help. Blige has written and recorded an original song for the musical backdrop to the highly anticipated film. The Help, which is due in theaters August 12, is based on the New York Times best-selling novel of the same name.

The movie stars Emma Stone and Viola Davis and revolves around three very different women living in Mississippi during the 1960s. Ultimately, the women build a unique friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk.

Blige screened the film and went home to write “The Living Proof” for the soundtrack. “To speak to so many women with this song means a lot to me,” Blige said in a press release. “I wanted to be involved with this film, because I think we need to encourage each other more, we are here to tell a story.”

(Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)