Daily Archives: February 12, 2010

The new version of the song, ‘We Are the World’ (“We Are the World: 25 for Haiti”) is set to premiere during the Olympics on February 12.  In case you didn’t know, Michael Jackson co-wrote the song with fellow singer Lionel Richie. Now at the request of  Katherine Jackson, the matriarch of the Jackson clan, the late Michael Jackson will be featured on the song and in the video.

There will be footage from the original ‘We Are the World’ with Michael Jackson in it. However, this time around he will be singing with his sister Janet.

Here’s what Lionel Richie had to say about the song:

“We left the original footage of that part, but now he is singing with his sister,” Richie said.

“It’s something we wanted to see, but his mother requested it too, for Janet to sing with Michael,” said Quincy Jones, who produced the original track and helped orchestrate the re-recording. “It was perfect. It was meant to be.”

Here’s my take:

Understandably so this is for a good cause. I think doing a charity song to raise awareness, or in this case to raise money for relief, is always a great idea. However, with all the talented song writers out there, why couldn’t a new song be written and recorded?  One of the biggest problems in the music industry right now is a lack of creativity. Artists just seem to be complacent with taking other individuals hard work and musically assassinating it with what they feel is art.

The remake features about 80 persons or more and some of the individuals involved seem to be only looking for their next photo opportunity. One of the most unique things about the original ‘We Are the World’, was that there were an array of unique voices from all genres compiled to make one memorable work of art.

I for one, wholeheartedly believe that Jackson was thrown in there as an after-thought. Some of the most prominent figures in music were not included in this new rendition. The remake features artists and celebrities who, in my opinion, would be considered ‘popular’, instead of artists who have made an impact on the industry itself. Am I speaking of all the individuals featured in this remake? of course not, but I won’t name names at this point in time.

Agree to disagree if you like…