The International

THE INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM WE ALL NEED NOW:

WORDS BY | DONOVAN M. SMITH

We’ve all been waiting for the needle to drop, on this so-called “new normal”. And while the world waits with the baited breath of Nate Dogg on the final words of “The Next Episode”, there’s been a covert glue keeping us together in the meantime: music.

All you have to do is look. Or better yet, listen.

If you’ve been one of the millions of people that have tuned into the Verzuz battles since quarantine, you’ve gotten a glimpse into what I mean. Hosts, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have managed to turn Instagram Live into a global stage, one where two legends face off in a friendly battle of hits. From the comfort of our homes, we’ve all gotten a free ticket to the likes of Ludacris vs. Nelly, Erykah Badu vs. Jill Scott, and Babyface vs. Teddy Riley (versus the WiFi), amongst others.

Many of these battles have had laughably frustrating connection issues, which further begs the question: why have we been tuned into these things anyways? All the artists are doing is pressing play on songs, on a two-person split screen through often shaky connections, that barely do these classics justice.

The answer is the same reason Italians were hanging from their windows and balconies joining in song together in the early days of their lockdown-- connection.

In a moment where the undeniability of our collective actions being linked to each other was cemented, music acted as a bridge. As it always has.

The $26 billion a year live music industry was devastated by this pandemic. It’s felt even deeper locally when staples like Good in the Hood and Juneteenth decided to forego their annual summer gatherings this year.

For communities that have been economically plundered and scattered throughout this state, gatherings act as a particular kind of soul food. There’s something innately spiritual about music. Bob Marley said “when music hits you feel no pain.” Researchers have even confirmed there’s a part of our brains dedicated to processing it. miraculously her ability to perform.

In another case, scientists at Berns University aged cheese to the tune of different genres of music to see if it had an affect on its taste. The results? Cheese exposed to music had a milder taste than samples that weren’t. Even more interesting, blind taste-testers seemed to prefer the cheese that had been exposed to hip-hop.

However, strumming underneath has been a different song.

The Imagination of John Lennon, Sam Cooke belief that a change in fact gon come. Bob telling us to get up and standup for our rights are just some of the backdrops to our movements. And that’s just in the history of recorded sound, an era that began in 1877.

From early Americans tilling the wealth of this country lifting their voices to the tune of freedom, to the streets of

Ferguson and Baltimore erupting with

Kendrick Lamar’s proclamation of “we gon’ be alright,” music hasn’t stopped connecting us.

And with calls for a “new normal”, doesn’t it seem like the perfect time for an anthem? I’m not saying we need another “We Are the World” moment, but after the industrialized world took a pause, all while hundreds of thousands of lives were claimed in mere months, a global rallying cry seems like the perfect medicine.

Who knows when we’ll be able to safely enjoy each other’s company again. Safety is relative anyway. White “supremacy” has been one of the most destructive and insidious killers the world has ever known long before the disparities of COVID-19 highlighted, again, the need for a “new normal.”

If this virus has taught us anything, let it be that the same old song cannot continue. Not if we truly value life.

And if an anthem does emerge, let it be Justice. And when it plays, let us listen. And come together, like our lives depend on it every day.

*Mic drop*