tech2 News StaffApr 19, 2019 18:49:36 IST
Earth — a new song by comedian and rapper David Andrew Burd better known as Lil Dicky was released today. He has roped in various well-known singers like Ariana Grande, Meghan Trainor, Ed Sheeran, Justin Beiber to name a few. Actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kevin Hart along with basketball player Joel Embiid also make an appearance.
This environmental awareness song seems to be our generation’s answer to Micheal Jackson’s ‘Earth Song’.
The animated video featuring singing animals voiced by the 30+ singers premiered on YouTube on 19 April. It has been released as a build up to Earth Day that takes place on 22 April. There is also a website that gives more information about this initiative.
Additionally, proceeds from this song, video and merchandise will go towards nonprofit organisations and finding solutions to climate change.
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This collaboration hopes to raise awareness around saving the Earth and encourage more people to take action against climate change. Lil Dicky hopes that the combined forces of all the featured artists will educate more people and this song will become an anthem for a very important cause.
Lil Dicky’s new single Earth. Image Credit-YouTube
Lil Dicky is best known for his song ‘Freaky Friday’ featuring Chris Brown that has a little under 5 million views on YouTube.
Here is a review of the song from the Tech2 team:
Disclaimer: From this point on, the article contains spoilers for those who haven’t watched Lil Dicky’s new single, Earth.
Ankit Vengurlekar
It’s a catchy tune and has the potential to become an anthem. It is not kid-friendly though. Cuss words are common in American society but I can’t listen to this with my kid unless there’s a censored version. It also feels like a private party of Lil Dicky and his friends in Hollywood/LA.
Let’s face it, if Lil Dicky thinks that Leonardo Di Caprio is the most knowledgeable person on the environment and NOT Sir David Attenborough or Jane Goodall or the millions of scientists, biologists, anthropologists and academicians, then we’re screwed anyway. I think the song is symptomatic of America’s worldview of them being the guardian of the planet and a few superheroes emerging from among them to save the planet. It’s such an old trope. Boring.
But if one was NOT to take the song seriously at all (it’s difficult not to, considering the release is around Earth Day) then it’s alright.
I’m pretty sure Lil Dicky and friends got together in their private condo, where guests flew in on their private jets to drink the choicest of champagne flown thousands of km, generating immense carbon footprint and decided that all the talk about saving planet Earth is getting too boring and morbid, so let’s make a catchy song that starts with Lik Dicky being what his name suggests to a foul-mouthed teenager. Because that’s exactly the kind of role models required right now. Oh and let’s throw in some SEO keywords and world’s biggest Internet markets like India and China and Russia to get maximum virality. Pffft. I’m going to watch a rerun of Netflix’s Our Planet to get rid of this ridiculous pop aftertaste.
The real anthem we should be listening to this Earth Day is Alicia Keys’ “Kill Your Mama”. Inspired by music and lyrics of the indigenous tribes living across the world and their worship of Mother Earth. Kill Your Mama is raw, brute, feminine and inclusive. It shows us the mirror and urges you to introspect and reflect on your lifestyle, which is the first step towards being a more conscientious species.
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Kavya Narayanan
The imagery and animation are sublime. Every kind of life: pretty, smelly, thorny, tiny… there’s a lot of diversity of life in the video. I haven’t heard Lil Dicky before. But as a science reporter, if he sings about the Earth, I’m going to listen to it. No matter how terrible it is, I’m listening.
It took the first 120 seconds of the song to lose every ounce of interest, and the next 240 seconds to gauge how ridiculously insulting the song actually is. White boi singing charity to Indians and the Chinese (who are two of the leading economies in the world, FYI, Dicky). Read the news, dude.
And then came the Germany bit. I have no reason to feel for Germany, not one. But you’re not being useful to anyone by insulting the Germans by “forgiving them” with their own beer. In case it isn’t obvious, Germany never asked for yours or anyone else’s forgiveness. Whatever it is, your song isn’t about the Earth for me. I still haven’t watched the last 120 seconds and I don’t plan to. It’s not for kids, I have no idea if it was meant for adults, but if it was, its one tough pill to swallow. Saying “We love the Earth” x10,000 times in auto-tune makes me doubt more than buy your love for the Earth. It’s cute you wrote a song about something as hot and socially relevant as the world. But I think the song, the lyrics and the message (whatever it was) were collectively all over the place.
Also, what’s this obsession with butts? So many butts, why, oh why? No, thank you. [Except for the sassy zebra at 2.24. She’s way too cool for this video.]
Nimish Sawant
Two mins into the song I asked myself, “Should I even bother wasting another five mins on this song?” A one sentence review would be: “This song does nothing for me.”
I remember the first time I had heard Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, I had goosebumps. My eyes were moist towards the second half of the song when things are going in rewind mode. It affected me. This song in comparison elicits a yawn.
The lyrics are insipid. The premise is super confusing. And were it not for the good animation, it would have been quite a task to go through this song. But the most annoying part is the one where he says “We love you India, China. We forgive you Germany. Hey Russia, we’re cool.” It just perpetuates the stereotype that the world revolves around the US of A. I don’t know what message the rapper is trying to send? USA is the leader when it comes to CO2 emissions. I don’t think the rapper even hinted at that. Germany, on the other hand, is leading the way with using renewable energy. But don’t think Lil Dicky really cares.
It’s a good way to cash in on the Earth Day, but I didn’t feel much and wouldn’t bother having it on my playlist.
Ariana Grande as the sassy zebra. Image credit: YouTube
Nandini Yadav
While my colleagues certainly show me another perspective to this, I actually happened to enjoy the video. Sure, if I were to pick a musician to be the face of a video on climate change, Lil Dicky would not have been my first choice for obvious reasons (Read: Freaky Friday). But, when you see Ariana Grande as a pretty zebra, Ed Sheeran as koala bear, Justin Beiber as a monkey, Zac Brown as a cow, and everybody else in the video, how do you not get goosebumps?
How did you set off thinking about celebrities and their agendas (which is undeniable) in the video and not be awed by the beautiful Earth we are now losing. I may be missing on the larger picture here, but when I was watching it, I really connected. I was introspecting the things that I do every single day to contribute to Earth’s degradation. I was thinking if this planet still looks this beautiful right now, then I was suddenly scared at the thought that soon the beauty will only exist in videos. With the 20-year timeline we have, I may have to show these videos to my kids to tell them what the Earth looked like.
For one second, don’t be a pessimist, don’t start off seeing who’s making what out of it, but sit down for 120 seconds and watch this video, and be reminded of the little things you do each day that contributes to our planet’s degradation. Think of the animal kingdom, which is now suffocating because of how environmentally careless and irresponsible you are. If we can make shimmying, twerking, and flossing a thing, why can’t being environmentally conscious be cool?
Shomik Bhattacharjee
Lil Dicky’s Earth does not stand out for its content and doesn’t aim to either. It sure is a huge collaboration but it’s certainly not an attempt to be a 2019, dumbed-down version of MJ’s We are the World.
A minute into Earth, one understands the tone of the song. It’s important that the likes of Arianna Grande, Justin Bieber, John Legend and many others involved in the song do their research and reveal the premise of a song like this early on, but they probably, intentionally chose not to. Since apparently, we do not understand through documentaries and alarming news articles every day, we’ve now been presented with a song with the voices of the artists of the moment, with a didactic video suitable for those who don’t understand the severity of climate change. If this does not make us aware then nothing likely will.
Sneha Sharma
I mean I don’t even know where to start. I was eagerly waiting for the release of the song Earth as it’s by Lil Dicky (whose work I follow) and 30 other world-famous artists! Well, let me tell you the waiting has been in complete vain. When you have everything from the world’s 30 most prominent music artists, soo much money to spend, superb animation, it seems that Lil Dicky completely forgot what the song was supposed to be about.
What’s Lil Dicky even trying to say in this video? Is the question that I’m stuck with from the start and even after the end of the video.
He talks about baboons having a “bum”, drinking milk from cows “tits” and body shaming a pig. Can we at least leave the animals from being sexualised?
And what’s up with loving India and China and forgiving Germany (Did they even ask for it?).
Where are the feels bro? What’s the song even on? Michael Jackson’s Earth Song released in 1995 still remains a more relevant anthem for the upcoming Earth Day than the atrocious song by Lil Dicky and 30 other famous artists, Earth.
If you want to learn about how climate change is affecting animals and how humans are messing it all up, then this is definitely not the song to listen to.
Justin Beiber as a Baboon. Image credit: YouTube
Abigail Banerji
The song is peppy and catchy for sure. A few seconds into the video I caught myself singing along and I still am. While it is definitely not child appropriate, this song is perfect for the majority of the millennials and the Gen-Z who are OK listening to a few sentences on repeat as a chorus and the excessive use of autotune. Each of the animals were also funny and extremely adorable. Ariana as the zebra was a definite highlight.
I choose to take this song in a lighter vein and enjoying it for what it is — ART. And this artist has used his poetic license to portray his interpretation. I respect that. I am also choosing to ignore the unnecessary reference to India, China, Russia and Germany.
Sheldon Pinto
Lil Dicky’s Earth is a lighter take on the problems about climate change, but the artist is a bit too direct when it comes to explaining it. Also, he’s not exactly the right person for the job, if you have seen Freaky Friday. Earth is definitely not kid-friendly (so it’s not going to become an anthem). Also, the whole video explains climate change from an American standpoint forgetting about what America itself and the rest of the world are up to when it comes to saving or damaging the environment. Also, why is Germany being looked down upon?
Kshitij Pujari
I love the concept that famous pop stars are coming together to release a song that highlights how much we are screwing with the world. I believe that the language could be more…. cleaner (for lack of a better word) since it’s the kids (read as a future generation) that need to start the initiative for a clean Earth. The timing of the video, just a couple of days before the World Earth Day, seems to be a marketing stunt or it could be a genuine concern.
Either way, Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t the most knowledgable person to speak on matters of saving Earth but since he is a global icon, I feel that more people will listen to him than an actual expert. In any case, I appreciate the effort taken to create more awareness for protecting the Earth.
Anirudh Regidi
Meh.
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