25/08/2019

The 1975, Jaden Smith, Billie Eilish & More Artists Fiercely Fighting Climate Change

Billboard - Kirsten Spruch

The 1975
Mara Palena
 Climate change isn’t an easy thing to write a song about, unless you’re into really depressing lyrics... And who needs those bad vibes? But there are some artists who are accepting the cold hard truth and stepping up to make a difference, whether it’s through music, donations or organizations. The most important thing is that they’re using their platform to raise awareness among their many followers.
The 1975 recently did this with their newest self-titled song from their upcoming 2020 album Notes On a Conditional Form, for which they enlisted teen activist Greta Thunberg, who gives a speech urging the world to “wake up” over the band's instrumentation. Jaden Smith has made it his goal to help with the Flint water crisis and even founded his own sustainable water company, Just Water. Additionally, Lil Dicky enlisted every A-lister there is to be featured on his track and animated music video for “Earth,” in hopes of garnering attention of fans everywhere.
Billboard rounded up the artists who are fighting to raise awareness.
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The 1975


“We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis,” Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg says over a landscape of twinkling synths. “We need to call it what it is: an emergency.” The cut, released last month, comes from the band’s forthcoming 2020 album Notes on a Conditional Form and follows the pattern of all their previously released self-titled opening tracks. Thunberg’s speech is so clear and straight-forward and has such a deep sense of urgency, it’s hard to listen to it and not feel the need to take action.
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Jaden Smith


Smith is the founder of Just Water. The water company began in 2015, but Smith had been stuck on the idea since the young age of 11, after seeing plastic floating in the ocean while surfing. It’s not purified tap water, which actually takes more energy; it’s spring water that is pumped from Upstate New York, a reliably plentiful source. Eighty-two percent of every bottle is plant-derived, resulting in a 74% reduction in carbon emissions compared to a standard water bottle.
Additionally, Smith made a huge contribution to the serious Flint water crisis in Michigan, by donating a mobile water filtration system in Ellen DeGeneres’ name. “This actual box is gonna be in Flint providing clean water for people on pretty much a weekly basis,” he explained when he appeared on the show.
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Billie Eilish


In a recent interview with Netherlands radio station 3FM, around the 4:54 mark, Eilish revealed that the line, “Man is such a fool, why are we saving him?” from her song “All the Good Girls Go to Hell” is actually about mankind and global warming. “Why are we working so hard to save mankind when we should really be out here saving the planet, saving the world, saving animals?” Eilish explained. “We are literally the flu and the fucking world is this beautiful place that we’re ruining. Obviously that song is however you want it to be, but a lot of it is about global warming and the world being ruined by us.”
She went on to explain that while she’s guilty of using some products that aren’t good for the environment, she has always used metal straws and has never eaten meat her whole life.
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Lil Dicky


Talk about using your fame for good. The rapper/environmentalist decided to round up almost every celebrity on Earth and then write a song about it. Actually called “Earth,” the song features Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown, Brendon Urie, Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Sia, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor, Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Psy and Kris Wu... phew! It also came with an enchanting animated video that has already reached more than 180 million views on YouTube alone, so needless to say, he succeeded in reaching a large group of people.
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Grimes

 Grimes has been teasing her highly anticipated follow-up to 2015’s Art Angels for quite some time and here’s what we know so far: It’s called Miss_Anthropocene which, according to the artist via an Instagram post, “is a proposed epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on the Earth’s Geology and ecosystems including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.”
She continued to explain: “Climate change is something I’m only ever confronted with in a sad/ guilty way…. Reading news and what not… so my goal is to make climate change fun (lol..??)…. uhhh… (I mean, everybody loves a good villain... re: the joker, Queen Beryl).. so maybe it’ll be a bit easier to look at if it can exist as a character and not just abstract doom.”
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Beyoncé
Beyoncé advocated for the environment back in 2017, when she filmed a heartfelt message in the wake of natural disasters in India, Mexico, the Caribbean Islands and the U.S. for the Hand in Hand Telethon. “Natural disasters take precious life, do massive damage, and forever change lives,” she said. “The effects of climate change are playing out around the world every day.”
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Jack Johnson
Johnson does way more than just make surf music and ride waves -- he’s been a strong activist on more than one occasion. Here are just a few of the things he’s supported in the past: Bring Your Own Bottle for plastic-free July, World Oceans Day and World Environment Day, among many other movements.
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Sean Paul, Sir Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow & more


Back in 2015, several artists came together to record the song and video “Love Song to the Earth.” Other artists who were included are Jon Bon Jovi, Fergie, Colbie Caillat, Natasha Bedingfield, Leona Lewis, Johnny Rzeznik, Krewella, Angelique Kidjo (a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador), Kelsea Ballerini, Nicole Scherzinger, the late Christina Grimmie, Victoria Justice and Q’Orianka Kilcher. “Looking down from up on the moon/ It's a tiny blue marble/ Who'd have thought the ground we stand on/ Could be so fragile,” they sing.

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