Black Lives Matter and the POWER of Humanity

Tuneriver personalised song artist LEONN shares insight into his latest single, “POWER”.

“2020 being what it is, it felt like it was the right time to launch it. With all that’s been going on over the last 9 months it just felt very much fitting. Something to empower everybody, bring awareness, and show the world that as long as we stick together and have a common voice, we can make a change.”

“I always believed ultimately we are all spiritual beings and everything we do is connected via the spirit. For me, personally, to make music that doesn’t contain any substance is just a waste of purpose. If it has no essence, no message and no real use to make the person listening feel uplifted and inspired, or to educate them, then what’s the point? Fair enough, you can make music to party-to, for different moods – but my particular favourite kind of mood is one that’s going to give people a good time. Something that’s going to give people a push every day.”

Songwriting
“I tend to write songs based around my experiences, based around how I feel, and I believe that’s the true essence of artistry. I’m not going to write a song with an emotion that I have not felt or experienced, so all of my songs are an expression of a story from my past and experiences I’ve gone through.

Initially when I started writing the song, the word “power” is what came naturally to me, so I based the whole song around that title. I started thinking about what power was – what it means to me and what it can mean to a lot of people, and how it can be interpreted so differently depending on perspective. For me, it was taking the power back from those who have been in control and mislead and miseducated everybody.

Taking that power back and giving it to the people that deserve it. Even if your power is just making someone smile or helping an old lady cross the street – that’s YOUR power. That’s something you need to take, accept, and understand.”

The POWER Video

“In terms of the people in the video, I wanted it to be anybody that wanted to be there. I never called anybody personally to come down. Having it all recorded, and releasing it on video, has been a landmark. This has been a changing ground for all of humanity – this is the first we’ve suffered a pandemic like this, the topic of racism and Black Lives Matter, the wildfires. It all brought up an emotion. Those who were in the video will be forever seen, and that’s why I believe it’s a landmark for us in history.

I didn’t just want people of colour there, I wanted everybody of all creeds there to stand up and make the message clear – no matter where we’re from, we’re together.”

Continued Learning
“I can’t say I consider myself as an “activist” – there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that. When you’re an activist, there’s a lot of homework and research you have to do because you can’t afford to give false information and ideas without real facts, and I’m still learning. I’m still learning about history, about my rights, and about things I can use to strengthen my message. But with that, I do believe that being given the platform I have with music is another form of activism. I’m still preaching the message and sharing the message, but I’m not discriminating anybody from what I’m trying to say. I don’t just stand for one thing – I stand for all of us.

Bringing together differing opinions, different cultures, is what makes this world a lot more peaceful, and I’m yet to experience any negative feedback for what I’ve done. I always try to come from a place of love and understanding.”

Power single
You can buy LEONN’s new single here and find out more about LEONN on his website.

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