Spending half of a semester and the whole summer in your house isn’t exactly ideal for a college student. But this year has been one of historic record and it hasn’t even finished. The global pandemic has forced us all inside for nearly six months now. Being inside has confronted us all with some harsh truths — one of them being that many people still do not feel at home in America. The Black Lives Matter movement gained an extensive following after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Amid stay at home orders that have pushed everyone into isolation, discussions about mental health came to the forefront as well. But there is one outlet that memorializes these major turning points in history like no other: music. 

Since the 1960s, artists like Bob Dylan and the Who have discussed social justice in their music, both as a way to spread awareness and get their fans involved. Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind and The Who’s My Generation live in infamy, and helped bring social justice into mainstream popular culture. Black artists have been discussing social justice issues for even longer—just think Nina Simone’s 1964 Mississippi Goddamn. The general public’s involvement in issues of race and injustice became incredibly vast around the time these songs were released.  Historically, music has always set trends—whether cosmetically or socially.  And 2020 can arguably make the same case.

Several artists have released songs during this tumultuous year that discuss various pressing issues. Contemporary R&B artist H.E.R.’s new song “I Can’t Breathe” features powerful lyrics and has been added to many BLM playlists across Spotify. At one point, she sings “I can't breathe/You're taking my life from me/I can't breathe/Will anyone fight for me?” The song sends a powerful message about the Black experience in America, and the slow but continuing march to progress. These ideas being spoken by a mainstream artist definitely reaches a younger crowd and boost civic engagement and allyship. 

This songwriting thematically harkens back to social justice songs of earlier protest movements, including the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Bryard Huggins, a songwriter, composer, and producer from Nashville, carries this history into his modern songwriting.  Huggins recently wrote and released “Walk With Me,” with the help of his friend Myshel, a gospel singer based out of Dallas, who performed it. The song was inspired by a friend who began a local movement in support of Black Lives Matter in Nashville. “We have a platform of artists and entertainers, it’s all about making the public feel and think something,” said Huggins.  “I really wanted to contribute to the movement in some way as a young African American person of color, and I wanted to use my talent to do that. Music is so universal, it's not red or blue or black or white, and everyone listens to it, no matter where you come from.  Political views don’t matter. Imagine if we approached people the same way as we approach music. Why can’t there be a universal love for people like there is for music?”

In addition to advocacy for racial justice, artists are also speaking on topics like mental health.  Indie rock musician Phoebe Bridgers’ “I Know The End” is the last track on her latest album Punisher, and takes a different approach — one that discusses the sense of feeling overwhelmed by isolation, and the ups and downs of our current administration. She sings in her closing verse, “over the coast, everyone's convinced/It's a government drone or alien spaceship/Either way, we're not alone/I'll find a new place to be from/A haunted house with a picket fence/To float around and ghost my friends.” Her lyrics discuss the idea of corporate America putting profit ahead of workers, the recent revelation of government surveillance of UFOs, and self-isolating to process it all. The singer places herself in the narrative that many can relate to right now: a heated political climate and physical isolation due to the pandemic. It serves as a warning that these issues we have long ignored are haunting us.

Singer-songwriter Nola Baldwin has noticed the changes as well, and regularly advocates for mental health in her music. “At different stages of my life, music’s been an outlet for different struggles of mine, as it is for so many musicians. Saying things out loud and putting them on paper can make a huge difference,” said Baldwin. “I think especially because we’re in such a unique, crazy time with everything happening with COVID, people need these pent up thoughts, beliefs, and demands to be expressed and recognized. Artists who channel that into their music and make it a part of their platform have the ability to encourage an open dialogue outside of the music as well, and continue to educate people on why these issues matter and how to take further action.”

The thematic shift in music is contributing to the accessibility of social justice movements among younger generations. Hearing about these issues in music propels people to take action, take charge, and march towards solutions. “Our generation will be the most accepting generation, particularly when it comes to this issue, we just understand people and are more able to communicate and respect one another,” said Bryard Huggins on Generation Z.  When we look forward to a better tomorrow, we’ll be doing it to the tune of a powerful playlist.