The March for Our Lives protest on Saturday connected hundreds of thousands of people around the country. People of all ages and backgrounds attended the national rally in Washington, D.C., but the strongest presence belonged to teenagers. The rally was organized by survivors of the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

These survivors spoke to Billboard about the important role that music and artists have in this anti-gun-violence movement and in this huge demand for change. Musicians such as Fall Out Boy, G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha performed in Washington at Stay Amped: A Concert to End Gun Violence.

At the Washington rally, Andra Day and Common performed “Rise Up” with students from Baltimore’s Cardinal Shehan School Choir. Demi Lovato performed her track “Skyscraper.” Broadway legends Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt also hit the stage, as they sang “Found/Tonight,” a combination of two songs from “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen.”

Other performers included Vic Mensa, who sang “We Could be Free”; Miley Cyrus, singing “The Climb”; and Ariana Grande, performing “Be Alright.” All of these artists lent their voices, fame and influence to this important cause, bringing everyone together through these passionate songs that have lyrics that relate to this worldwide gun violence issue.

My personal favorite was Miley’s performance of “The Climb,” as she held a sign that said “Never Again” while wearing a sweatshirt that said #MSDStrong. Everyone in the audience belted the tune with her. This performance personally resonated with me because this song is such an emotional one, and now it has even more meaning than it did to my teenage self.

In addition to these famous artists showing their support onstage, Stoneman Douglas High School students performed a song called “Shine” that they wrote after the shooting. Jennifer Hudson then performed the finale, which was “The Times They Are A-Changin.’”

All of these artists used their voices and music at the rally to bring people together to support the cause, and this isn’t the first time artists have used their influence and music to inspire change. Music takes these issues and events one step further, because it truly is the one thing that unites everyone, no matter where you’re from during these tragedies.

People from all over the world attended the rally and sang along to the same songs. That’s a kind of unity that only music can bring to a passionate, yet angry and frustrated audience.

The rally was peaceful, which I believe is owed to the fact that there were so many artists there singing these deeply emotional songs, directly connecting with those in the audience as they sang along. These varieties of songs have totally different meanings now, as they are performed years later after they were created, and hopefully they will inspire people to bring about actual change in this country.

Phoebe Smith is a senior public relations major. Her column appears biweekly in Pulp. You can email her at phsmith@syr.edu and follow her on Twitter @phoebesmithh5.

Published on March 26, 2018 at 9:41 pm