The powerful message behind these tees at the Grammys
If you were paying any attention to the last performance at the Grammys last night, there is likely a phone number in your Google search history: “1-800-273-8255,” Logic’s hit, performed by the rapper, Alessia Cara, and Khalid.
Logic was the first to appear onstage, after the in memoriam segment, wearing a black hoodie with the phone number written across the front as he sang the words “I don’t want to be alive, I just wanna die today.” The back of his sweatshirt read: “You Are Not Alone.” The phone number also covered the wall behind the stage and the screens surrounding it. Cara and Logic met onstage, as people flooded the stage wearing white T-shirts with either the phone number or “You Are Not Alone” emblazoned on them. Khalid came onstage with them.
At first you may have thought this was an “867-5309”-type song (think, the 1981 upbeat hit), but it’s much more serious.
If you don’t know this song, this is probably around the time you Googled the phone number, which is for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The people wearing them were suicide attempt and loss survivors selected by the Lifeline. The song was inspired by the hotline and the service it provides.
Logic ended the performance with a sermon of sorts, in which he told the press that the Recording Academy asked him to do. In it, he covered not only suicide but also racial and gender inequalities, as well as politics. “Black is beautiful. Hate is ugly,” he began. “Women are as precious as they are stronger than any other man that I have met. And to them, I say, ‘Stand tall and crush all predators under the weight of your heart that is full of the love they will never take away from you.’” Many of those in the audience wore white roses in support of the Time’s Up movement that is lifting the veil on the injustices women face in the workforce and, specifically, sexual assault.
“Be not scared to use your voice, especially in instances like these, when you have the opportunity,” he continued.
Moving on to politics, he noted, “To all the beautiful countries filled with culture and diversity and thousands of years of history, you are not s***hole countries,” he said, addressing President Trump’s recent remarks on immigration. “And lastly, on the behalf of those who fight for equality in a world that is not equal, not just, and not ready for the change we are here to bring, I say up to you bring us your tired, your poor and any immigrant that seeks refuge, for together we can build not just a better country but a world that is destined to be united.”
The trio performed the song at the MTV Video Music Awards in August, and it had a very similar format. Even the wardrobe was similar: survivors joined the artists onstage wearing T-shirts, and Logic wore a hoodie that read, “Love everybody.”
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