Throughout history, musicians have helped push social movements into the limelight. Today, when it comes to the climate movement, unsurprisingly, some artists have chosen to speak out. Expressing themselves and tackling climate change in the way they know best: through their music.
Climate change is something that has been highly politicised. I totally understand that there are people on both sides of the fence regarding how dangerous it is and if it even exists. However, with records showing an ever-quickening global temperature rise, many of our favourite artists are looking at their impact on the planet’s health, so I think it’s worth paying attention to what they have to say.
This list is far from exhaustive, but I’ve picked ten artists discussing the climate today. There are so many others. Feel free to your favourites and what they’ve done in the comments below. Let’s keep the conversation going and celebrate the people who are doing great work in protecting our planet.
Childish Gambino
In July 2018, Childish Gambino, aka multi-talented musician/actor/writer Donald Glover released a new single called Feels Like Summer. Feels Like Summer could easily be mistaken for an anthem celebrating the joys of the season. But when you listen to the lyrics it is more of a cautionary tale, and maybe the relaxed pace is a perfect representation of the apathy we as a whole have towards climate change. The music video shows people enjoying the sun while the lyrics tell a foreboding story.
Seven billion souls that move around the sun / Rolling faster, faster and not a chance to slow down / Slow down / Men who made machines that want what they decide.
In the second verse, the song talks about the lack of clean water in many parts of the world, the ongoing decline in bee populations, and recent news of a rise in bird extinctions.
Every day gets hotter than the one before / Running out of water, it's about to go down / Go down / Air that kill the bees that we depend upon / Birds were made for singing / Waking up to no sound / No sound.
Before the choruses, there’s a repeated set of lyrics.
Oh, I hope we change
Architects
British metalcore band Architects released the album ‘For Those That Wish to Exist’ in February 2021, and even the title of the album makes you think. The lyrical content is pretty bleak - tackling the biggest questions facing the future of our planet and examining the part humans are all playing in its slow destruction. Singer Sam Carter invites self-interrogation to the part we are all playing in the song ‘An Ordinary Extinction’.
Are you fanning the flames? / Are you torching the lighthouse? / Stood in the way / Complicity burning so bright, yet we delay
The album swings between prophetic doom and an almost hopeful plea for us to change our actions.
We're fighting to stay alive / How can we all survive? / No second chances / We're stood at the edge of the world
Gary Numan
In 2017 British New Wave singer Gary Numan brought out his album ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’. The album explores a post-apocalyptic world that has become desertified due to global warming and hit number 2 in the UK charts - a success that he hadn’t hit for 40 years of music-making. This year, 2021, Gary follows this up with an album named ‘Intruder’ exploring climate change from the Earth’s perspective.
“The planet sees us as its children now grown into callous selfishness, with a total disregard for its wellbeing,” he said. “It feels betrayed, hurt, and ravaged. Disillusioned and heartbroken, it is now fighting back. Essentially, it considers humankind to be a virus attacking the planet. Climate change is the undeniable sign of the Earth saying enough is enough, and finally doing what it needs to do to get rid of us, and explaining why it feels it has to do it.”
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish has swept the world with her whispering tone and dark themes. Although she is known as a prominent voice for mental wellness, she also campaigns for animal rights and has a lot to say on Climate Change. Although she shows her activist spirit in many ways, there’s no question one of the clearest is through her music. Take her song ‘All the Good Girls Go to Hell’, which features a petroleum-covered winged burning Eilish. She references the recent climate change fueled California wildfires and rising sea levels.
Hills burn in California / My turn to ignore ya / Don't say I didn't warn ya.
And once the water starts to rise / And heaven's out of sight / She'll want the devil on her team.
If the lyrics didn’t convince you, the video included a note from Eilish in the description encouraging people to strike to urge world leaders to pay attention to the issues that the world is facing.
“Right now, there are millions of people all over the world begging our leaders to pay attention. our earth is warming up at an unprecedented rate, icecaps are melting, our oceans are rising, our wildlife is being poisoned, and our forests are burning.”
Gorija
French Metal band Gojira have been frequent supporters of environmental causes. Singer Joe Duplantier has said if he were not a musician, he would be an environmental activist with Greenpeace or the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The band works with Sea Shepherd to raise money for the charity's work protecting marine animals. Members from the organisation are allowed to run a merchandise booth at Gojira gigs, and the charity named a $4 million ship that intercepts illegal fishing after the band. Their environmental activism has made its way into their lyrics as they explore feelings of futility and hope in their song “Global Warming”.
I had this dream, our planet surviving / The guiding stars always growing / And all the worlds, the fates all the countries / They're all rebuilding at the same time / I never fell and always believed in / We could evolve and get older / Open thy eyes and let all this flow in / Now see a new hope is growing inside / We will see our children growing
Paul McCartney
On Paul McCartney’s latest album Egypt Station, there’s a song called ‘Despite Repeated Warnings’. The song describes a crazed captain who refuses to heed warnings about an imminent iceberg. Eventually, concerned passengers surround the captain and tie him up to avoid disaster.
Despite repeated warnings / Our danger's up ahead / Well the captain wasn't listening / To what was said.
In the song, the people on the boat save the day by intervening, suggesting we can change the planet’s course if we all intervene and make sure our “captains” are listening.
“So I just wanted to make a song that would talk about that and say, 'Occasionally, we've got a mad captain sailing this boat we're all on, and he is just going to take us to the iceberg despite being warned it's not a cool idea,’” McCartney told the BBC.
Xiuhtezcatl
I don’t think we can look at climate change without mentioning Xiuhtezcatl. Xiuhtezcatl is a tremendous force in climate change activism, protesting since he was six years old. At just 21 years old, he is one of 21 plaintiffs involved in Juliana v. United States, a lawsuit filed against the U.S. government for failing to act on climate change. He’s also spoken at the United Nations several times, has done three TedTalks with a focus on protecting indigenous communities and climate change, and won awards for his protest music. In his song ‘Broken’ he touches on many uncomfortable truths. First, the fact that the climate crisis is already taking a toll.
While the walls fall and the world burns / Seas rise, and the clock turns. /The earth fighting back with hurricanes /And the earthquakes and the pouring rain."
He also points out that although it may not affect older generations as much, it will be a massive issue for the next generation.
How will you look your child in the eyes and tell them / Their future wasn't worth fighting for, could've done more but didn't listen / Didn't wake up, didn't speak up, didn't fight back when there was still time.
And that if we do our part, there is still hope.
Fight for what we love, start healing the world's hate. / Build beauty from the ashes after the world breaks.
Lana Del Ray
Pop singer Lana Del Rey is another artist making climate change a central theme in her music. In her 2019 song ‘The Greatest’, Lana speaks of a generation burned out and apathetic and the world getting hotter.
If this is it, I'm signin' off / Miss doin' nothin', the most of all / Hawaii just missed a fireball / L.A. is in flames, it's gettin' hot / Kanye West is blond and gone / "Life on Mars" ain't just a song / Oh, the livestream's almost on
Bon Iver
Bon Iver’s albums are generally pretty difficult to understand, favouring emotional indie-folk sounds over lyrics and peppering each song with words he coined himself. However, Justin Vernon makes his meaning clear regarding climate change, asking in his 2019 song Jelmore…
How long will you disregard the heat?
And offering us a look at a stark future.
And one by one, by one / We'll all be gone.
He told The New York Times
The bad stuff might be over soon, but maybe the good stuff might be over soon, So you’d better figure out how to enjoy this life and participate in it.”
Neil Young
Throughout his career, Neil Young has never been one to shy away from environmental activism. It’s still amazing to see a legendary artist take on climate so directly today. In 2019, he released Colorado, an album lamenting the climate crisis and issuing a call to action. As just one example, ‘Shut it Down’ calls for systemic change.
People tryin' to save this earth / From an ugly death / People tryin' to live / Working in a world of meat factories / All around the planet / There's a blindness that just can't see / They're all wearing climate change / As cool as they can be
However, Young makes one thing clear; he believes we can still act in time.
When I look at the future / I see hope for you and me / Have to shut the whole system down.
That’s the end of our 10! As I say, I couldn’t cover everyone, and I haven’t even counted the artists doing great work outside of their music.
- Coldplay are scrapping touring until they can find a more sustainable way to present their music live.
- Massive Attack are working with academics to find an eco-friendly alternative to touring.
- The 1975 pledging to plant a tree for every ticket sold for their sustainable show runs on vegetable oil.
A few years ago, it was easy for us to ignore, but as time goes on, I think all of us have seen a change in our local climates. The world is changing around us because of coronavirus, but also to arguably a far greater threat - climate change. It can be challenging to see the point of making a stand through all the prophecies of doom. But, I agree with Neil Young - there is hope, but we all need to act, and we must all act now. Whether it is by changing your diet, paying attention to your purchases or protesting, we all have a part to play and the more we do, the better.
