The two songs that I have chosen for first listen Friday are Where is the Love?, by the Black Eyed Peas and Waiting on the World to Change, by John Mayer. In 2003 the Black Eyed Peas released their song into the pop culture world as well as the social justice world. In order to reach a fan base other than their current one, they decided to create a song to discuss the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. When just listening to the song itself, it is very catchy and makes you want to sing along. When you listen to the lyrics, they truly speak to you and mean something. These lyrics hold a lot of power because everything that is being said in the song is true.

“Nations droppin’ bombs

Chemical gasses fillin’ lungs of little ones

With ongoin’ sufferin’ as the youth die young

So ask yourself is the lovin’ really gone”

These lyrics prove that the world is at war with one another and it needs to end. This song is delivered in a very calm, catchy manner that makes people want to sing along and ultimately feel what the artists are trying to tell us. My overall understanding of this song is that the world was at war with one another and in order to stop all of the hate, discrimination, racism, gang crime, war and violence we must turn the other cheek and love one another to stop the hate. We must stop adding fuel to the fire and stop having such problems. The Black Eyed Peas make it sound easy by continuously asking in the sing, “where is the love?”.

John Mayer’s hit song, Waiting on the World to Change, has a very important hidden meaning as well. The release time of this song was in 2006. John Mayer’s fan base was definitely into this song as it does not stem too far from his usual work. What Mayer is meaning to portray in this song is that his generation is not close enough to the government, meaning they are not being seen or heard. Therefore, they are waiting on it to change. “It’s hard to beat the system

When we’re standing at a distance”

Mayer and his generation clearly do not agree with the way that the government is being run, but they will wait until their generation is older so they can be heard and change the world. My reaction to this song was what was going on at the time of the release that the world was in such shambles and had to be changed?