“Now” tackles immigration in a way that songs have done in the past. Miguel uses his lyrics to talk about issues that are currently going on in our society. In 2017 when Miguel released the song, Donald Trump was just beginning his presidency. In the song, Miguel is calling for the president and the world to pay attention to the issues going on right in front of us.

He begins by calling out Donald Trump to look at what he is truly doing when he says he wants to build a wall.

“CEO of the free world now, build your walls up high and wide. Make it rain to keep them out, that won’t change what we are inside.” 

Instead of using the phrase, “leader of the free world,” he tried to show that the US has become a business state. The phrase “make it rain,” describes the vast amount of money that Trump wants to be allocated to build a wall to keep immigrants out. Miguel believes that no matter what Trump tries to do to keep them out, will not change that we are a nation built on immigration.

“Is that the look of freedom, now? Is that the sound of freedom, now? ‘Cause it’s plain to see a man’s integrity, by the way, he treats those he does not need.” 

In this phrase, he questions what freedom looks and sounds like? When he says to “a man”, I think he is talking about all the people who treat others that are different than them like they don’t matter.

“CEO of the free world now, should we teach our children hatred? Chase the innocent, and shoot them down. It’s like we’re still running races, I’m just saying…”

In these lines, he raises issues in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement. He wonders what we should be teaching our children if there is so much hatred in the world.

“Now, now, now. Now, now, now. Now or never, we can work together. Now, now, now. Now, now, now. We only suffer what we allow.”

Throughout the song, Miguel repeats the word “now,” in an attempt to remind people that these issues are happening all around us. The last phrase pushes people to see what their role is in the discrimination of others. He wants people to work together and find common ground in order to understand each other’s struggles.

He ends the song by instilling hope into people when they finish listening to the song.

“We are the look of freedom, oh. We are the sound of freedom. We are the look of freedom. We are the sound of freedom.”

In this last verse, he wants people to understand that it is up to us to be the “freedom” that we want to see. We have to act on the things we don’t like and be the change we want to see in the world.

Throughout the song, Miguel does not come up with a specific solution, he just brings the issues to the forefront for people. He calls people to become more aware of what is going on around them. This song is a call to action, rather than a song providing solutions.

Vilma