So far in my listening posts we have talked about the context and overall meaning behind the song “1-800-273-8255” by Logic Featuring Khalid and Alessia Cara. For this listening post the topic is the reach that this song has collected since its debut in 2017. In this post we will be going over the live performances of “1-800” from the MTV VMA’s and the Our Last Night cover of the song. 

Original 

Logic’s delivery of the lyrics in the original album released version brings a hauntingly empty emotion to the song. He has depth to his tone but he brings the emotional toll of someone in the situation. I know he wrote this album while going through his own problems with anxiety. The features of Khalid and Alessia Cara bring a beautiful mix of emotion and range of voice paired with the backing choir. No one is overly excited, no one is overly happy, the delivery and tone of voice come from an emotional place in each person that pairs so well together with the beat. 

2017 MTV VMA’s 

At the MTV VMA’s in 2017, Logic was chosen as one of the performers for the event after his recently released album “Everybody”. This performance was so powerful for so many different reasons. Logic comes out to sing accompanied by a whole string section and choir. Giving the performance a very spiritual and emotional aspect. If that wasn’t enough he is also accompined by actual users of the hotline as well as people who work for the hotline. It really brings home the point that no one is alone in their insecurity, mental health, anixety, depression, sexuality or anything else, we all hurt the same as everyone else. Logic also takes a minute at the end of the performance to speak his mind about these issues and topics and to leave a sense of comfort that “you dont have to go through this alone”, to encourage people to gather the strength to not give up on themselves and to keep trying. After the performance the number of calls to the suicide hotline reached the highest volume they have ever had. 

Our Last Night Cover  

This song has reached so many different people of all walks of life. This is a song that is so important because it talks about the things that no one is comfortable with, but the things that need to be talked about. So many people have gained comfort from this song just knowing that there are other people out there who feel the same. So it’s no surprise that so many artists have taken it upon themselves to cover it and spread the message even further. One cover that really hit home for me personally was a cover done by Our Last Night. The song is transformed into an angsty rock song that really brings the emotion of the song to another level. Heavy drums, heavy guitar riffs and stretching the lyrics to almost be yelling. Like all these feelings are welling up and exploding out uncontrollably. It is so different from the original but holds the emotion and value of the song perfectly but also brings something new to it. 

You can find so many different covers of this song on youtube, tik tok, apple music, etc. Many of them not only focus on just the mental health aspect of the song but also dealing with sexual identity, bullying, racism and so much more. It really shows just how influential this song has become for people. You can’t help but get emotional when you see the comments on these covers and the original saying things like “this song has saved my life”, “inspired me to call the hotline”. It really isn’t just you going through these feelings.