In case the Internetz and wealthy pop stars haven't told you yet: It gets better. This viral campaign which was started in response to the tragic rash of gay suicides last year, has shifted pop music toward soaring self-esteem anthems. Katy Perry mastered it with "Firework" and here comes Somali-Canadian rapper K'NAAN trying his hand at it with help from his fellow Canuck, Nelly Furtado.
Look, if you're sick of these schmaltzy inspirational pop anthems, this might rub you the wrong way. There's a corniness factor at work, and K'NAAN's hip pop verses float somewhere between Lupe Fiasco and will.i.am territory. They're not quite bad and not quite good either.
The aim of K'NAAN's song is focused on painting the story of two misfits of society: Adam and Mary. Mary struggles with the pressures of outer beauty placed on her by society, while Adam suffers from abandonment issues from his absent father and ultimately ends up a slave to his drug abuse. It's a cliched afterschool special we've all seen a thousand times before.
Nelly saves the song with her rich, golden hook: "I don't wanna be left in this war tonight / Am I alone in this fight? / Is anybody out there." It's much more "Like A Bird" than "Promiscuous" and Nelly sounds glad to be back in that airy zone.
Listen to K'NAAN and Nelly's collaboration below
