Gracie Abrams, Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner have teamed up for a new charity single to honour gun violence victims. Find all the details below.
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The track is called ‘Sold Out’, and arrives in the wake of the recent shooting at Brown University, which left two students dead and nine others injured. However, the song was recorded last year, following a different mass shooting.
“We made this song last year in the wake of a school shooting,” the musicians said in a collective statement. “We were reminded of it this week as our hearts were broken yet again. It’s a sad one to share during the holidays, but the world is hurting and we shouldn’t look away.”
The song is available exclusively on Bandcamp here, with proceeds going towards gun control advocacy group Everytown. “We are releasing this song to raise awareness of their mission of reducing gun violence,” Abrams, Dessner, and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon said. “Please visit their website for more information on the unbelievable work they do. Sending so much love to you all.”
On the opening verse, Abrams sings, “Hiding from a gun inside your high school/Just another Tuesday, normal, old news/Someone spilled their blood on Molly’s white shoes/Someone called their mother from the bathroom.”
The pre-chorus calls out those in positions of power who perpetuate the prevalence of gun violence in the U.S. “All the men in suit and ties/And their empty words/In their thoughts and prayers tonight/While the country burns/They collect a check in pride/And the system works/And we all stay terrified.”
The track comes days after Abrams criticised US President Donald Trump over “poisonous and vile narcissism” in the wake of the Brown University shooting.
In other news, back in October, Abrams was among over 550 musicians, actors, directors, and writers who teamed up to revive the Committee For The First Amendment, a group formed in the late 1940s that opposed suppression of free speech.
