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in the United States to a grinding halt.
NEWSCASTER: Schools across the country are closed
to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
NEWSCASTER: Dark times call for bright spots.
That's what Broadway star, Laura Benanti
was hoping to accomplish when she posted this video.
This may seem silly but I know that a lot of high schools
were gonna have their musicals.
So, if you would like to sing a song
that you are not going to get to sing now and tag me,
I wanna see you.
That's me.
Tired, freaked out, un-showered me.
When I posted that, I thought I'd get maybe 20, 25 responses.
But Sunshine Songs quickly took on a life of its own.
I got thousands of videos,
each one more creative and inspiring than the next.
JEFFREY: When Laura commented on my first video
for Sunshine Songs, I freaked out.
LAURA: These kids were using their love of music
to connect with each other,
to connect with us,
and in many cases, themselves.
MAN: This turned into what she calls
the world's biggest musical.
Even Tony Award winner, Lin-Manuel Miranda, tweeted,
"I'm watching too."
LAURA: I was so blown away by these young people
that I decided to take it one step further.
For the final documentary,
we have to narrow it down to seven kids.
And so, we just wanted to know
if you would be one of those seven. [laughs]
- Are you serious? - LAURA: Yeah.
I'm telling you, you are officially in.
- Oh. Oh. - [Laura laughs]
Yes, yes. A million times, yes.
Oh, my gosh. All right.
LAURA: The seven young people you're about to meet
represent the thousands of graduated seniors
who raised their voices during this unprecedented time.
I love this project so much.
- My heart is gonna... - [Laura laughs]
Are we rolling in there?
LAURA: They've each selected a song
and crafted a musical performance
to reflect their 2020 experience.
They filmed themselves remotely
with the help of their family and friends
in a COVID-responsible way, of course.
These kids have brought me so much joy during this time.
It's my honor to introduce
Homeschool Musical Class of 2020.
[music]
Hi.
Hey.
Friends.
Okay.
So considering...
everything that your generation has been through
over from birth through all of this,
how do you feel like, in some ways,
that's helped mold who you are today?
I feel like growing up alongside the internet
as it became more and more accessible to all of us
has made us a much more conscious generation
than previous generations.
When COVID hit, everything closed.
All the theaters closed.
ELIZABETH: I remember it was Friday the 13th,
March 13th.
So it's kind of creepy thinking about it now.
All of our shows slowly one by one got canceled,
taken away.
FISCHER: And I remember at first I was like,
"Whoa."
ANNIE: I think I was just scared for the world
and our communities and our families and friends
and their safety and health.
ISAIAH: My mom and sister are both nurses and
living with people who are, like,
working around COVID-19 was scary
because it was getting worse.
JOSEPH: There were a number of days
that I'd really just spent entirely in my room.
It kind of sucked.
But my perspective of the world has grown so much.
I wanna do everything that I can to make the world a better place
and make some cool art while I'm doing it.
[music]
JOSEPH: With a number of friends from my high school,
we banded together and started the West Orange Youth Caucus.
The main goal for the youth caucus
is to give young people a space to discuss
what they are seeing happening politically in the country
and discuss what we think needs to happen.
So we drafted a list of demands.
We scheduled a big protest rally
on the front steps of our town's town hall.
And we publicized the heck out of it on social media.
We got 3,000 people to come out.
And we ended up with 8,000 signatures on our petition
and we presented it to the mayor of our town,
asking for more accountability in policing
and to ensure transparency
to ban the use of chokeholds in arrests,
ban the use of rubber bullets and teargas on crowds,
to require by ordinance a body cam
on all active duty police officers in West Orange
while they're on duty.
Almost everything that we demanded
ended up being passed by our town council.
MAN: -
PROTESTORS: -
JOSEPH: I think ultimately, I am feeling hopeful.
I am feeling optimistic
because I know that so many people...
in my generation are thinking proactively too.
I know that so many people are committed
to trying to make the world better
in the ways that we know it needs to be better.
And because of the intense circumstances
that we're living in right now with the pandemic,
I don't think that we have a choice
but to make the changes that we know we need.
It's the end of the world...
- and we do know it. - Yeah.
I don't know how fine I feel,
but that's how I'm trying to feel.
I think the message in the song is pretty clear
and R.E.M.'s orchestration of it, like,
everything about it, I feel like so perfectly
- encapsulates the theme. - Uh-hmm.
And it is--it's vibes that were being felt
when the song was recorded
and it's vibes that continue to be felt today.
♪ That's great, it starts with an earthquake ♪
♪ Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes ♪
♪ And Lenny Bruce is not afraid ♪
♪ Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn ♪
♪ World serves its own needs ♪
♪ Don't mis-serve your own needs ♪
♪ Speed it up a notch, speed, grunt, no, strength ♪
♪ The ladder starts to clatter with a fear of height ♪
♪ Down, height, wire in a fire ♪
♪ Represent the seven games ♪
♪ And a government for hire and a combat site ♪
♪ Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry ♪
♪ With the Furies breathing down your neck ♪
♪ Team by team, reporters baffled ♪
♪ Trumped, tethered, cropped ♪
♪ Look at that low plane, fine, then ♪
♪ Uh-oh, overflow, population, common group ♪
♪ But it'll do, save yourself, serve yourself ♪
♪ World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed ♪
♪ Tell me with the Rapture ♪
♪ And the reverent in the right, right ♪
♪ You vitriolic, patriotic, slam fight, bright light ♪
♪ Feeling pretty psyched ♪
♪ It's the end of the world as we know it ♪
♪ And I feel fine ♪
My generation was born...
on and soon after 9/11.
We are the 9/11 babies, this whole class of 2020.
Global pandemic, climate crisis,
mass shootings,
people lose their jobs, lose their homes.
But we can use our collective bargaining power
to send that message to our authority figures
that something has to change.
♪ The other night I drifted nice continental drift divide ♪
♪ Mountains sit in a line, Leonard Bernstein ♪
♪ Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs ♪
♪ Birthday party, cheesecake, jellybean, boom ♪
♪ You symbiotic, patriotic, slam but neck, right? ♪
♪ Right ♪
♪ It's the end of the world as we know it ♪
♪ And I feel fine ♪
♪ It's the end of the world as we know it ♪
♪ And I feel fine ♪
[rock music plays]
Okay. So how was it being with your family,
you spoke a little bit about it,
- but during quarantine-- - Uh-hmm.
--how was it being with them for, like, long periods of time?
Quarantine, there was a lot more together time
that really reminded me of how it was growing up.
I grew up surrounded by strong, powerful matriarchs.
So I know the power of women of color.
I know our versatility, our softness
but also our strength.
- I got it. - No, Annie, no.
ANNIE: I'm the oldest of four kids.
I have one brother and two younger sisters.
We were very close before quarantine, but honestly,
the time we spent together physically...
- Frenzy. - No!
- DAD: Out. - [laughs]
Brought us a lot closer.
I was taking my family life for granted.
I was taking, you know,
the support that I have from them for granted.
But this just made me realize
these are my people, you know?
These are the people that are gonna have my back
no matter what, that are gonna support me 110%,
that will love me even if we fight.
These are the people that you have to hold you
when you cry and...
that you'll hold when they cry.
[music]
ELIZABETH: I come from a family of five
and I live with my two sisters and my parents.
How much longer on these-- on these corns?
MAN: They're probably already done.
ELIZABETH: My parents own their own business
called the Market General Store.
Working there has been a blast.
A year ago, my plans for college
were to apply to all the art schools
I had deemed fit to study opera
and maybe musical theater.
I had gone into the school of my dreams
and I was so excited
to finally live out this dream that I had been planning
since I was a freshman in high school.
[music]
ELIZABETH: Towards March, things started to change.
The city told us,
"You guys have to close the store
because of this pandemic."
This means that there's no money coming in at all.
We most definitely pinched pennies.
We started getting back the financial aid packets
and it really wasn't enough.
We couldn't pay the big tuition bill.
And it hit me that I probably
wouldn't be able to go to college this year.
And the idea of deferment came up.
[music]
ELIZABETH: I learned that my school
was going to be so gracious
and keep my two scholarships that I had gotten,
plus my double major.
And I decided that this is a year
that I could take to grow my voice
and mature as a person.
It's going to be nothing but growth.
I hope that I can find success in my craft,
this thing that I put so much work into,
that I pour my heart into,
that I can hopefully open doors for girls that look like me.
"West Side Story" is one of my favorite musicals ever.
And it's a dream to play Maria.
I think it's just a beautiful song.
I feel like in the world that we are living in,
there's a lot of crazy and a lot of unrest.
And what we need now more than anything is peace
and quiet and hope.
There is--there is a driving hope in this song,
a hope that there is a place for all of us.
[dramatic music plays]
♪ There's a place ♪
♪ For us ♪
♪ Somewhere a place for us ♪
♪ Peace and quiet ♪
♪ And open air ♪
♪ Wait for us ♪
♪ Somewhere ♪
[singing in Spanish]
My family was totally supportive about my dreams and my goals.
I think they saw something special in me.
They were just very...
"You can do this. We believe in you.
We know you got this.
Go fly. Go do your thing."
♪ There's a place ♪
♪ For us ♪
♪ A time and place for us ♪
♪ Hold my hand ♪
♪ And we're halfway there ♪
♪ Hold my hand ♪
♪ And I'll take you there ♪
♪ Somehow ♪
♪ Someday ♪
♪ Somewhere ♪
How do you feel that theater and music
has influenced you..
as a person?
JOSEPH: Whenever I'd play in new character,
the overlaps between my own personal character
and all of the quirks and traits that the character has,
especially the flaws,
end up becoming tools that I can use to better myself.
I think the most powerful voice I have is through my music,
like I love musical theater,
I love singing, I love acting, and I love dancing.
I'm not that great at it but I've gotten better.
Theater is always trying to reflect onto us
and to kind of like show us our world as it really is.
We all go through things from day to day
and art is what's going to get us through,
it's what has got us through.
Theater has always been a really big passion of mine
and what I love about it is that
I get to be someone else for two hours
or however long the show is.
And just stepping out into so many personalities,
you get to live vicariously through them.
I find it so liberating when you open on a stage door,
it's a whole different world.
You're not thinking about any of the bad things
or thinking about your show that you have to do,
and you love doing it.
Becoming a senior is a very monumental moment
in anyone's high school career.
Because you're the top of the food chain.
I was waiting for all the perks that a senior gets
and I'm so ready and excited for it
and then that changed very quickly.
One day I was waiting for my mom to pick me up after rehearsal
and she's never really "late" late,
so I kept calling and, like texting,
she was never answering.
And then one time she did call me,
she was like, "Hey, we don't have a house,"
and I was like,
"Like, what do you mean we don't have a house,
like, I was just there this morning?"
I got to my house at the time
and I just saw a lot of our stuff outside
and I was just like--
my mom was like, "If you see something that's, like,
important to you or of value, take it
because we might not come back to it.
And I was like, "Okay."
And so I just grabbed a lot of things.
That night, I went to a hotel with my mom
and my sister and my two dogs.
I knew nothing. I was in the blue,
like I had no idea about anything.
It was very challenging for me
but everyone outside did not know anything.
As a senior, it's like your moments with your friends.
And, like, I just got in the show.
My first time to ever lead a role,
playing Pinocchio.
I would, like, go through the day all kind of sad
because I was thinking about my life at home,
but I would walk into a stage door
and I would shift.
I would be ready to work.
I would still have the thought in my head
but at a certain point of rehearsal,
I would just take a moment,
shut all the doubt in my head,
just like, "You're fine,
you got it, don't worry about it,"
and then I would look back up
and I would just go through my rehearsal
like nothing ever happened.
WOMEN: Six, seven, eight.
[cheers]
"I will survive" really--
it really reflects on my year
because it's just like, so much happened.
I went through the mud, I went through the grass,
the tornado, the ocean, and the desert,
the tundra, every biome in the planet
and yet I'm talking to one of my idols, hello.
Like, I came out on top.
Like at the end of the day, like, it's my theme song,
it's my anthem, I think it is my song,
and that's that.
[upbeat music plays]
♪ At first I was afraid, I was petrified ♪
♪ Kept thinking I could never live ♪
♪ Without you by my side ♪
♪ But then I spent so many nights ♪
♪ Thinking how you did me wrong but I grew strong ♪
♪ And I learned how to get along ♪
♪ And so you're back from outer space ♪
♪ I just walked in to find you here ♪
♪ With that sad look up on your face ♪
♪ I should have changed that stupid lock ♪
♪ I should have made you leave your key ♪
♪ If I had known for just one second ♪
♪ You'd be back to bother me ♪
♪ Go on now go ♪
♪ Walk out the door ♪
♪ Just turn around now ♪
♪ 'cause you're not welcome anymore ♪
♪ Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye? ♪
♪ You think I'd crumble? ♪
♪ Did you think I'd lay down and die? ♪
♪ Oh no, not I ♪
♪ I will survive ♪
♪ Oh, as long as I know how to love ♪
♪ I know I'll stay alive ♪
♪ And I've got all my life to live ♪
♪ And I've got all my love to give ♪
♪ I'll survive ♪
♪ I will survive, hey, hey ♪
And I would tell my 14-year-old self,
"You are so much stronger and braver than you think you are
and you have so much strength and resilience, and power,
that you just don't know that because you're so young
but when you get there,
you'll get in control and you will love it."
♪ It took all the strength I had not to fall apart ♪
♪ Kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart ♪
♪ And I spent oh so many nights just feeling sorry for myself ♪
♪ I used to cry ♪
♪ But now I hold my head up high ♪
♪ So you see me, somebody new ♪
♪ I'm not that chained-up little person still in love with you ♪
♪ And so you felt like dropping in ♪
♪ And just expect me to be free ♪
♪ Well, now I'm saving all my lovin' ♪
♪ For someone who's loving me ♪
♪ Go on now go, walk out the door ♪
♪ Just turn around now ♪
♪ 'Cause you're not welcome anymore ♪
♪ Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye? ♪
♪ Did you think I'd crumble? ♪
♪ Did you think I'd lay down and die? ♪
♪ Oh no, not I ♪
♪ I will survive ♪
♪ Oh, as long as I know how to love ♪
♪ I know I'll stay alive ♪
♪ And I've got all my life to live ♪
♪ And I've got all my love to give ♪
♪ I'll survive ♪
♪ I will survive ♪
How do you feel like that time when quarantine
fostered your creativity
and really what was that creativity?
I think during that quarantine it was really--
it was more of a break, a brain break for myself.
You know, like most of us everywhere,
it's okay to have a brain break and just like not do anything.
When you have all this free time and you're allowed to creatively
let yourself roam and explore what it is you want to do
with the art that you make
because everybody has the capacity to make art,
everybody has the capacity to be--
to be creative if they so choose.
Like Liz said, sometimes a brain break is good.
I'm someone who likes to have things planned out,
I like to know what's coming next,
and it was a big world-stopping moment of nothing's coming next.
I definitely thrive off of being around other people,
I feed off of other people's energy.
I think that most performers do.
And going from seeing all the people that I love so much
that I choose to be around every day
and not seeing them at all,
just like cutting it cold turkey was hard for me.
In those moments, I just wanted to be in my room
and not do anything,
scroll through TikTok mindlessly.
I was just like a wreck.
I was not fun to be around.
I was crying all the time.
I didn't really wanna play the piano.
And my mom kept telling me,
"Music always makes you feel better."
- You ready? - Yes.
ANNIE: I started my littlest sister Josephine
how to play piano.
It was nice to just share something
that I love so much with her and see her love it.
This is me writing a song-- um, ish.
Trying to write a song.
I was just feeling like I needed to put my feelings somewhere
and so I started playing music.
And it just became something for me
to put my energy into that felt normal.
♪ And it all stops everything you know ♪
♪ Everything you knew where time stands still ♪
The difference in what music I was writing before quarantine
and what I wrote during quarantine was that,
the significance of what it meant to me
was way different.
Music is a really powerful way to reach people and in my life,
music has just meant such a natural thing for me to do
that that just seems the most natural way for me
to speak out and share
what my feelings and beliefs are.
I think that quarantine is the first time
that I ever sang just to, like, feel the music, you know?
And I think that Sunshine Songs also motivated me to keep going.
I thank you for doing this.
It just really warmed my heart.
I love that I was reaching people
in a time where people seems so, like, untouchable, you know?
This song is me being so excited and eager for the future.
I love my hometown and where I'm from,
and so grateful for my roots, and I was so ready to leave
and come to college, and meet new people,
and learn new things,
and be a part of a whole new environment.
And that song was me, like, realizing inside myself,
"Oh, I can do this. Like this is my time.
This is now for me.
♪ I can't seem to focus ♪
♪ And you don't seem to notice ♪
♪ I'm not here ♪
♪ I'm just a mirror ♪
♪ You check your complexion ♪
♪ To find ♪
♪ Your reflection's all alone ♪
♪ I had to go ♪
♪ Can't you hear me? ♪
♪ I'm not coming home ♪
♪ Do you understand? ♪
♪ I've changed my plans ♪
♪ 'Cause I ♪
♪ I'm in love ♪
♪ With my future ♪
♪ Can't wait to meet her ♪
♪ And I ♪
♪ I'm in love ♪
♪ But not with anybody else ♪
♪ Just wanna get to know myself ♪
♪ I know supposedly I'm lonely now ♪
BACKUPSINGER: ♪ Lonely now ♪
ANNIE: ♪ Know I'm supposed to be unhappy without someone ♪
♪ But aren't I someone? ♪
BACKUP SINGER: ♪ Aren't I someone? ♪
ANNIE: I'm excited to see where music takes me in life.
It will be a part of my life always.
And if I don't waver from the fact that
that is what I want to do with my life
and that is my dream,
I will live a very happy life and be happy wherever I am.
♪ And I ♪
♪ I'm in love ♪
♪ But not with anybody here ♪
♪ I'll see you in a couple years ♪
What have been the positive parts of quarantine?
We play Minecraft until, like, 5:00 AM, sometimes 7:00.
But then, like, we will get coffee and breakfast
and then we'll continue to play.
Like, it was just, like, a random thing I would never do
but, like, that made me happy even though, like,
I can't go outside or get toilet paper for my house.
But other than that, it was a great experience.
Oh, actually, that's such-- that's so false.
I would give coronavirus a zero star on Yelp views
but, um, the inside part was, kind of, decent.
In the last year, I've become--
I've become a force if I do say so myself.
My mission statement as an artist
was to use storytelling
as-as a platform for understanding.
I would not be as bold as I am today.
I would not be as an apologetic as I am today,
had it not been for quarantine because it forced me to try
and be the best person for the future that I want.
I made a lot of discoveries over quarantine.
[chuckles]
It made me really realize
that I can't take everything for granted, ever.
Um, and I'm so thankful for that
because I look at things in a totally different way now.
[music]
FISCHER: I grew up with my mom and my dad
in a small house in the village of Waynesville.
My dad competitively fished,
so that's why my name is Fischer.
They were so fun and so supportive.
I have, like, the best childhood ever.
My parents taught me from a very young age
that it's okay to question things
and that I should be questioning things.
And I think that's just such an important lesson
to learn when you're young.
The first day of quarantine,
I re-condoed my entire house.
And then from that day on, I did nothing.
The most I ever did was get in my car and scream,
cry to Celine Dion just to, like, feel something.
So, for the first couple weeks,
I was just sitting with myself
and was, you know,
forced to, kind of, look back on things
that I haven't processed and, you know,
I started realizing, you know,
"Wait a minute. I'm not a man.
I'm a woman. I'm-I'm trans."
And as soon as that thought came into my mind,
it was, like, a wave of, like,
"Whoa. You're right."
Um, I don't think I've ever had an experience as a man before.
That's not who I am.
That's not who I ever was.
Um, I was just, kind of, forced into that category.
And I just felt, like,
the longer I wait,
the more I miss out on.
And it was, like, a big turning moment
where I was, like, the fact that I am okay
with myself for the first time in 18 years
means more than anyone else's opinion on me.
Telling my parents was easy.
Well, it wasn't easy. It was hard.
It was a very hard conversation.
Um, but they were so supportive
and I knew that at the end of that conversation,
I was gonna be okay.
I'm so excited because I have so much more fun now.
[chuckles]
But, uh, I-I think that what a gift it is
to be able to live how I want to
and to be seen for who I really am.
I'm so thankful to be able to be in a place
where I can be a woman and I can wear skirts
but I can also wear, you know, crocs when I want to,
and I do a lot and I'm ashamed of it, but it's okay, you know.
It's-it's great, it really is.
[music]
I think the song, there's something about it
that is just moving forward,
"dog days are over", is like,
I feel, like, a pretty big anthem of our generation.
It was so fun to film.
It felt, like, such a needed release
and I was just seeing, like,
these just random pieces of inspiration come together
into this--into this, like, finished project,
and that it truly made me feel so special
and it was an experience I'm so thankful for.
[music]
♪ Happiness hit her ♪
♪ Like a train ♪
♪ On a track ♪
♪ Coming towards her ♪
♪ Stuck still ♪
♪ No turning back ♪
♪ She hid around corners ♪
♪ And she hid under beds ♪
♪ She killed it with kisses ♪
♪ And from it she fled ♪
♪ With every bubble ♪
♪ She sank with a drink ♪
♪ And washed it away ♪
♪ Down the kitchen sink ♪
♪ The dog days are over ♪
♪ The dog days are done ♪
♪ The horses are coming ♪
♪ So you better run ♪
♪ Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father ♪
♪ Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers ♪
♪ Leave all your love and your longing behind you ♪
♪ Can't carry it with you if you want to survive ♪
♪ The dog days are over ♪
♪ The dog days are done ♪
♪ Can you hear the horses ♪
♪ 'Cause here they come ♪
♪ And I ♪
♪ Never wanted ♪
♪ Anything from you ♪
I'm always trying to tackle my next challenge
and like to move on.
To like keep growing and keep learning.
I think that's definitely someone I want to become
and someone I am slowly becoming.
♪ Run fast for your mother and fast for your father ♪
♪ Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers ♪
♪ Leave all your love and your longing behind you ♪
♪ Can't carry it with you if you want to survive ♪
♪ The dog days are over ♪
♪ The dog days are done ♪
♪ Can you hear the horses ♪
♪ 'Cause here they... ♪
BACKUP SINGERS: ♪ The dog days are over ♪
♪ The dog days are done ♪
BACKUP SINGERS: ♪ Can you hear the horses ♪
♪ 'Cause here they come ♪
+[vocalizing]
WOMAN: Free from distraction
and with a laser focus on the news,
a shattering event awakens the world
to every day in justice.
ISAIAH: When I first heard about George Floyd,
I wasn't really shocked
because this has happened for years
that a Black man is killed by a White police officer.
JOSEPH: When that video started circulating,
I think it stirred people-- it-it woke up people
who had never considered the problem before.
JEFFREY: And I know we're near giving up
for the Black Lives Matter movement or any movement
that helps a disenfranchised
group of people in the United States.
I know we're near resting about that
because we're nowhere near a solution.
ALANA: George Floyd and I went to the same church.
Um, when I was about 12,
he would set up chairs, set up and tear down.
Um, they used to call him Big Floyd.
Um, yeah.
Seeing George suffocated
for nine minutes was...
very difficult.
I watched the news slander his personal life.
There was a protest happening in New Braunfels
where I was, where my grandparents live.
Finally, I saw some hope.
[music]
ALANA: People were protesting all over the world.
People are united for this one cause.
There were protests in Hong Kong, in Europe,
and I was, like, "There's a protest happening here
in this town,
it's time for me to get up."
That's when I realized that this was a movement.
As we got up to the area where the protest was,
I was all--remembering all this feelings of hurt and pain
that I received at such, like, a young age being in the city,
being around racial ignorance
and being the token, the only one.
There were only two other people protesting when we got there.
The rest of the people were my family.
And I was like, "I'm not gonna let that stop me.
I'm not gonna let anything else silence me."
And I finally arose out of that dark place
and I was, like, "It's time."
There was a lot of backlash.
People were driving by with trucks flipping us off,
calling us slurs literally in the street out and open
because, I mean, I expected nothing different
in the city that we were in.
But I knew that none of that was gonna-gonna stop me.
I was gonna be heard at that moment.
I was going to finally say in that city
what I had wanted to say since I was 12.
I felt all the energy of all the people before me.
My grandma, my great grand mama Honey,
like, I felt, like,
I wasn't just that alone little middle schooler
battling all this racial tension by herself.
Maybe this is my purpose.
I realize in that moment that Black joy is radical.
Being joyful in a world where Black people are killed
for no reason at all is a protest within itself.
I also realized that sometimes you have to be still.
Sometimes, you have to really look inside yourself
and heal, and-and breathe,
and use that time to think
and to bring myself peace and healing
because I'm deserving of that, and everyone is.
[music]
When I choose music that I resonate with,
it's often music that reminds me of,
you know, my childhood, R&B that I grew up around.
One thing that H.E.R. does with her music,
you know, she's a peace bringer, I think essentially.
And I think that's how I want to be,
I want to be a peacemaker
but to still say what needs to be said.
+♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪
♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪
♪ Ring with the harmonies ♪
♪ Of liberty ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Started a war, screaming peace at the same time ♪
♪ All the corruption, injustice, the same crimes ♪
♪ Always a problem if we do it, don't fight ♪
♪ And we die, we don't have the same rights ♪
♪ What is a gun to a man that surrenders? ♪
♪ What's it gonna take for someone to defend us? ♪
♪ If we are lucky, we were equal as people ♪
♪ Then why can't we see what is evil? ♪
♪ I can't breathe ♪
♪ You're taking my life from me ♪
♪ I can't breathe, yeah ♪
♪ Will anyone fight for me? ♪
I think my generation is going to accomplish
true acceptance.
How everybody wants to be heard,
how people want to be seen
and perceived, and taking them in
and-and honoring them and that.
♪ "The Lord is coming." ♪
♪ My great grandmother said when she was young ♪
♪ Visions of glory ♪
♪ While walking through streets ♪
♪ Where heads were hung, quite literally ♪
♪ On trees, uprooting my bloodline ♪
♪ Funny how time which is a bridge ♪
♪ For what is hers, to what is mine ♪
♪ Like her, I carry, struggle ♪
♪ Your ignorance fuels the flame ♪
♪ Like her, the ethereal essence of my skin tone is restrained ♪
♪ 1930, 2020 ♪
♪ See how few some things have changed? ♪
♪ For like her, I have a vision. And like her, I'm not afraid ♪
♪ Oh ♪
[humming]
How are you all feeling hopeful about the future?
JEFFREY: I'm so hopeful for the future.
I'm happy to say that through my grandparents
coming up into the - civil rights movement,
there's been a change with their children.
With my parents coming up and raising my brother and I,
there's been a change.
The difference is now, this change is being
hyper-accelerated because we have the internet,
because we have social media.
It's so hard to stay blind to these topics.
It's so hard to not see what's going on in the news.
We started social movements and justice
and I hope that we continue to grow in these aspects
and that we get the respect we deserve
because we have done so much.
We also have that community mindset
where it's made our ability to see and hear each other
a lot stronger.
So we're willing to listen to other people's stories.
I feel our generation, like, lifting each other up
and lifting the world up and creating so much
adrenaline for us to, like, change the world.
I'm looking forward to becoming a better person,
a better performer, a better activist,
a better ally, and I'm looking forward
to making art and creating things that made people think,
and that challenge what they once believed to be true.
[music]
Music is the most beautiful thing on Earth.
When there aren't words, there's music.
And that's kind of a statement that I've lived by
for a long time.
Music is really the only way that when I feel
a really intense emotion, I can get it out
and I get those emotions out from composing music
or writing lyrics, or writing a song.
[music]
I play nine instruments.
Piano, guitar, ukulele, violin, viola,
cello, electric bass, acoustic bass, and the organ.
I have this cool thing called synesthesia
which basically when I close my eyes, I can see colors.
If I'm listening to my friends sing
or I'm listening to a song, I can kind of see waves of sound
being painted by colors, which is really cool.
I'll wake up sometimes at 2:00 or 3:00
in the morning if I'm not already up.
And I'll have a new musical idea because it'll just come to me
in the middle of the night.
And I have to pull up my book of staff paper
and start writing or pull out my keyboard
and start playing because I know that if I don't get it out
right then and there, I might lose it forever.
Quarantine really kind of drained me
of all my creative energy.
I didn't have any shows or any workshops
or any cabarets that I could do.
And it kind of sent me into a state of depression
because I didn't have anything to look forward to.
When Laura made her first video about her
taking videos submissions and saying she was gonna post,
repost them if she likes them.
And I was like, "Oh, my gosh.
Laura Benanti is reposting my video.
If she thinks it's good.
I'm gonna sing."
I had a moment where all this hopelessness
and all this-this doubt and this desperation,
it kind of gave way to this creative outlet
where I was able to finally write
and-and express how I've been feeling
when I was shut down.
I can't imagine life without music
because it brings me so much joy
and it helps me cope with the world.
With all the things that happened to me personally
during the quarantine, I went through-- I went through
some times where I had nothing else to do but pray.
Because I know I'm not perfect.
I don't claim to be perfect.
But it's good knowing that I have something
that I believe in.
I wanted something that was reflective
of how isolated I felt at times during quarantine.
Separation from my art is really what drove me
to the point of feeling like I needed to pray,
like the song says.
[music]
♪ I'm young and I'm foolish ♪
♪ I've made bad decisions ♪
♪ I blocked out the news, turned my back on religion ♪
♪ Don't have no degree, I'm somewhat naive ♪
♪ I've made it this far on my own ♪
♪ But lately, that just ain't been getting me higher ♪
♪ I lift up my head and the world is on fire ♪
♪ There's dread in my heart and fear in my bones ♪
♪ And I just don't know what to say ♪
♪ Maybe I'll pray ♪
♪ Pray ♪
♪ Maybe I'll pray ♪
♪ I have never believed in you, no ♪
♪ But I'm gonna pray ♪
♪ You won't find me in church ♪
♪ Reading the Bible ♪
♪ But I am still here and I'm still your disciple ♪
♪ I'm down on my knees, I'm beggin' you, please ♪
♪ I'm broken, alone, and afraid ♪
♪ I'm not a saint. I'm more of a sinner ♪
♪ I don't wanna lose, but I fear for the winner ♪
♪ When I try to explain, the words run away ♪
♪ That's why I am still here today ♪
♪ And I'm gonna pray ♪
- SINGERS: ♪ Lord ♪ - ♪ Pray ♪
♪ I have never believed in you, no ♪
♪ But I'm gonna pray ♪
♪ Pray ♪
♪ Maybe I'll pray ♪
♪ I have never believed in you, no ♪
♪ But I'm gonna pray ♪
[music]
LAURA: Joe, Elizabeth, Isaiah, Annie, Fisher, Alana,
and Jeffrey may only be a sliver of the class of 2020.
But despite the obstacles that they go through,
they're still resilient and optimistic and kind.
They're change-makers. And I'm so proud of them.
[music]
♪ I've learned to slam on the brake ♪
♪ Before I even turn the key ♪
♪ Before I make the mistake ♪
♪ Before I lead with the worst of me ♪
♪ Give them no reason to stare ♪
♪ No slipping up if you slip away ♪
♪ So I got nothing to share ♪
♪ No, I got nothing to say ♪
♪ Step out, step out of the sun, if you keep getting burned ♪
♪ Step out, step out of the sun because you've learned ♪
♪ Because you've learned ♪
♪ On the outside, always looking in. Will I... ♪
♪ Ever be more than I've always been? ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass ♪
♪ I'm waving through a window ♪
♪ I... ♪
♪ Tried to speak, but nobody can hear ♪
♪ So I wait around for an answer to appear ♪
♪ While I'm watch, watch, watching people pass ♪
♪ I'm waving through the window, oh ♪
♪ Can anybody see? ♪
♪ Is anybody waving? ♪
♪ On the outside, always looking in ♪
♪ Will I ever be more than I've always been? ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass ♪
♪ Waving through the window ♪
♪ I try to speak, but nobody can hear ♪
♪ So I wait around for an answer to appear ♪
♪ While I'm watch, watch, watching people pass ♪
♪ Waving through a window, oh ♪
♪ Can anybody see ♪
♪ Is anybody waving back at me? ♪
♪ Oh. Is anybody waving? Oh ♪
♪ Waving, waving, whoa-oh ♪
♪ Whoa-oh ♪
I really do love you all.
Thank you.
- Bye. Bye, bye, bye. - All right.
Oh, my God. - Bye.
- I love you guys the most. - I love you, guys.
- I love you so much. - See you all very, very soon.
I love you all so much.
- Yeah, good. - I love you.
[music]