Created byChris Neeand executive produced byKenya BarrisandBarackandMichelle Obama, the Netflix original seriesWe the Peopleis comprised of ten music videos, each their own original song performed by an incredible line-up of artists and animated in a mix of styles. Covering a range of basic U.S. civics lessons to educate young Americans about the power that each of us has within us, each three-minute short helps recontextualize what government and citizenship mean in a modern world in which the power really is with the people.
During this virtual interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, singer/songwriterH.E.R.(who co-wrote and performed the song “Change” for the episode entitled “Active Citizenship”), episode directorPeter Ramseyand Nee talked about how this project evolved with such an incredible line-up of talent, writing a song with purpose, matching the animation to that song, why songwriting is like having a superpower, and the ability to make social and political change through art.
Collider: I absolutely love the series and think this whole idea is complete genius. The artistry is absolutely beautiful and this lineup of music artists would make one of the best concerts, ever. Chris, how did this all come about? Did you just have a light bulb moment one day, where you thought, “I’m going to put together this incredible group of artists to write songs about civics that we’re going to animate”? How does that even happen?
CHRIS NEE: I have spent my career trying to work during the day on the things that bother me at night and keep me up and keep me awake, and the last few years have been really intense. I’m someone who has always followed politics and loved the idea of governance. I felt like we had lost a common language of how to think about our country and how to feel like Americans outside of any political split. I had moved to Netflix and they were saying, “What do you wanna do?” And I was like, “I wanna do this.” And at the same time, the Obamas had moved to Netflix and Kenya Barris was it Netflix, so we joined forces to bring this project together. Once you have the Obamas onboard, you get to dream your dream scenario. These ten animators and these ten musical artists were exactly that.
H.E.R., what was it like to get approached with a project like this. It seems like a no-brainer to do something with Netflix and the Obamas, but then you had to write a song about a subject like this. How did that work?
H.E.R.: I enjoy those kinds of challenges. Writing a song with a purpose, or with an intent to educate or start a movement or start a change, or something like that, is in line with what I wanna do anyways, in my own music. So, when I heard about the project, I was like, “Of course, I wanna do be a part of this. This is perfect.” I just thought it was so special. One of the goals is always, of course, to inspire, especially young girls, but to inspire all people and empower all people. What better way to do it than with a project like this, on a great platform that we watch every day anyways. So, I thought this would be a really, really great project.
What was your process for writing this song? Is it something that you did quickly, or does it slow everything down when you hope that the Obamas are happy with it when you’re done?
H.E.R.: It took a bit of time. I was doing so many other things and this required so much focus and making sure the facts were right and making sure everything was correct. What I really wanted to do was verify I was in the right mindset to write about this and get excited about it. I really wanted to make a feel-good song. When you hear something about active citizenship, it should make you want to get up and do something, whether it’s get up and dance, or whatever. I thought about that, and how it should be a little upbeat and have a little bit of a groove to it. I started to think about all of the things that show what it means to be an active citizen. I realized they were things that I already knew, but I just forgot that’s really what it means to be an active citizen. You hear that word and kids probably get intimidated, but it’s daily things. It’s things that we think are small, but really contribute to big change. That’s what I thought about. And thinking about that hook, we’ve all felt like we don’t matter, our voices don’t matter, we’re just one person, I’m too young, I come from this background, or I’m this and I can’t do anything. This song is really letting people know that you have a voice and it does matter.
NEE: I’m just gonna jump in and say, when that song came in, we all knew we were suddenly sitting on something that was clicking on a different level. It was one of the first songs that we heard back from President Obama about, that he had heard it and he was so incredibly moved by it. We also used it as bait to get Peter [Ramsey] on board.
Peter, you obviously know what you’re doing when it comes to animated projects that push boundaries, but what were the unique challenges with something like this, taking this song, having your own animation style, and doing it all in three minutes?
PETER RAMSEY: Yeah, but the song made it easy. Honestly, the storytelling and the vibe of the song were so complete. H.E.R. got the assignment so perfectly that it was just drawing on what she had already created in the song. The lyric that she referenced, “If I’m just one person, does my voice even stand out,” that alone tells you that this is the story of one young woman who’s a little intimidated, but is gonna become brave enough to speak up and make a change. There were other images drawn from the lyrics. From the city council meeting, the letter to the mayor, planting a tree and recycling, that idea became the spine of the whole thing. It was all there. The visual style and the rhythm of what we wanted to do, in terms of our images, our transitions, our colors, all of that came out of the vibe of the song. You just had to be open to what was already there, so completely, and go with it. That really was the blueprint. It was easy.
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The lyrics really struck me because I had a friend growing up who told me that she doesn’t vote because it’s not going to actually affect or change anything. Now, I can refer people like that to this song.
RAMSEY: Yeah. You get 30 million people saying the same thing and of course nothing’s gonna happen. But if hopefully, knock on wood, one person hears this song and goes, “Hey, wait a minute . . .,” and gets inspired just to speak up a little bit, it can help all these other people.
When you look at past work, likeSchoolhouse Rockand evenHamilton, is the trick to getting people to learn something that might seem dry, boring, or uninteresting just making it really cool?
H.E.R.: I think so.
NEE: Yes, which is why we got H.E.R. on this project. I’m not gonna make anything cool. H.E.R. is gonna make it cool.
H.E.R.: Yeah, I think it’s things that we should already know. The problem is working against the way that some things have been presented at certain points. Sometimes the in which it’s been presented before can discourage us from thinking that it’s important, so it’s really just bringing the focus back on like, “Hey, this may not be simple, but it’s this important.” It’s really daily things and it’s things that do matter. When you have a good beat to that, then of course, you hear it and you’re learning on accident because you love the song and you’re digesting that song. Sometimes when you’re taking in a message, you don’t realize that you’re getting out that message. You start thinking differently and you start moving differently because of what you’ve heard and because of how much it affected you.
NEE: One of my biggest fears right now, in this moment in our country, politically, after COVID, after George Floyd, and after everything that is going on, it is going to make kids sad, depressed, and lean back, and to feel powerless. I think all of us feel this sense that actually we’ve got a bright future, if our youth get involved. We’re just trying to say, “We are the people. You are the people. Go take your power and change what you don’t like in this country. It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s not political.” Civics is about how you have the power to get your opinion heard in this country and change the direction we’re going in.
Chris, what was it like for you to go from this idea to then having this incredible lineup of musical artists and this beautiful visual animation to accompany it, and to see all of the finished products?
NEE: I tend to cry a lot. I’m pretty emotional, and there have been quite a few moments on this project where that’s been the case. For me, it’s selfish. I don’t know how to get up in the morning and attack my day and feel positive, if I’m not actually using the work that I do to affect change. So, the fact that so many incredible people joined me in that process, I hope they too are taking in the selfish part of it. Being involved is both a selfless and selfish act. You will feel better, if you take some power and go out there and be bold. This is a world where I asked. I asked Kenya. I asked the President and the First Lady. We asked all of these artists. If you’re on point, people will join you.
Did you ever get nervous or worried, along the way, that somebody wouldn’t be able to deliver?
NEE: Yes, all the time. And yet, every single one of these songs is amazing. I was worried about how we were asking for a lot of content in some of these. It just inherently was a lot to ask, “Hey, can you make a radio play song about fed vs. state or taxes?” We knew it was a big ask, but everybody stepped up. The songs are amazing.
I’m such a music fan that there are albums in my life that I remember my life before I heard that album and my life after I heard that album, and songwriting is so mysterious that it feels like a superpower. H.E.R., because that is something that is so elusive and it’s hard to explain to people how you write a song, does it feel like a superpower to you?
H.E.R.: It does because it’s a given for most songwriters. It’s not something that you’ve had to think about too much. You just do it. It’s really a gift. If you use your gift and your superpower for good, then you’re a superhero. I think that’s the beautiful thing, when you can do something that you love and it just so happens that it changes people’s lives, or it just so happens that it teaches people, or it makes people feel good. It does feel like a superpower.
Peter, you’ve done animated features. Did doing something like this, that is only three minutes, change how you view animation? Is it going to affect how you do animated features, going forward?
RAMSEY: Hmm, interesting. I don’t know if it changes anything about that, but it made me wanna do more short pieces. My whole career has been in features, so weirdly enough, the idea of doing shorts was a little like, “Wow, that’s not much time.” But I have to keep going back to the song, which was so much all there. I was going back and forth with Chris for a long time about whether I’d have enough time to do it, but I’m telling you, as soon as I heard the song, the ideas just started to download right away and I was like, “Oh, okay, I guess this is gonna work.” Luckily for me, I think it worked. I think it worked pretty well. I guess the thing I learned was to just say yes, more often.
NEE: I’m gonna call you in about 10 minutes with my next ask, while you’re in that mood.
H.E.R., what was it like to see the visual representation put together with your music? Was it anything like you thought it might be, or were you surprised to see it brought to life, in that way?
H.E.R.: Oh, man, I haven’t even got to tell Peter how excited I am about how amazing it turned out, with the details and the diversity. Starting off, not necessarily being sad, but more melancholy and like, “Okay, what can I make of this world?” And then, going into this vibrant world and planting seeds with the trees. The guy with the boom box is probably my favorite part because that’s literally a visual representation of a call to action and how fun that can be and how important it is and how we do it anyways, but this is another level of doing it. It literally brought the lyrics to life. It was really cool to see. I was like, “Oh, my gosh!” It really made it special. I know we all went into it with this passion, so when you see it come to life, it turns out to be more than anything you’d expect. It’s a special thing, and I know for Chris, it’s been a thing that’s been close to her. I was just so proud to be a part of it because of her passion. To see it brought to life was like, “Wow, this could be something that’s in the classrooms and in people’s homes for so many years,” and it will be, for so many years to come. That’s very exciting.
How does it feel to be able to make social and political change through your music? Between “I Can’t Breathe” and your song forJudas and the Black Messiahleading to an Oscar, what does that feel like?
H.E.R.: It’s overwhelming in a really good way. Initially, it’s like, “Oh, wow!” Somebody told me, with one of my songs, their 70-year-old Jewish father called them and was like, “Have you heard this song by this girl? It made me think differently.” And at that moment, I was like, “Oh, wow, that’s crazy! Something that I wrote is making somebody think differently.” That’s how you change the world. It’s those small, little things. I can’t believe that just me, I’m doing something like that. It’s very, very, very special. But it also reminds me, “Okay, just keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t feel like you have to do this or that. I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to be doing, and in a way that is just so personal to me.” That’s why it’s affecting people, because it’s something that I feel is coming from me. It’s not coming from, “Oh, because I have a bunch of followers, I have to speak out on this.” When we think that way, we only move when we feel an obligation to and not because we want to. That’s one of the biggest things, especially with a project like this. You can’t think, “Oh, we need to have this.” Why don’t we want to? There will be so much more change, if we felt more compassion towards people, and more compassion towards making a change and looking at the world and actually asking those questions to ourselves, and not waiting for the next person to do it because they feel an obligation to. So, it’s bigger than a responsibility. It should be the way that it is.
We the Peopleis available to stream at Netflix on July 4th.
KEEP READING:‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ Review: A Searing Portrait of a Uniquely American Power Struggle
