Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis have been tapped to produce a collaborative song for hunger relief.
In partnership with100 Billion Meals cofounder Tony Robbins,“The Next Verse” will premiere globally on Dec. 25 across all streaming platforms.
Drawing inspiration from “We Are the World,” “The Next Verse” “will be the first time ever, both live and remotely via Zoom, that celebrities and the public around the world can join in a creative effort of this magnitude.”
Featured artists included Dr. Dre, Janet Jackson, Sheila E., Darryl McDaniels of D.M.C., Aloe Blacc, Duran Duran, Pitbull, The War and Treaty, Andrea Bocelli, Sammy Hagar and Leona Lewis.
Jimmy Jam spoke to Billboard about the process of the song coming together.
“We thought it would be fun to make it interactive,” he explains, “where people can add verses or do videos nowadays like with TikTok. Then that way, it becomes a living, breathing way to give. That way everybody can feel like they’re a part of it — not only in the creation of the song and subsequent versions of the song — rather than just watching us record the song on Dec. 16.”
“Hunger is one of the greatest solvable challenges of our time. No child should wonder where their next meal is coming from,” Robbins added. “ This challenge exists to bring together the resources, the innovation and the collective will to deliver 100 billion meals and reshape the future of food for generations to come.”
Jimmy Jam also spoke about the recording process and being inspired by Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me.”
“We’re building the plane while we’re flying, and the 16th is going to be a nice landing,” he said.
“This song is so simple; it’s literally five notes up and down,” adds Jam. “It starts off very quiet, goes into an anthem type of thing. And then comes right back to where it started, which is kind of the circle of life. We just want it to feel like a universal statement.”