By Sam Goodykoontz

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everything has changed. We cannot go to school, we cannot play any sports, we cannot meet up together in clubs. However, we can still sing.

Senior Natsuki Saballos decided to make a singing project with the famous song We Are The World. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, it was released in 1985 as a charity single for African famine relief. The song ended up selling over 20 million copies, it topped the charts worldwide, and it won the Grammy awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

Natsuki, however, took this song and decided to dedicate it towards the COVID-19 relief. For the voices, he cast our Cantamus and Chamber Choir director Aimee Stewart as Lionel Richie, himself as Stevie Wonder, senior Rebekah Chadwick as Kenny Rogers, sophomore Coralee Stough as James Ingram, junior Maya Kostov as Tina Turner, me as Billy Joel, his mother Lilinoe Saballos as Diana Ross, junior Clara Moffitt as Dionne Warwick, alumnus Christopher Moffitt as Willie Nelson, alumnus David Smith as Bruce Springsteen, senior Gracie Newman as Michael Jackson, junior Elizabeth Turley as Cyndi Lauper, senior Eric Johnson as Bob Dylan, and senior Anah Hargrove as Ray Charles.

When asked about why he wanted to do this project, Natsuki responded, “I wanted to keep singing in some way. Plus, I have wanted to do a We Are The World project for so long now, and this pandemic was the perfect opportunity.” When asked about how he put the song together, Natsuki responded, “It started in gaining interest in the project and then assigning solos. Once we had everyone’s part selected, I then started getting the videos and converting the files to lay them over an instrumental track. Afterwards, it took me about a week and half to just sit and polish everyone to make sure all the voices were balanced and sounded awesome together. Then, I passed the torch to Anah Hargrove for making the video.”

When asked if he was content with the project result, Natsuki responded, “Absolutely, I think the song sounds great and I cannot wait to reveal it to the public!” Natsuki’s project is a perfect example of how we can still raise spirits while having to stay at home.