Maybe one of the single best things coming out of this election is yet another youth treat from Canadian indie band Arcade Fire. Their message is a rallying cry to youth to stop waiting.
Arcade Fire were the musical guests on Stephen Colbert’s Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand: Building Back America Great Again Better 2020. “Generation A,” which Colbert described as “inspired by the current climate and a hopeful message to the youths,” aired on the SHOWTIME coverage of the election. The special included conversations with influential voices across the country in media, politics, music, comedy and more.
A new wave of protest music
The song, part of a new wave of protest music, is a politically charged anthem that cleverly captures the deep undercurrent of impatience, a central theme in this year’s election among Millennial and Gen – Z voters and commentators. The song almost immediately explodes into fury dancing and feet stomping to capture the latent frustrations of an entire generation left out and left behind but with a strong urge to lead. The key hook wait…wait…wait plays repetitively in the background as Win Butler belts out lyrics about racism and climate change.
Part of a new wave of political protest music, Arcade Fire is the first major post- election song of the 2020 election. But this year art seems to be returning to a space of questioning and deep reckoning. Singles such as Dinner Party’s “Freeze Tag,” that came out earlier this year, examines life’s fragility around a time-old tradition in the Black community: the family cookout.
Hip-hop was the genre of protest this year, following the horrific killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. It became the soul of the Black Lives Matter Movement. As protests gathered, a new wave of songs pushing for social justice accompanied them. Black artists across genres released songs expressing anger, grief, and frustration at 400 years of injustice. Many will be compiled into an album called We Insist, a throwback to the 1960 Max Roach album of the same name. The album aims to capture the emotion of the summer of 2020.
Art elevates public consciousness
Some music critics argue, that protest music has been slowly creeping back into the popular zeitgeist even prior to 2020. Just look at Childish Gambino’s 2018 song This is America. The four-minute, single take video is laden with metaphors about gun violence and race in America. The graphic video shows Donald Glover rapping in jeans without a shirt, while people are gunned down all around him.
2020 has been one of the most painful years in living memory – a pre-curser to one of the most divided elections in history. Art has almost always been key to historically representing the emotions of the time and elevating public consciousness. In his article, The Five Ways of Seeing the Relationship Between Art and Politics in the Time of Trump writer Max Harris describes five key roles art plays as part of any larger political edifice. It represents political injustice, builds community, plants the seed of political change and is a form of escape.
A larger appetite for more thoughtful art
Over the last decade, art had moved out of the hands of artists into the hands of corporates. Commercial viability means heavily auto-tuned music. If there is hope coming out of 2020, it’s that the zeal and passion this election has induced has generated an appetite for art. And we can expect more thoughtful content, more inspired and inspiring music.
That is what Generation A ultimately does. It evokes and inspires. It’s urgent, frantic, and grandiose. You want to stamp your feet and bang your head in frustration but also in hope. And if nothing else, it is a solid companion to their 2017 album Everything Now. The youths can feel their time to lead is drawing near. And that is something to look forward to.
