“1-800”; The Music that really Matters

Vanessa D'Angelo, Crier Staff

I’m sure most people have heard of the well-known song by Logic called “1-800-273-8255.” This song has sat at number one in the country for 13 consecutive days.

To those who aren’t aware of this song, the title is the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

The lyrics of this song go back and forth between someone calling the hotline wanting to end their life and the operator giving them reasons not to.

Suicide and mental health is not something that is easy for people to talk about, and because of that, people don’t. These subjects are constantly sugarcoated and pushed away because no one wants to have those conversations.

Logic made the choice to do something about that. He also made the decision to make this song an anthem.

The music is sort of upbeat, despite the darkness of the words because he wanted his listeners to take it all in and to be able to use it as their own outlet.

Since the release of this song, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has seen record numbers in call volume and social media engagement.

Calls have been up 33% since 2016, and many callers have mentioned Logic’s song as their reason for making the call.

In an interview with Genius, Logic spoke about fans who had come up to him telling him that his music saved their lives. He said that he always brushed off these comments, until he realized that these people were being serious.

He thought about the fact that he hadn’t even been trying to save their lives, and what impact he could have if he did try. He decided to use his outlet and his platform to start talking about what mattered.

“1-800” is only one song off his third debut album called “Everybody.” The entirety of the album is focused on other aspects of mental health, racism, sexism and the society we live in today.

To no surprise, a lot of controversy has surrounded this album since its release. Many have said that this is his worst album thus far.

People have complained that these songs talk too much about his biracial background (he has a black father and a white mother). Basically, that simply justifies him in writing the album even more.

All his life, people have told him that he was just a privileged white child and that he knew no struggle; this was his opportunity to finally lay out his whole life story.

“Everybody” is the title of the album, as well as one of the songs. Originally, when he announced the release of the album, it was titled “AfricAryaN”, another song on the album.

The switch in titles was a smart move on Logic’s part.

Both songs are about his race and his background, however, “Everybody” is clearly more a title that, well, everybody can relate to. The chorus of the song goes like this, “Everybody people, everybody bleed, everybody need something, everybody love, everybody know, how it go.”

The purpose of these words, and really of the album in general is to unite disparate groups of people.

He wants everybody to finally realize that we all bleed, we all love, we all need somebody and we are all people.

We are all people regardless of race religion color creed and sexual orientation.

This is a phrase Logic uses repeatedly throughout many of the songs. His motto, which he has been preaching since before the release of his first album is “Peace love and positivity.”

This album is now trying to spread the message of peace love and positivity, regardless of race, religion, color, creed and sexual orientation, and everyone should hop on board.