Listening in on Lessons From ‘We Are the World’

The second Beyoncé obliterated the final note in the Destiny’s Child “Stand Up for Love” music video, students’ hands shot up.

The song, released in 2005 to raise awareness about child poverty worldwide, sounded more like a breakup ballad, one freshman suggested. For another, the over-the-top production detracted from the message, with dramatic closeups of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams and a parting shot of them all dressed in white standing on what looked like a giant wedding cake. The aesthetic prompted a hot take from a third student: While she “hates” music videos in general, she loved the “catchy, vibey” song itself. 

The lively discussion was part of an exercise analyzing philanthropy songs—and how they stack up against the one that inspired this new first-year seminar class at the University of Maryland. In “We Are the World: The Arts and Humanities of a Single Song,” taught by Dean Stephanie Shonekan, 24 students this fall are delving into the 1985 charity single by USA for Africa, including its lyrics, composition, context and impact as the era’s biggest names in pop music came together to raise money for Ethiopian famine relief. 

“I felt ‘We Are the World’ would be a great way to think about the connectedness that we have across different cultures and countries. I also felt that it was a good way of thinking about all the different fields in the arts and humanities,” said Shonekan, also a professor of ethnomusicology. “It’s a cheesy song, but … it’s also a song that reminds us of what was happening in 1985.”

For one night in January that year, dozens of artists—including songwriters Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones, as well as Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner and more—gathered in a Los Angeles studio to record the single. Musician and activist Harry Belafonte was inspired to assemble them after the previous year’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” released by British and Irish supergroup Band Aid for the same cause.

All that star power in one room didn’t come without controversy—newly famous Huey Lewis had to step in when Prince never showed for his solo, for example, and country singer Waylon Jennings reportedly left after disagreeing with Wonder’s suggestion of adding Swahili to the song. Despite that, with lyrics appealing to human compassion, it sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and raised over $63 million.

For Shonekan, a self-described “huge fan” of the song and an African herself, those lyrics resonated with her more than the somewhat patronizing ones in “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” and she viewed the single as an ideal example of humanitarian music. She challenged herself to create a whole syllabus around it for “Explorations in Arts and Humanities” (ARHU158), a first-year innovation and research experience that introduces multiple disciplinary perspectives within a given theme.

Besides listening to the song “too many times,” she said, the class is also dissecting the music video, analyzing the album cover, learning African history and exploring other examples of celebrity activism and why it matters. Guest lecturers from the College of Arts and Humanities and beyond have added context, including Professor and Arts for All Director Craig Kier’s discussion on the aesthetics of music and public policy Associate Professor Michael Woldemariam’s on U.S. foreign policy in Africa.

“I’ve really liked how we’re not just diving into music, but we’re going into the meanings, how it’s constructed, the background,” said communication major Luciana Zannino ’29. “It’s more than music; it’s humanity.”

In the three-credit class where students discussed “Stand Up for Love,” most ranked “We Are the World” as more effective than it and other examples like “Bangla-Desh” by George Harrison; “That’s What Friends Are For” by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Wonder; and “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” They weighed the pros and cons of such charity songs: Sure, they raise money and awareness for causes. But are the artists always being sincere? And do American songs for other countries raise “savior” notions? 

“The conversations we have are very in-depth and vulnerable,” said communication major Daniella Amessan ’29. “We get to have a lot of real-world discussions.”

Each student is also giving a presentation on one of the featured artists and how they came to be involved with the song, then will do the same for the more modern “We Are the World 25 for Haiti,” a remake released in 2010 following a catastrophic earthquake there. Shonekan has loved seeing them fall in love with the musicians she loves, and she hopes to spotlight another song, perhaps “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” in a future seminar.

“This has made them really press ‘pause’ and really give their attention to one song for long period of time,” she said. “It gives them a perspective that I think is really important for our students right now.”