DETROIT — Detroit's acclaimed Detroit Youth Choir is tackling gun violence in its latest song and video, a powerful rendition of the Guns N' Roses' 1987 hit, "Sweet Child O' Mine."
The performance, released Tuesday morning, was inspired by 11-year-old Layla Salazar, one of 19 students killed in a mass shooting in May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The video ends with actual footage of Salazar. The entire 55-member choir wears T-shirts listing the names of cities where mass shootings have occurred, including Oxford. Detroit born rapper Jayla Smalls, 21, known as IndigoYaj, who was part of the choir during its star-turning run in 2019 on NBC's "America's Got Talent" when it finished second, also performs.
Wearing T-shirts that list cities where mass shooting have occurred, the Detroit Youth Choir sings a rendition of Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine."
"We wanted to pay homage to those young people who lost their lives," said Anthony White, the Detroit Youth Choir’s Artistic Director. "That really touched our kids. And it made the project personal."
The video and song are the latest by Detroit Youth Choir to tackle a serious issue and push for change, though White says their goal isn't to be political.
Last year, the choir — which also is gearing up to debut its docuseries, "Choir," on Disney+ in 2023 — released "Georgia's Changing," an updated version of "I am Changing" from "Dreamgirls," in response to the state's changing political demographics before the runoff for a U.S. Senate seat there. And in 2020, it released its version of "Glory," which called for racial equality.
For one DYC member, Gwendolyn Jackson, 15, of Detroit, "Sweet Child O' Mine" and its push to address gun violence was personal. She was 5 when her father, Marcel Jackson, was shot and killed in 2012. An average of 12 children a day die from gun violence in America, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
Director Anthony White gets ready to lead The Detroit Youth Choir as they perform “God Bless America” before a crowd of more than 108,000 fans at the Michigan vs. Washington football game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
"The victims of gun violence are not only those who were killed, it’s also the injured, the ones who witnessed the horror, or like me, who lost a father at the age of five," said Jackson in a press release. "Young people in this country have an underlying sense of fear at the movie theater, school, a concert, or at a shopping mall and that’s not right."
For "Sweet Child O' Mine," which primarily features DYC's Center Stage choir, the group worked with Grammy Award-winning producer Gerard Smerek from Yessian Music and creative agency Imagination, the team behind the choir's “Glory" performance. White, whose daughter, Shyel, a soprano, sings one of the solos, contributed to the artistic arrangement and the video was filmed at the former Durfee Innovation Society in Detroit.
"This project had really deep meaning because my daughter is going into high school," said White. "We just want people to know we want our kids in a safe environment. They shouldn't have to worry about anything but their education."
Alistair Wilson, Imagination's managing director, calls DYC a group of "talented change makers."
"Their view of the future is one we all want to live in," he said. "We hope our work to lift up their voices takes this message far and wide."
The choir recorded the song and video earlier this summer, just after coming back from performing at New York's renowned Carnegie Hall in June. Smalls, the rapper, now a student at Clark Atlanta University, was asked to come back to write and perform the rap in the song.
"It's going to really hit people in the gut," said White. " ... Our hope is not to tell people what to do. Our hope is actually to make people think before acting. When it comes to our youth, it's our job to make sure that our kids are safe.
Gerard Smerek, Yessian's executive producer, said the new "Sweet Child 'O Mine" arrangement is "one of hope."
And it's a "message of hope delivered by the youth of America that we can all continue to work together to find solutions to prevent future tragedies," said Smerek.
Salazar was one of 19 kids gunned down in her Uvalde classroom in late May after a gunman entered her school through a side door. Her father, Vinnie Salazar, has said that the two would often sing "Sweet Child O' Mine" together when he drove her to school. He also said the song is one of the few things that has offered him peace in the aftermath of his daughter's death.
The Detroit Youth Choir’s version of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is available on all major streaming platforms, with the video available on YouTube, Twitter,Instagram and TikTok.
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