We Are The World (25 For Haiti)

On 12th February 2010, We Are The World 25 For Haiti was released. A short version of the music video debuted at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, broadcast live around the world. Following the premiere, the song was available for download on iTunes, with the proceeds going to the newly-established, non-profit We Are The World Foundation.

The story behind this new version of the 1985 classic is well-known by now, but let me just briefly recap it. 25 years ago, activist Harry Belafonte and and fund-raiser Ken Kragen activated Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson to pen an all-star charity anthem to raise funds for impoverished Africa, specifically Ethiopia, after being inspired by UK's gathering of superstars, Band Aid, which recorded the charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?

They managed to assemble 43 of America's biggest stars at the time to record the song on 28th January 1985, right after the American Music Awards. The group was dubbed USA For Africa. The project was released as a single and album and sold over 20 million copies worldwide, reportedly raising US$63 million for Africa.

25 years later, the remake was initiated following the devastating magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck the Caribbean country Haiti on 12th January 2010. With casualties rising to 200,000, original collaborators Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones (who produced the original) decided it was the right moment to activate a new cast of artists to urgently raise funds for Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the Americas.

They roped in current in-form producer RedOne to produce the track, and had Haitian Wyclef Jean to front the project. Will.i.am wrote a rap segment to make the song more contemporary and relevant to Haiti. In all, more than 85 artists took part in the remake, double the original. Michael Jackson is the only one to be featured vocally in both versions (Lionel Richie did not sing in the remake).

Before going on any further, here are the videos for the original and remake:

USA For Africa - We Are The World

Artists For Haiti - We Are The World 25 For Haiti

Here's the list of artists who participated in the original:

Soloists (in order of appearance)

1. Lionel Richie

2. Stevie Wonder

3. Paul Simon

4. Kenny Rogers

5. James Ingram

6. Tina Turner

7. Billy Joel

8. Michael Jackson

9. Diana Ross

10. Dionne Warwick

11. Willie Nelson

12. Al Jarreau

13. Bruce Springsteen

14. Kenny Loggins

15. Steve Perry

16. Daryl Hall

17. Huey Lewis

18. Cyndi Lauper

19. Kim Carnes

20. Bob Dylan

21. Ray Charles

Chorus

22. Dan Aykroyd

23. Harry Belafonte

24. Lindsey Buckingham

25. Mario Cipollina

26. Johnny Colla

27. Sheila E.

28. Bob Geldof

29. Bill Gibson

30. Chris Hayes

31. Sean Hopper

32. Jackie Jackson

33. LaToya Jackson

34. Marlon Jackson

35. Randy Jackson

36. Tito Jackson

37. Waylon Jennings

38. Bette Midler

39. John Oates

40. Jeffrey Osborne

41. Anita Pointer

42. Ruth Pointer

43. Smokey Robinson

And here are the ones who took part in the remake:

Soloists (in order of appearance)

1. Justin Bieber

2. Jennifer Hudson

3. Nicole Scherzinger

4. Jennifer Nettles

5. Josh Groban

6. Tony Bennett

7. Mary J. Blige

8. Michael Jackson (from stock archives)

9. Janet Jackson

10. Barbra Streisand

11. Miley Cyrus

12. Enrique Iglesias

13. Jamie Foxx

14. Wyclef Jean

15. Adam Levine

16. P!nk

17. BeBe Winans

18. Usher

19. Celine Dion

20. Orianthi (on guitar)

21. Fergie

22. Nick Jonas

23. Toni Braxton

24. Mary Mary

25. Isaac Slade

26. Lil Wayne

27. Carlos Santana (on guitar)

28. Akon

29. T-Pain

30. LL Cool J

31. Will.i.am

32. Snoop Dogg

33. Busta Rhymes

34. Swizz Beatz

35. IYAZ

36. Kanye West

Chorus

37. Patti Austin

38. Bizzy Bone

39. Ethan Bortnick

40. Jeff Bridges

41. Zac Brown

42. Brandy

43. Kristian Bush

44. Natalie Cole

45. Harry Connick Jr.

46. Hayden Panettiere

47. Kid Cudi

48. Faith Evans

49. Melanie Fiona

50. Sean Garrett

51. Tyrese Gibson

52. Anthony Hamilton

53. Keri Hilson

54. Julianne Hough

55. India.Arie

56. Randy Jackson

57. Taj Jackson

58. Taryll Jackson

59. TJ Jackson

60. Al Jardine

61. Jimmy Jean-Louis

62. Ralph Johnson

63. Joe Jonas

64. Kevin Jonas

65. Gladys Knight

66. Benji Madden

67. Harlow Madden

68. Joel Maddern

69. Katherine McPhee

70. Jason Mraz

71. Mya

72. Freda Payne

73. A.R. Rahman

74. Nicole Richie

75. Raphael Saadiq

76. Trey Songz

77. Musiq Soulchild

78. Jordin Sparks

79. Robin Thicke

80. Rob Thomas

81. Vince Vaughn

82. Verdin White

83. Ann Wilson

84. Brian Wilson

85. Nancy Wilson

86. Nipsey Hussle

87. Fozworth Bentley

After listening to the remake for the first time, I thought it was better than expected. The arrangement was quite similar to the original, as RedOne himself said that he didn't want to mess around with it too much, besides updating the beats a little to make it more contemporary. And contrary to what most critics are saying, I quite like the rap segment in the final third of the song - I thought it melded well with the song and didn't sound out of place. I felt it did well as a remake of the iconic anthem.

However, if you really want to compare it with the original, there are more criticisms to be made for sure.

Firstly, do we really need 87 voices on the song? Yes, it's all for charity and lending a helping hand, but there also has to be a balance and compromise in terms of what works for the song. The strange thing is, even with half the number of people, the chorus on the original sounds bigger and fuller than on the remake. Maybe they're just better singers, can project their voices better, can sing in harmony better, or maybe it's just pure studio wizardry. But I definitely feel the chorus on the remake sounds a little weak and not in sync all the time. Not as rousing and heart-stirring.

Secondly, the voices on the original blended better as they went from one solo to another. There seemed to be more thought when selecting the artists and their lines, such that the transitions were smooth and there wasn't a "what was that?" moment. For example, in the remake, the Miley Cyrus-Enrique Iglesias transition just didn't work for me. And Tony Bennett seemed really out of place.

Thirdly, the individual singers on the original were stronger and sang with much more conviction. To be brutally honest, there are just too many mediocre singers on the remake. I'm referring to real singers, as in, people who can carry a tune, and not just entertainers, people who are so-called entertainers and happen/pretend to sing. For example, what's Justin Beiber doing here? (Answer: Randy Phillip is one of the executive producers for this project and he also manages Justin Beiber)

Fourthly, how many of the artists on the remake are going to be around and still kicking it 25 years from now? Whereas on the original, we've had a good number of legends and artists who are still highly respected today - Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, even Cyndi Lauper, to name a few. Fergie, Jamie Foxx, T-Pain, Adam Levine to be future legends? I don't think so.

I know one of the major grouses for the remake is the use of auto-tune. Well, I'm neutral to that. I don't like it personally, but it does appeal to a certain audience (the hip-hop community), and if it makes them donate to the cause, I'm fine with that. Because ultimately, that's the goal of this project, to reach out to people of all walks of life and get them to contribute to Haiti.

Then again, you might say, aren't you contradicting yourself? That's what having Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers is for - to reach out to the tween market and get them to contribute too? Yes, that's partly true, but I would have preferred having people in that demographic who can really sing, for example even Taylor Swift would have been a better choice. And artists who are destined to be future legends, like Beyonce, Alicia Keys, even Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake.

Criticisms aside, there are a few standout performances on the remake. I thought Celine Dion, P!nk, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige and Josh Groban did well. As did the rap segment performers, including Kanye West.

Integrating Michael Jackson to the remake is a nice touch, but Janet's "duet" with him was a huge letdown. Mainly because Janet was singing the same part as MJ, not a harmony, and MJ was mixed much louder than Janet. I couldn't even hear her! It would have been more meaningful had Janet sang the response to MJ's line, "When you're down and out, there seems no hope at all".

But my guess is that Janet's involvement came at the last minute, and they wouldn't have Usher give up his spot even for Janet, perhaps at Usher's insistence (since he's been so intent on being the next King Of Pop, overtly acting and mimicking MJ during his Memorial and Grammys tribute performances). Lionel Richie said that Katherine Jackson personally requested for Janet to be a part of it. It's a sweet idea, but poorly executed.

We Are The World 25 For Haiti (such a cubersome title) is not the only charity single to benefit Haiti. Simon Cowell has already put together and released an all-star cover of R.E.M.'s hit Everybody Hurts, and it duly debuted at #1 in the UK this week. It sold 453,000 copies and became the UK's fastest-selling charity single of this century.

WATW25 should also reach #1, like the original 25 years ago. But given that charity singles are a dime a dozen these days, it is unlikely the remake will earn as much love as the original. The original scooped up four Grammy Awards in 1986 including the two biggest awards - Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

You can call WATW25 whatever you want - a lazy, unoriginal, uninspired rehash of a classic anthem, or a fresh, updated, contemporary take of MJ and Lionel Richie's beloved tune - but let's not detract from its most important mission, which is to raise funds to rebuild Haiti. It's no classic for sure, but it should do what it's supposed to do.

For more information about the project, visit www.world25.org