There’s nothing quite like watching a group of players collaborating together on something so big and powerful that it takes a team of a dozen or more musicians to really bring the vision to life, and in the music video for FreeWorld’s “D-Up (Here’s to Diversity),” we get a glimpse at this process like no other out this spring. The energy is bouncing off of the beats and the artists in equal measure, and it’s transcending the limitations of long-distance recording without feeling entirely COVID-inspired. FreeWorld are making world-class music for musicians in this release and stimulating any true melody lovers along the way.
This is undeniably structured like a rock n’ roll song, but there’s no defining the elements that accentuate the vocal harmonies, rapped lyrics, jazzy percussive components, nor the pop-influenced rhythm using conventional terminology. Experimentation was the order of the day for FreeWorld here, and although it’s true that they aren’t breaking away from a consistent pattern of grooves and socially smart lyricism, there’s nothing else even slightly predictable about what unfolds as we get deeper into the guts of the single. It’s thought-provoking but not overloading, which is a change of pace from what I’ve received in a lot of similarly stylized content this year.
Watch the official music video for “D-Up (Here’s to Diversity)”
The swing of the drums is relentlessly eclipsed by the joint force of the singers in this master mix, but the synchronicity between every element here is something to be praised no matter how you look at it. “D-Up (Here’s to Diversity)” has an elegance to even its more chaotic moments that I haven’t been able to find as much in the mainstream pop I’ve recently listened to – much to my chagrin – and I can see where it could wind up being one of the key features to bring them out of obscurity and onto the radar of a mainstream audience.
I’ve been hearing good things about this project since early January, and listening to “D-Up (Here’s to Diversity)” has made it clear why other critics have been taking so much interest in the music this crew is making. There’s a noble motivation to the creation of this single and its accompanying music video that cannot go without mention in any credible review of FreeWorld’s latest release, but beyond what its poetic narrative stands for, I think it shows us a true path to the solution it suggests and celebrates in its lyrics through music itself.
