Artists For Haiti - We Are The World 25 For Haiti

Album: We Are The World 25 For Haiti (Single)

It has been 25 years since Quincy Jones, Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson gathered their musician friends to record “We Are the World.” Back in November of 2009, there was a talk of re-doing the song with completely new artists, but Lionel Ritchie, who co-wrote the song, didn’t think it should be remade, as the song was recorded for a particular purpose. But with Haiti’s devastating earthquake, Ritchie agreed that there is now a purpose, and the song got recorded.

With the exception of Michael Jackson who sings from archival footage alongside his sister Janet , none of the artists from 25 years appear on the new version.

The song starts out with Justin Bieber, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Nettles, Josh Groban, Tony Bennett and Mary J. Blige. Toward the end, there is auto-tune and rap from LL Cool J, Will.I.Am, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and Kanye West.

Now, of course, when you compare it with the original, where almost all of them are now considered legendary artists, the song doesn’t sound as powerful. To many, the auto-tune and rap part may sound absurd. But I personally think the producers did what they can to get the song to sell for today’s music buying population. The purpose of this song is to raise money for the Haiti cause, so including Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Lil Wayne probably makes sense.