Spotify Continues to Celebrate Black History Year-Round with Volume 2 of Black History Is Happening Now Curated By Pharrell Williams
Black History is Happening Now Inspires Black Female Creatives Initiative
Even after Black History Month has passed, the celebration of Black History should not end. That’s why Spotify launched Black History is Happening Now,in partnership with creative collective Saturday Morning, to celebrate and amplify the voices of black artists, creators, and organizations year-round. With the launch of volume two of the platform, Spotify will continue to tell the stories of and raise topics that are important to black artists and creatives through video, podcast, and music curation.
By paying tribute to the black musicians who have paved the way, Spotify will be empowering the artists who will define what’s next. One such musician is GRAMMY-award winning singer, songwriter, and producer Pharrell Williams, who will be the next curator of Black History Is Happening Now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69zN5f-O_K4
GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter and actress Janelle Monáe officially kicked off Black History Is Happening Now as the first artist to takeover the platform through playlists featuring artists who have influenced her music, artists to watch for, and a short film on what Afrofuturism means to her.
Pharrell Williams’ Black History Is Happening Now hub will feature exclusive original content including videos and curated playlists. Three original videos, Pharrell is Black History, A Very Serious Force and Something Awakening,were directed by Pharrell Williams’s longtime collaborator Paul Hunter, cofounder of PRETTYBIRD. Each will showcase Pharrell Williams’s perspective on black culture, the power of black women, his beliefs on love, politics, the human condition and more. Pharrell Williams explains in A Very Serious Force, “I think that what’s going to save not only this country but save the world are the Gen Z’ers, the Millennials and the women.”
Inspired by Pharrell Williams’s words and following in the footsteps of the Spotify’s Sound Up Bootcamp and Fellowship programs, Spotify is announcing a new initiative to support up-and-coming black female creators. Together with the women of BLK@Spotify, Spotify will be seeking out three black female creatives across film, literature, and visual arts who are breaking new ground. These three women will receive funding to collaborate in creating original content to uplift the message that “black women are a very serious force.” The content will be launched early this fall.
Saturday Morning, an organization that helps to promote peace, generate love, raise awareness of injustice and fights for fairness to create change and understanding between all races, played a major role in co-creating Black History is Happening Now, alongside Spotify’s Employee Resource Group, BLK@. Additionally, Spotify worked closely with Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, as an advisor.
Black History Is Happening Now will be live in the US, UK, Brazil, Mexico and Canada.
You can access the Black History Is Happening Now hub here or via the browse section on Spotify’s homepage.