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Jaren Dittman  

Dean Leonard  

English 1201.540 

9 February 2020 

“We Are the World” Summary

“We Are the world,” a brief statement that contains one of humanity’s most crucial

principles. Originally created by Michael Jackson, this song came as a reminder to society that

we are one people. Throughout time people have lost their sense of empathy and sympathy and

have overall become cold to others. The initial video utilized a multitude of artists like Bob

Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, and presumably the most famous artists at the time, Michael

Jackson. The video was shot within a music studio, with each artist having their own individual

shot and then, towards the end, everyone gathered within a group to sing the remainder of the

song. A lyric that stood out was “we are the ones that make a brighter day, so let’s start giving,”

ultimately meaning that society has the power to make a brighter future for each other if they

contribute. The purpose for the song was to gather donations to help decrease the amount of

famine in Africa, ultimately saving millions.  

 The 2010 remake of the song, produced by Jamie Fox, essentially had the same claim as

the original. However, the feeling and tone of the song was reinforced to make its message more

powerful and meaningful. The song was reuploaded to gain attention and support for the Haiti

catastrophe. Haiti experience an earthquake with a magnitude of 7, completely destroying the

majority of the of the land. This music video was also recorded within a music studio, however,

it also provided clips and images of the amount of damage and suffering the earthquake caused.

The song consisted of different artists too including Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Hudson,
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The Jonas Brothers, and Celine Dion to name a few. It also introduced a rap portion and Haiti’s

traditional language to help the listener better empathize with the victims. The purposes for both

songs differed, but their message was the same. They also both utilized the same appeals.  

U.S.A. for Africa was created as a charity group of celebrities that used their fame and

fortune to help raise money to fund donations to Africa. The money was used to help decrease

poverty in both the U.S. and Africa. Michael Jackson wrote the song, and him and over 20 artists

recorded and performed it within a studio. Jamie Fox’s remix of the song was longer due to his

addition of a rap part, which included artists like Snoop Dog, Will. I. Am, and Kanye

West. Wyclef Jean presented the traditional Haitian language to the song, which acted as a way

for other countries to connect more with their tragic predicament. The number of artists also

increased from under 25 in the original, to over 80 is the remake. Overall, both versions of the

song “We Are the World,” are generally the same. While there are many differences in the music

videos like time, number of artists, and purpose, musically and lyrically the are identical. U.S.A.

for Africa’s version of the song was easy-going with a simple video to support its inspiring and

wholesome message.  We Are The World 25 for Haiti’s version was more soulful and modern

with emotional clips of the Haitian struggle to help gather a larger audience.  

Appeal-wise, they both utilize the same types of appeals, pathos and ethos. The original

is more directed towards ethos. The celebrities used their fame to spread their message and

gather money for U.S.A. for Africa. Michael Jackson’s inclusion within the video greatly

contributed to its popularity as he was one of the most renowned Pop-artists of the time. With a

wide variety of artists that focused on their own genres like Rock, R&B, and Country, their

audience increased substantially, resulting in outcome of the song’s profitability being greater
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than what was expected. Hundreds of thousands of people were given the money they needed to

lead them away from famine and allowed them to rebound their lives. 

The 2010 version was more focused on using pathos; however, it did have an enormous

amount of ethos as well. The song had a deeper feel and tone because most of the artists were

R&B-styled singers. Nevertheless, within the 80 people involved in the creation of the song,

there were Country, Pop, Ballad, Jazz, etc., typed singers as well. The video has a

notable amount of clips from what Haiti was going through, and they were placed very cleverly

to match with what the lyrics were portraying. The clips provided an enormous amount of

pathos, as they appeal to the audience’s emotions very strongly; not may want to see people in

pain and struggling. It allowed them to become empathetic and maybe even sympathetic towards

the Haitian people, resulting in the music video having over 200 million views. The tremendous

number of views also came with just as much money for Haiti and the U.S., leading to millions

of people being saved from poverty, homelessness, and famine. 

The overall message shared between the two songs, “We Are the World,” reminded

humanity that people need to stand together and unite in order to save the world from human-

related destruction. By using pathos and ethos to convey this message, the song’s target

audience (which didn’t really target any certain group of people) were able to relate and connect

with the claim of the song. Its calm yet powerful tone resulted in its popularity reaching far

beyond what the songs true purpose was. It united people together for not only Africa and Haiti,

but overall it made society realize many of its flaws and encouraged them to acknowledge and

fix them. This message is extremely important, today especially, as the world is getting more

violent and communities are separating.  

 
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Works Cited

U.S.A. For Africa. “We Are the World.” YouTube. 12 Apr. 2010. Web. 9 Feb.

2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw 

Artists for Haiti. “We Are the World 25 for Haiti.” YouTube. 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 9 Feb.

2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glny4jSciVI