Words by Catherine Forsyth
Last week, breakout artist and vocal powerhouse Cobi premiered a powerful music video for his debut single “Don’t Cry For Me”. The song first gained popularity by earning a well-deserved #1 spot on Spotify’s Global Viral 50 list, with over ten million streams. If you haven’t heard the folk/rock song (released May 6th of this year) it contains strong lyrics delivered with Cobi’s steady, soulful, make you feel some type of way voice. The song shows who he will be as a solo artist, with his background of playing blues- which he began doing in Minnesota at the ripe age of 12, before going on to play with groups like Gentleman Hall, and being a guest vocalist for Above and Beyond on their world tour.
The lyrics begin to make sense as you watch the video, revealing the inspiration for the song- the social injustices that continue to occur in the United States. There is no way you can watch this video without getting mega chills, it is such a metaphorical-yet real- depiction of modern day discrimination and police brutality.
The video is shown in a somber black-and-white, and it tells a story we all know too well. Images of policemen beating civilians, and the public abuse of particularly black men are beyond disturbing, but not as disturbing as the truth derived from these scenes. Cobi’s lyric, “Old feelings from new faces, a rope on the floor and a poor man hanging,” brings to mind faces like Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, and Eric Garner- to name A FEW that have been the victims of police brutality in the past couple of years. Cobi is using his first solo single as a platform to say that the Black Lives Matter movement is ongoing, and deserves your attention.What a badass.
Cobi is touring with Boy & Bear this year, with dates beginning this October all over the United States and Canada..
You can keep up with Cobi via Facebook, Twitter or Soundcloud.
[Words by Catherine Forsyth ]
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