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    • Stevie Wonder warns American voters against ‘division and hatred’
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    Stevie Wonder warns American voters against ‘division and hatred’

    Harry Posted on

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    GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan – In the month leading up to the most heated presidential election in modern U.S. history, Stevie Wonder I traveled across the country with a call: Cool the political heat and find common ground.

    “Motivating and inspiring everyone with the spirit of love is the key to progress,” Wonder says backstage before his Oct. 30 concert at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, the second-to-last stop on this unconventional tour. several oscillation states. 11 city runs named Sing Your Song! While Repairing Our Nation’s Broken HeartHe visited cities such as Philadelphia and Atlanta, finishing November 2 in Chicago.

    Wonder started with a style of idealism that traced back to his 1960s roots and the message of unity of his personal hero, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. This was his first national tour in six years, motivated by the “downward spiral circle” he saw. It’s happening in American discourse.

    “Look, even though I feel like I’m 35, I’m not 21,” Wonder says with a laugh. “We don’t know how much time we have in life here. And I understand this very clearly. “We must use every second of our time to leave a better space for everyone.”

    The pop-up tour, as he and his crew called it, featured an impressive 30-member band, a dazzling stage production, and 2.5 hours of hit songs. The hastily organized concert caravan, spurred on by what Wonder describes as a national identity crisis, hit battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and his home state of Michigan.

    In Wonder’s dressing room ahead of the Grand Rapids show, the veteran Motown star reflected on his journey through the country’s politically contentious hot spots.

    “America as a whole needs to come together, because there is always someone somewhere, or some country, that wants to dismantle the concept of democracy and its meaning,” he says. “The reality is that we need to get to a point where we can say, ‘Listen, we all need to come together.’”

    In a campaign season filled with celebrity appearances on both sides, Wonder was right in the middle of the action. He realizes that not everyone feels comfortable stepping into this role.

    “I think people are just too scared of being canceled or talked about for all this stupidity that’s going on,” he says. “God is my ruler, so I have been given permission to govern myself. I allow people around me that I trust to give me feedback. I’m listening to them. But in the end, I will make my own decisions.”

    Although he’s certainly not misleading about Wonder’s political allegiances (the veteran Motown star is an outspoken supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris and performed in August during her candidacy), his appearances on the October tour were more middling, with little heavy-handed politics.

    “I know you’re not here to hear me preach,” he tells his audience in Michigan. He avoided mentioning the names of Harris or Donald Trump on stage, but occasionally made roundabout attacks on the former president and allies like Elon Musk. (“I won’t drive my Tesla. I’ll drive my Hummer,” the blind musician says backstage, smiling broadly.)

    An arena concert production in 2024 could require months or even years of preparation. Wonder’s tour was arranged on the fly.

    On August 30, he released the single “Can We Mend Our Nation’s Broken Heart”, calling it a “love song to America”. Within a few days he felt the urge to take the message on the road. After three weeks and great competition, the arena tour was announced.

    “It was like making the impossible possible,” Wonder says.

    The resulting tour was an effort to get out the vote with grassroots sentiment. Wonder achieved a serious sales figure on the day of the show at Madison Square Garden in New York.

    Wonder designed the tour to be community-focused: More than 7,200 tickets were donated to people working on the front lines of local food banks, homeless shelters and other groups.

    “Negativity is unacceptable. I don’t care what party you belong to or where you are,” Wonder says. “It’s not about blue or red. It’s really about what’s in your heart. Division and hatred, all of that, has nothing to do with God’s purpose for you.” “It has nothing to do with it.”

    Wonder’s return to the road received positive reviews. Surrounded by his arsenal of keyboards, the 74-year-old artist has left the years behind with his powerful vocal performances. He attributed the condition of his voice to a careful health regime that included the newly adopted nasal breathing technique.

    A deliberate calm filled Wonder’s dressing room 90 minutes before showtime in Grand Rapids.

    Aisha Morris, daughter of Wonder, whose birth in 1975 inspired the hit “Is’t She Lovely,” was quietly slipping in and out as her Grammy-winning father got into game mode. On a coffee table stood a wooden harpeji, the percussion string instrument that Wonder has admired in recent years. As he settled down on the couch to talk, he instinctively reached out to take a few notes.

    At one point he suddenly apologized and stopped to write a note, grabbing a small digital device designed for the blind and whistling softly as he wrote in Braille.

    Wonder has long been politically and socially animated, injecting social messages into his music since the ’70s, helping spearhead the 1983 campaign to make King’s birthday a federal holiday, and prominently campaigning for President Barack Obama and others.

    But in 2024, he feels a growing sense of urgency because of “where we are socially, politically, spiritually and mentally.” He said he was disappointed that the news media was mired in “he-said-she-said” divisiveness and was concerned about younger populations being dragged into social media.

    “This is just too much (expletive) and it’s not going to move the nation forward,” he says.

    Despite any discontent, Wonder sees himself as a positive agent of change, deeply committed to the idea that music is a unifying force. This was his belief from his early days at Motown in Detroit; He signed here as a 9-year-old and soon came to see the uplifting power of art as an interracial cultural bond.

    “Colors mean nothing to me because I don’t see either. I know I want to see blue skies for everyone.

    Harry
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