Today, October 9th, Celeste released a new track called Hear My Voice. The song is written for the upcoming Netflix Original film, The Trial of the Chicago 7, set for release on October 16th. The music video, also released today, contains touching footage from the forthcoming movie interspersed with shots of Celeste wandering around the courthouse halls.
Hear My Voice was co-written with Ivor Novello winning composer Daniel Pemberton. It was created to be the final song of the film, something to leave the viewer with a ‘sense of hope and possibility, of light beyond the darkness.’ Pemberton said that he ‘knew straight away that [he] wanted to collaborate with Celeste, as her voice is one of the most magical things [he] has heard in recent times…’.
The film explores the corruption within the Chicago court system, following on from the anti-Vietnam War protest in 1968 at the Democratic National Convention and resulting trial of seven high profile counter-culture figures. Overall, the film is about America’s ‘prickly relationship with dissent’, so ironic for a country that prides itself on ideals of democracy and free speech.
One storyline within this is the mistreatment of the only black man on trial, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, Bobby Seale. In one scene, Seale is shackled and gagged on the orders of the judge. The horrific treatment he receives forces the audience to question whether things are better, or worse, for a black man living in America today.
The pertinence of this subject matter is acknowledged by Pemberton who says that he and Celeste have made a song ‘with a strong, powerful and simple message at its heart that feels as relevant now as it does to the events in Chicago in 1969′. Celeste agreed that the message of both the film and song is ‘important…timely [and] relevant’.
It is incredibly sad that the message of Hear My Voice is still so relevant today, but Celeste and Pemberton manage to inject the song with the ‘sense of hope’ intended. Bright string arrangements and plucky piano chords combine with Celeste’s determined vocals to create a song that is both heart-wrenching and uplifting at the same time.
In the chorus Celeste appeals to the listener: ‘Let us make a world in which in we believe’. The song is a call to action against oppression, a request for unity in overcoming it.
