Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and a who's who of music and entertainment stars take over the animal kingdom and beyond in Lil Dicky's "Earth" animated music video.
The multi-platinum recording artist's music video and song, released Friday, are part of a larger music-led initiative focusing on climate-change awareness and feature more than 30 artists, including Grande, Bieber, Perry, Sia, Ed Sheeran and Kevin Hart. The environmental effort is working in collaboration with The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
Credit: Rich Polk
Credit: Rich Polk
The initiative is timed to Earth Day on Monday.
"Like a lot of people, I had a vague idea that something bad was happening here on Earth, but I didn't really realize how insane our climate crisis is and how screwed humanity is about to be," says Lil Dicky. "If we don't get our act together now, and change a lot about our fundamental behavior, Earth will become unlivable alarmingly soon. … So I wanted to make the most entertaining and epic piece of content possible, to get everyone aware and talking."
In the animated video, Bieber is identified as Baboon, Grande as Zebra, Perry as Pony, Sia as Kangaroo, Sheeran as Koala and Hart as Kanye West. The characters stretch beyond animals to other organisms and even locations, with Hailee Steinfeld as Common fungus, Lil Yachty as HPV and NBA star Joel Embiid as Africa. The 'Earth' video contains suggestive language, but it is available here.
Lil Dicky, a rapper and comedian whose given name is David Andrew Burd, plays Mankind. He gained prominence when the music video to his song "Ex-Boyfriend" went viral, with more than 1 million YouTube views in 24 hours. "Freaky Friday," his hit single release last year, has nearly 500 million streams on YouTube.
Other collaborators in the project include Halsey, Zac Brown, Brendon Urie, Wiz Khalifa, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Meghan Trainor, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Bad Bunny, Psy, Kris Wu and Backstreet Boys.
The song, "Earth," was produced by Benny Blanco and Cashmere Cat, with the music video and accompanying website focusing on environmental initiatives, www.welovetheearth.org, produced by content studio RYOT.
Net profits from the song, music video and merchandise will go to a group of nonprofits implementing solutions to climate change, as identified by DiCaprio's foundation.
"As activists across the world make their voices heard and inject new life into the environmental movement, we are delighted to be working with Lil Dicky and other collaborating artists to help build even greater support for climate solutions at this critical time," said says Justin Winters, executive director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
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