While the solutions to climate change an also feel so big to be beyond our control, a new song from Diane Warren, Tiwa Savage and producer Damon Elliott intends to remind listeners otherwise.
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Out Friday (Aug. 16), “One Heart Can (Change The World)” is sung by the Nigerian singer, produced by Elliott and written by Diane Warren, the 15-time Oscar-nominated legend.
The bright Afrobeats anthem is the sole song from the soundtrack to Ozi: Voice of the Forest, an animated film that tells the story of Ozi, an orangutan whose habitat is destroyed by deforestation. Forced from her home, Ozi goes on adventure through the forest, ultimately using social media to tell her story with the world.
“One Heart (Can Change the World)” provides a climactic and uplifting end to the film, which is out Friday (Aug. 16) in the United Kingdom and most of Europe. A wide theatrical North American release will follow from Ketchup Entertainment.
At a recent screening in Los Angeles, Savage, Warren and Elliott spoke on a panel after the film to talk about the song’s origins and intention.
“I was really touched by this movie and it really spoke to me,” Warren said of writing the soaring song. “What it has to say is what everybody needs to pay attention to, what’s going on with our planet. I sat down and wrote the song ‘One Heart (Can Change the World)’ because it’s true. One of us makes a little change and it can change the world.”
Warren had Savage in mind to sing on the song, reaching to her via DM.
“I literally thought it was a joke,” Savage said of getting Warren’s message. “Then she said she wanted to send me the music, and when I heard it — I already I knew it was going to be an amazing song, because it’s coming from her. The lyrics and the melody were incredible and refreshing, because it’s different from everything that’s out right now, and I just loved the message behind it as well. I have a nine year old son, and it is something to think about: what kind of planet is my son going to grow up in, and his kids. I’m really honored to be able to lend my voice.”
For Warren, a longtime animal activist and vegan, working on this song was particularly meaningful. “The environment is ruined because of the greenhouse gasses which [are] caused by the cow industry and agriculture, aside from the horrible cruelty of it,” she said, “so I feel like my little one heart can make a change, and that’s how I choose to do it, by choosing kindness over cruelty.”
Elliott, a close collaborator of Warren’s who’s releasing the song through his own Kind Music Group, added that he took a course in Afrobeats production to make sure he got the sound right. “I was like, ‘This has to be the real deal,'” he said.
Ozi: Voice of the Forest was produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Mike Medavoy and is an Appian Way and GCIFILM Production. While the film is a smart, heartfelt and entertaining way to introduce children to ideas around deforestation and climate change, Warren emphasizes that the movie and song’s message is for everyone.
“I didn’t write a song for kids,” she said. “I wrote a song for people of all ages. You could be five years old or 50, or whatever age. This song is saying something that’s important, that one heart can change the world, however old your heart is. “