Earth (song)
"Earth" is a charity single by American rapper Lil Dicky. It was released on April 19, 2019 (three days before Earth Day) through Dirty Burd, Commission, and BMG. The song features vocals from Dicky, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown, Brendon Urie, Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Sia, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor, Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Psy, Bad Bunny, Kris Wu, Backstreet Boys, and Leonardo DiCaprio.[1][2][3]
For the Michael Jackson song, see Earth Song. For songs named "Earth", see Earth (disambiguation) § Songs."Earth"
Background[edit]
On April 19, 2019, Dicky took to Twitter to announce the release of a new song the following week.[4] It was also reported that Canadian singer Justin Bieber would return to music as a guest feature on a new Lil Dicky song.[5] Bieber confirmed the collaboration on Twitter a few days later.[6] Over 30 celebrities and singer-songwriters were in the recording studio to perform the song.
Music video[edit]
On April 17, Dicky released a preview of the music video that was released the following day. Co-directed by Nigel Tierney of Emmy-winning studio RYOT (the studio that made Behind the Fence VR), Federico Heller of 3Dar (the studio that made Uncanny Valley), Oddbot Animation, and Iconic Engine,[7][8] the computer-animated video is told from the perspective of several animals affected by climate change, with their voices being provided by 30 celebrities and singer-songwriters.[2]
Reception[edit]
The song received mostly negative reviews from critics. In a Pitchfork review, Jeremy D. Larson panned "Earth" as a "terrible song" that "sounds less like a charity single and more like a theme to a downmarket Disney clone made explicitly to launder money for an offshore criminal enterprise".[9] Spin magazine included the song in their list of the worst songs of 2019, calling it a qualitative step back to Dicky's 2018 single "Freaky Friday".[10]