Christofer Drew's Song 'Harmony'

“In a world of hate, there has to be a light. Be that light and spread some love. Maybe this day, the youth can make a difference. No more hate!” Christofer Drew, the lead singer of the band Never Shout Never, believes that our generation can change the world by spreading the love. Not only does this quote display his point of view, but so do many of his songs, specifically the song “Harmony.” In the music video for “Harmony,” Drew gives his harmonious stance on the concept of war by creating a silly illustration of war for his youthful audience.

Christofer Drew’s audience is most obviously the youth; it is easy to see this fact when looking at who Christofer Drew is, and the type of music he makes. Drew released this song in 2010 when

he was only 19 years old, making this song and music video show his point of view, as a teenager. Also, when looking at other examples of his songs, it easily noticeable e that he typically writes songs about young love (“Lovesick”, Can’t Stand It”, and “Trouble”), and how the younger generation is the generation that needs to work to change the world (“Hey! We Okay,” “Sellout,” and “Red Balloon”). In addition, Drew is a part of Vans’ Warped Tour, a tour where countless numbers of teenagers and young adults go every year, so it is easy to presume that he is trying to write his songs for the thousands of people who attend. Given these points, Drew’s general audience can be found to be the teenagers and young adults who listen to his music.
Continuing on the idea that Drew’s audience is the youth, there is more support found by how he addresses problems throughout his song and music video. In the music video for “Harmony,” there are many posters up on the walls of the two forbidden lovers. In the salt’s room , a poster saying, “Snail Anything… is a real bug” is hung up on the wall. This poster is a parody of the album, “Say Anything… is a real boy.” This was an Album by the band Say Anything that was released in 2004. Since it was released in 2004, it is easy to assume that people who were a part of the youth at that time knew of this band, and therefore would understand this parody. While in the snail’s room, there is a “Dustin Bee-ber” poster and a “Snail Train” poster. The “Dustin Bee-ber” poster, the most obvious of the three posters, is trying to represent Justin Bieber, whom many people of the youth typically “fangirl” over. The final poster, “Snail Train,” is supposed to portray the indie band Steel Train, which was gaining popularity about the same time “Harmony” came out, in 2010. During this time, the band was young, the oldest member being 27. Since the band was young, the point of view they displayed was a part of the younger generation’s and they sang for that generation. Most people who have posters like these hanging in their room are the teenagers. While more than just the youth can understand these poster parodies, it is generally the youth, specifically teenagers, who are known to understand these, making the music video overall more interesting to the younger generation..
After analyzing the audience, it is easy to see the general message that Drew tries to exhibit throughout many of his songs; war is silly, but love can conquer all. Specifically seen in the music video for “Harmony,” Christofer Drew simply makes war look foolish.. Instead of making a serious visual about war he used crazed snails and salt fighting each other, both created to look unrealistically angry at each other. Throughout this silly war, there are two characters in love, a snail and salt. Though their love is forbidden, they still pursue it. They send love letters back and forth through an insect. Their love conquers the war. Instead of being upset about the war, they are high from love.
While looking at the ethos used in this essay, pathos is easily seen.

Christofer Drew makes his audience support the love and think the war is dumb, through the facial expressions used. As mentioned before, the war being between two such silly objects makes fun of the idea of war to an extent. Looking at the facial expressions of the snails and salt at war, they simply look unhappy; they have scars, sharp teeth, bandanas, and other things that look “angry.”. In comparison, the two in love are happy and smiling; they are smiling, singing, and the salt even grows wings. The audience is happy for them; Drew makes his audience root for the love. Their love is forbidden by the war. Yet, they love each other (seen through the letters marked with a heart and how the audience can see through thought bubbles how they think about each other). They don’t support the war, they want peace. They simply want to be

together.
While watching the music video, one might wonder why exactly Christofer Drew chose salt and snails.

One reason would be to make fun of war. The use of salt and snails assists the audience in seeing how silly war is. Another reason is because they are simply opposites. Salt and snails harm each other. In the song, Christofer Drew says, “So trade your guns and fight with doves. We fight for love, and peace will find us with harmony.” This quote is Drew’s way of saying it is okay that we fight, but we shouldn’t make it as harmful. So, we trade our guns and fight with doves (a symbol of peace). If we get rid of the guns, and talk it out in harmony, then peace will find us. In order to really understand how this relates to the music video, one has to understand the significance of the weapons used in the music video. For example, the salt attacks the snails with a human finger; the salt on the finger harms the snail. Another example is that the snails dunk the salt in water; water dissolves salt, so it harms the

salt.
If Christofer Drew were in charge of this fictional war he would take away the fatal weapons; he would take away the fingers and the water. Drew would have the two sides talk it out. Based on his quote, “so trade your guns, and fire with doves. We fight for love, and peace will find us with harmony,” he believes that if the two sides worked in harmony without the deadly weapons, then peace would be an easy solution. Christofer Drew believes that where there is harmony, peace is sure to come.
Throughout his song, Drew repeats, “When you and I and she and he are we, humanity will sing harmony.” To paraphrasae this quote, Drew is trying to say that When people work together instead of fighting against each other, humanity will find harmony, and with harmony comes peace. This quote perfectly portrays Drew’s stance on this subject; war is an ineffective way to find peace. He believes we will find peace through becoming one powerful unit. If everyone is working for the best of humanity, then there won’t be war. “We start a war, but what’s it for? We fight for peace and peace will find us with harmony” Drew wants to advise his youthful audience to make a difference; he wants them to see that war is not the answer. Christofer Drew believes that the youth is the answer to world peace.