It is something really touching how the artist does not sing of peace, but every risk in order to make the peace during the active war. Dream of Peace by Kelsie Kimberlin is not a cozy hymn that was recited in a safe place. It is shot in Kyiv when the war was at its peak and the air raid sirens sound throughout the filming, and the missiles are shot down in the air.
The song itself is like a movie, and it is composed of the orchestral swells and choir arrangements that continuously rise to an emotional climax. Kelsie has a voice, clear, sincere and undoubtedly beautiful, the voice that cuts through the sound landscape with conviction. She doesn’t recite the message, she is it, and her performance is full of the type of hope that only a person who has seen the destruction with the naked eye can truly portray.
The production has been made by Ukrainian composer Yuriy Shapeta, and Bogota-based Pedro Vengoechea, and mixed and mastered by Grammy winner Liam Nolan and nominee Stuart Hawkes, and is as ambitious as it is high quality. Sunny keyboards, electric drums and stacked harmonies of the voices provide a sense of well-being, almost ecstatic-that much has been carefully crafted to achieve a feeling of solidarity and a sense of action as opposed to passive pity.
The music video, directed by Denys Akulov (previously on Ed Sheeran’s viral 2Step video), tells a post-apocalyptic story of rebirth with some stunning motion control effects. It is both aesthetically stunning and a thematically moving piece, with Kelsie standing before a row of yellow sunflowers in blue skies, Ukraine colors, as symbol and prayer.
Kelsie Kimberlin, 26, has already been able to record more than 100 original songs and win the United Nations Humanitarian Award and the St. George Royal Medal of Honor. This is why, as Dream of Peace is fearless, beautifully made, and purposefully unapologetic. This is protest music with heart, soul and indisputable guts.
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