As if we needed another reason to love young Nandi Bushell, the pre-teen drumming prodigy has now teamed up with Roman Morello, his dad, Rage Against The Machine‘s Tom Morello, Greta Thunberg, and a slew of other guests for a climate action protest track called “The Children Will Rise Up!”
Jack Black kicks off the heavily animation-assisted video (thanks, Dad!) with an appropriately epic, lightning-sprouting intro—”In the beginning, there was rock!”—before kicking it over to Nandi. Thanks to a little movie magic, the video presents young Morello on guitar and separate clones of Bushell on vocals and drums. As the song finishes, Black pops up once again for another decree: “Excellent, your training is complete. No go and rock the world!”
As Nandi explained in the video’s description, “I am so proud of myself and Roman Morello for writing our EPIC song with Tom Morello! We hope you love it and we really hope our song helps raise awareness for climate change! After learning about climate change at school I wanted to help make a difference. I wanted to write a song about how I felt about climate change and asked Tom Morello and his son Roman Morello to collaborate with me. Once Roman and I had written the song we asked Jack Black and Greta Thunberg if they would like to be in the music video! They loved our song and wanted to join us in raising awareness for climate change! … We need to act now! Rise Up! Protest! Be Loving, Be Peaceful, Be Respectful, Be Sensible but BE POWERFUL!!!”
The video is not done after the song, however, as the young rocker uses her platform to do some educating about the dangers of our planet’s climate crisis. She even sites her data sources in the video’s description. Tell ’em, Nandi! Watch “The Children Will Rise Up!” below and scroll down to read the lyrics.
Nandi & Roman ft. Tom Morello, Jack Black, More – “The Children Will Rise Up!”
[Video: Nandi Bushell]
In other Nandi Bushell news, the saga of Nandi and Dave Grohl came full circle on Thursday when she joined Foo Fighters onstage at The Forum in Los Angeles in late August. Grohl prefaced Bushell’s surprise appearance at the band’s rescheduled concert by saying, “This person inspired me so much last year.”
He went on to offer a quick crash course in the faux internet feud the two shared during the height of the pandemic. After Bushell challenged Grohl to a drum battle on “Everlong”, the two engaged in a comically farcical back-and-forth, submitting each other to challenge after challenge. Ultimately, the 52-year old rock star bowed to the awesome talent of the child prodigy, and even wrote a “theme song” for the “superhero” that is Nandi Bushell. The “Everlong” performance at The Forum finally brought the story to its rightful climax. Watch the collab here.