A buddy of mine, Adam H of 'XOXO Entertainment' is a Dad, and more importantly, a Dad against bullying. After hearing about Amanda Todd's tragic suicide, and then meeting her parents, both Adam & Elise wrote & produced THIS:
Nice work Adam & Elise!
EDIT: The song was just officially released ... This is the very touching release letter.
Attention Radio Friends;
Please excuse this non-typical informal release letter, but this is not a typical release.
The story of Amanda Todd has touched us all. For me personally I was at my son’s 6th Birthday Dinner when I heard the news. A local 15-year-old girl took her own life due to bullying. As I ingested the story, I watched my son celebrating the happiest day of his year.
When I got home from the Birthday dinner I laid in bed thinking, why would a beautiful little girl commit suicide? As I researched Amanda on various social media sites I became outraged. I was reading comments so hurtful and negative. Even after death, Amanda is still being bullied. What happened to our society? Isn’t Canada supposed to be a better place to raise children? I knew I needed to stand up for this little girl and I needed to do it now.
Amanda’s story engulfed me. I needed to do something… anything… I had a conversation with Elise Estrada. Elise immediately insisted that we use our voices and scream from the mountaintops that bullying needs to stop.
We can’t change the world, but we can help. We all have a voice and the ability to speak. Something needs to be done so our kids, and our grandkids, never have to live through what Amanda Todd had to live through. When we grew up, the bullying ended when we left the playground, but with today’s technology and cyber-bullying, these kids are tortured day and night.
Somehow, Amanda Todd’s family got word of the online efforts Elise and I were making and they sent us a note. In the note, Amanda’s family said “One of the happiest days of Amanda’s life was when she got to meet and take a picture with Elise Estrada”.
Chills instantly ran up my spine like I’ve never felt. Did we actually meet this poor girl? We felt strong a connection to her, but did we meet her? 15 minutes later, a photo of Amanda and Elise landed in my inbox.
I took that photo. I remember the day.
We met this girl. She sang for us, and she was good. So much potential… but we will never have a chance to know what could have been.
Elise and I wanted to do something for Amanda. Something special. Something to honor this poor kid, and maybe help the next kid who feels as alone as Amanda did.
The only thing we know how to do is make music… so we did. Elise and I wrote a song for Amanda. We had that picture in a frame watching us as we poured our hearts out to chords.
The song is called “Wonder Woman”. Once we recorded it, I sent a rough copy to Amanda’s family. They cried continuously as they listened on repeat. Touched by the sentiment, Amanda’s family asked us if it could be released to help raise awareness and help stop bullying. We then sent the song to other industry friends, and Grammy Winner Orlando Calzada immediately volunteered to take some time off from working with One Direction and Lady Gaga to mix engineer the song. Another American friend and superstar Mastering genius, Larry Lachmann also stepped up to the plate to honor this sweet Canadian girl. Since then, several pop superstars have taken photos holding signs reading “RIP Amanda Todd” and “Just Like Wonder Woman”. Amanda’s story has touched the globe.
Universal Music has also jumped on board and we are rushing to get the song available on iTunes, with proceeds going to an Anti-bullying Campaign in honor of Amanda Todd.
Many of your peers have heard the song and wish to support it immediately.
We are making noise for this innocent girl that didn’t deserve the heartache she was forced to endure.
It is our hope that you too will want to make noise to honor Amanda Todd, and to help spread the message that bullying is a serious issue. We need to make a change so no other kid has to hurt this way. We all have a voice and we need to stand up now.
If you don’t believe in this cause, I sincerely hope you pick another cause… any cause, because the world, and the community, needs us.
Thank you for reading this.
-Adam H.
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