Independent multi-instrumentalist Cheryl Craigie has returned with a synth-pop cover of the classic soul staple, “What’s Going On”. Performing every vocal line and instrument herself, Craigie reinterprets the iconic plea for peace through a distinctly electronic lens.
The performance rests on a bizarrely fascinating contrast. Craigie’s voice rolls smoothly through undulating, soulful phrases, carrying a desperate message about war, brutality, and systemic hatred. Yet beneath that emotional weight sits a mechanized, mid-tempo groove packed with bright, bouncy synth loops and light, chiming counter-melodies.
The effect is strangely disorienting. By pairing heavy social commentary with a breezy, sterilized backdrop, the track feels artificial and detached akin to watching tragic global news scroll past on a gleaming smartphone screen. It becomes an upbeat, nostalgic shell wrapping a deep core of human grief.
Does smoothing over tragic realities with synthetic polish render the message easier to absorb, or does it strip away the raw urgency we desperately need to feel?
