Hi, my name is Madison and I am a high school junior from Long Island. I love to listen to music of all genres, from pop and country to rap and hip hop. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that some of the music I listen to contains lyrics with messages that go directly against some of my beliefs. Many songs hide really terrible lyrics (message wise)  behind a catchy beat and good melody, and most people tend to either not notice, or if they do notice, not take it seriously. 

But I believe that if you consume a message frequently enough, for example the message that women should look or behave a certain way, a part of you may either start to believe it, or become desensitized to this type of messaging. 

In my sophomore year, in my AP Seminar class, I dove into this interest more deeply. I completed a research paper on abusive relationships between teenagers. What I found demonstrated that many unhealthy behaviors, including gender-based violence, begin in relationships we have when we are young, but are often overlooked as not being as “serious” as adult relationships or issues.

My work mostly focused on what others can do to support a victim while they are in an abusive relationship, and I became a student ambassador of One Love, a non-profit which aims to prevent abusive relationships by implementing programs in schools. 

Lyrics 4 Change combines my love for music with the knowledge I have gained about the struggles many teenagers experience, and aims to create a space where we can really think about how the music we listen to affects our daily lives, opinions, and actions.