Eternal Sunshine by Jhene Aiko. This song has gotten me through some of my darkest moments when life seemed too much to bear. Often, I find myself worrying about the future and whether or not I will fail or be successful. I sometimes fear that I have made too many mistakes in my past that even the most minor errors will affect my future. By constantly focusing on the future and the unknown, it can be hard to appreciate what you have in the present. This beginning of this song says, "Is it strange for me to say that If I were to die today, there's not a thing I would change. I've lived well." It is my affirmation that I am enough and that my past mistakes do not define who I am. Later in the song, Aiko says, "And the more that I see, the more that I know, I don't know anything, at all." She admits that there are things that she does not know, and I think that this is such a freeing thing to do. To acknowledge that there are things that you don't know allows you the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. The central part of this song is the chorus. Aiko sings, "All of the good things, good things (2x), Only the good, the good, the good (2x)." The song inspires me to live life by not focusing on my mistakes but learning from them. It challenges me to always look at the light and know that I am enough, mistakes and all. The production of the music is very warm and comforting, which allows me to get lost in the message, and her artistry inspires me to create art that helps people feel safe.

I felt like if I sat still and did nothing, I wouldn't be able to look in the mirror. The summer of 2020 was the most pivotal moment in my life. It made me realize that my music is much bigger than me and that music is the reason I was put on this Earth. All my life I have been surrounded by music and out of football, soccer, track, chess, and all of the other various activities I have participated in, music is the one thing that has never left me. As I watch all of the injustices unfold in 2020, I wanted to do something but because of COVID-19, I couldn't go out and protest. I had written a song my freshmen year of high school called "Change" about Police Brutality and thought to myself "This is what I can do. I can put this into the world and hope the message resonates". And man was I in for a ride. After I posted the initial video on TikTok it didn't do so well...as in only my close friends saw it. But I knew the song was special and truly I just wanted more people to hear the message. Fast forward around three days I get a text from my friend saying one of her comments on my video is blowing up and that I should check the app. Currently, that series of videos has over 900,000 views and allowed me to work with people like Liza Koshy to do a fundraiser for the Equal Justice Initiative where we raised $17,461. Whenever people ask me why I make music, I always say it's to make people feel less alone in this crazy world. With this scholarship, I hope to do exactly that throughout my college journey.