Deaf musician Wawa releases new song "Loud"

Renca Dunn:

Wawa Snipe, a Black Deaf artist of "Wawa's World" fame, just released a new music single titled "Loud".

[Lyrics of Wawa's song are displayed on screen.]

Wawa has also created a new challenge called the #LoudChallenge, encouraging Deaf community members to get involved and spread the word about his newly released song. Here's a clip from the #LoudChallenge.

[Wawa is seen dancing the #LoudChallenge.]

With Wawa's permission, we're going to show you clips that he's already posted on his Instagram page of different people doing the #LoudChallenge!

[People of different ages are seen dancing, including well-known figures such as Shaheem Sanchez, Sheena Lyles, and more.]

A few days ago, Sean Forbes, a Deaf musician himself, interviewed Wawa.

[Cut to interview with Wawa, left, and Sean, right.]

Sean: What's really inspiring in this song is that I've noticed you use a lot of references from the pandemic, so you really just want to give people that positive experience. 

Wawa: Well, yes I do want to give everyone a positive experience. Right now...the pandemic is just awful. Hands down. And there's Black Lives Matter, which has been very powerful and really necessary, too. I've been amazed at how that is all going, and some people are actually starting to become afraid. I've had people contact me saying things like "the world's going to hell, this is just crazy!" and I have other people saying "I don't know what to do". So I have people asking for my advice and I talk with them. So I want to give them something fun to talk about. So, I redirected things a bit. I wouldn't say I glossed things over, but rather, I addressed it. So things could be seen from a different view. It's more positive: What can we do during this time? Will you allow these situations to take control? Or will you keep going? Are you a survivor? Or are you going to stay "dead", and do nothing? Which are you choosing? Well you let it control you, or will you control it? So it's like oh, okay, there are different sides to that. 

[Back to Renca.]

Last week, Wawa's song placed #28 on the music charts. This week, he's at #178. He can move back up the charts by the Deaf community buying his song! You can spread the word to your family and friends, and they can buy the song too. Go ahead and dive in to the #LoudChallenge, and make sure to tag Wawa so he can see you getting involved! You can follow Wawa and his work on Facebook and Instagram, and you can find links to his pages below in this transcript.