In a powerful tribute to Earth Day, singer, harpist and songwriter Kristy Chmura releases a re-imagined version of her song “Wake Up”. This is a heartfelt environmental anthem that brings together music, activism and visual storytelling.

Originally released on her 2018 debut solo album “Stained…Glass Heart”, the song now returns with a fresh cinematic arrangement and a compelling music video that shines a spotlight on the urgency of protecting our planet.

Deeply rooted in her love for nature and her decade-long commitment as a volunteer with her town’s Shade Tree Commission, Kristy’s passion for trees, forests and wildlife pulses through every frame of this video.

Collaborating with world-class musicians Christian Eigner and Niko Stoessl, along with longtime creative partner Damien Musto, Kristy brings new life to “Wake Up” through haunting melodies, stunning visuals and a message that resonates deeply in today’s climate.

In this interview, Kristy shares the story behind the song, the inspiration for the video and the creative process that brought this urgent and moving project to life:

1.Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

The seed for my song “Wake Up” was planted a while ago. I released my original version of “Wake Up” with my longtime creative partner, Damien Musto back in 2018 on my debut solo album, “Stained…Glass Heart”.

I’ve always felt a deep connection to nature, a sense of belonging that resonates in my soul especially whenever I’m surrounded by trees, and I was becoming increasingly worried and distressed by what I would see in the media: the destruction and attacks on our environment, and how greed and thoughtlessness towards the planet hurts us all.  

All these things overwhelmed me – the images of deforestation, the oil spills, the sheer disregard for our planet, even seeing things in my own community like clear cutting properties for new construction – I reached a point where the the inner activist in me became ignited.  It wasn’t just about the planet; it was a personal ache, a sense of loss. I had to do something, I couldn’t stand by any longer, so I used what I have: my voice.”

“Wake Up” is a call to action to myself and to anyone, reminding us we need to look within ourselves and become more conscious of how our actions affect one another. We’re all part of a giant ecosystem.  If we each do something, no matter how big or small, that contributes to solutions and creating health and balance for our environment – that’s a step in the right direction, and we need to keep going in that direction one step at a time. Sometimes that first step is just becoming more self-aware.

This newly reimagined version of “Wake Up” came to be because one summer, the smoke from the Canadian forest fires drifted south, casting a pall over New Jersey. The air hung heavy, and the poor air quality made it challenging to breathe.  The sun was a hazy orange disk in the sky, and you could smell the wood burning from hundreds of miles away.  Experiencing that broke my heart, thinking of the acres of trees and the extreme impact on the entire ecosystem.

This reignited the pull inside me to want to do something to help, so I turned to my music once again. I reached out to my team of music collaborators—Christian Eigner, Niko Stoessl, and Damien Musto—and told them I had this idea to rearrange my original version of “Wake Up” into something new and bigger, because I felt the song had an important message that needed to be heard. They were all on board, and there was an electric energy between us as we created this more pop/alternative style of “Wake Up”.

I decided to visualize this song in this specific way because I wanted to make the video more about delivering the message and bringing this important global issue about the health of our planet to the spotlight.

2. What was the inspiration behind this new video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

The inspiration behind this new video came from many things – I like watching documentaries about the environment on Pattrn TV, and I’ve always been incredibly moved by Michael Jackson’s video for “Earth Song.” However, I had to narrow it down and keep my budget in mind, so I chose a source of inspiration from a past experience – a concert I had attended, which was the Live Earth concert organized by Al Gore when he released his documentary, “The Inconvenient Truth.”

That concert was so inspiring, with such an important message raising awareness about climate change, that it has always stuck with me. Melissa Etheridge did a music video for her song that she created for the film, “I Need to Wake Up,” and so I gathered inspiration to create my own version of what they created back then. I decided to try to focus on one climate issue that I feel passionate about, which is our forests, and try to highlight how they are such an important ecosystem that we need for maintaining the health of our planet.

3. What was the process of making the video?

Creating the video was a long process. This video is the culmination of many ideas. It was challenging to create something with such an important message, as there are many different environmental issues warranting attention, so I needed to narrow it down to just one. I didn’t want to be the focus of this video; instead, I wanted the message of the song to be in the spotlight. So I worked with my video team at Sunbeam Productions LLC, and we brainstormed many ideas.

I had a strong vision about gathering many different environmental images and text with different facts to create a story in the form of a mini-documentary, but I still wanted to have shots of me singing interwoven within those images. I researched the text that appears in the video from many different sources, like the Arbor Day Foundation and the Audubon Society, etc. I then put together the text story within the visual story of the images I gathered.

I came up with the idea of projecting all these images onto a large backdrop. We then scouted a location with a cyclorama wall and shot the singing scenes there, and it all worked out perfectly. I have Julia Schnarr and her team at Sunbeam Productions LLC to thank for putting all the pieces of my vision together into this video.

Keep up to date with Kristy Chmura on her Website