Kellen Abston performs 'Active'

– Klassik: So “Active.”

I feel like, and as time has gone on, this song probably best encapsulates, I guess, like, my artist statement, my mission statement.

And that is claiming ownership and responsibility in your own life and inspiring people to wanna make change, to feel like they are a part of this human experience and not just watching it happen.

So for me, most songs start with piano.

I mean, a song like “Active” is literally just two chords.

Starting with those chords, and that dictates what the melody is, kind of where I want to go with my vocal inflections.

And then usually do a combination of, like, bass and drums.

Everything kind of starts from here.

[heavy beat] [piano notes] Some of the best pop songs, the science and the intricacies and, like, the art of keeping something simple without dumbing it down, so, like, that’s the space that I try to exist in, of, I want this to be accessible.

I want this to have color, but I want it to be something that you can latch into.

Can’t be passive, gotta get active You can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, gotta get active You can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Ah Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active [piano notes] I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe These ain’t nightmares These ain’t dreams This is happening Can’t be passive In this life, you can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe These ain’t nightmares These ain’t dreams This is happening Can’t be passive In this life you can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive, you gotta get active [uptempo beats] Yeah, please take your time Relax, relax, hold up Please take your time Relax, relax, hold up Please take your time Relax, relax Relax, relax Please take your time Relax, relax La, da, yeah [stuttered reverberation] Ah, yeah Relax, relax Please take your time Relax, relax, hold up Please take your time Please take your time Please take your time [deep bass beats] One, two, three, let’s do I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe These ain’t nightmares These ain’t dreams This is happening Ha– ha– ha– Happening In this life, you can’t be passive You gotta get active We want all the smoke I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe These ain’t nightmares And these ain’t dreams This is happening It is happening In this life, you can’t be passive You gotta get active We want all the smoke I’ve seen some things, I’ve seen some things Some things that cannot be erased Confront my demons face-to-face I’m in a space of elevation The elevator cannot take me down or take me out The pace of my own race I might as well go crazy See it’s been raining in a purple hue When kingdoms fall, this Prince will do My print is new, this ink is fresh And dripping through the pages Burn some sage And grip these raging views of distant nations Why be patient When you can just mold a new civilization I’m alive, nation’s wanna stop a fella But I been rocking hella stages Slaying them per usual Just use the tools of ancient movements Move the fools who are just way too complacent This groove’s adjacent, never parallel I pair with hells in heavenly bodies My reverence is godly, but I’m no patron saint These patrons can’t even afford these pieces Peace I cannot paint with all this hate around me Surrounding with sounds in stereo Oh, there he go Speaking that new-new in mono But U2 like Bono can shred the hate If you were more aware of the things that scares you Stare it in the eye and tell it Yo, I dare you to climb the stairs to a higher place Not unlike Heaven I preach to reverends and the pastor If your pasture is not green My fertilizer will get you there so much faster Ooh, ahh Whoo Please take your time Relax, relax Please take your time Please take your time And you… I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe These ain’t nightmares These ain’t dreams This is happening In this life you can’t be passive You gotta get active We want all the smoke I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe These ain’t nightmares And these ain’t dreams This is happening Happening, it’s happening In this life, you can’t be passive You gotta get active We want all the smoke You can’t be passive You gotta get active You can’t be passive You gotta get active You can’t be passive You gotta get active You can’t be passive [reverberating] You can’t be passive You gotta get active You can’t be passive You gotta get active You can’t be passive You gotta get active We want all the smoke You can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe You gotta get active These ain’t nightmares These ain’t dreams This is happening, yeah In this life, you can’t be passive Gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe, yeah These ain’t nightmares These ain’t dreams This is happening In this life, you can’t be passive Gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active I’ve seen some things That you would find hard to believe, yeah These ain’t nightmares These ain’t dreams This is happening [echoing] Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be passive You gotta get active Can’t be Whoo!

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