25 best cold-opens in SNL history
By David Rouben
19. We Are the World 3 tries to atone for We Are the World 2
By now, almost everyone knows “We Are the World.” It was a momentous occasion in pop culture, as it brought all of the most famous musicians under the same roof for a great cause. The seven-minute song was meant to raise awareness for famine relief in Africa, but it still holds up years later.
It was a concept that wasn’t easy to repeat, but they tried to do it anyway, when Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake. Yes, there is a “We Are the World 2”, but the less there’s said about it, the better. It was a disaster from the moment it began. But it got gradually worse when a bunch of obscure stars hopped on and the song concluded with a rap verse. They re-used Michael Jackson’s parts, but even he wasn’t enough to save this trainwreck.
There were plenty of reasons for why “We Are the World 2” was such a failure. They used twice as many artists as the first one, they rushed the recording process — the first one took several days to record while this one was done in 14 hours — and, in general, sequels rarely live up to the original. That’s why SNL made a sketch called “We Are the World 3,” which was to raise awareness for the disaster that was “We Are the World 2.”
The only famous musician involved in this sketch is J-Lo — and weirdly enough, she plays Rihanna. The song stresses that, while “We Are the World 2” was well-intentioned, it should never have been made. They point out the numerous flaws in the video, such as “most people wouldn’t even take off their sunglasses”, and “the whole thing seemed to frighten Justin Bieber.” While this version was bad, too, they can be forgiven because they aren’t professional singers.
With season 2 of GLOW also doing a “We Are the World” parody, it seems as if the only versions that can live up to the original are the parodies. Overall, the message of this sketch is to leave classics the way they are, but it’s not like Hollywood’s ever going to listen to that.