How You Can Help Young Aussies Doing It Tough Just by Dedicating a Song

This article is sponsored by Musicians Making A Difference (MMAD).

Why don’t we do song dedications anymore?! Where did they go? I remember flicking through the radio years ago and finding it hard to avoid some smooth-voiced man playing love songs for people who wanted to spread the love or make up for wrongdoings. It always warmed my cold, cold heart.

This week, we finally have an excuse to bring back the beauty of song dedications — and for a good cause, too. Musicians Making A Difference (MMAD) a charity that transforms young lives through music, is holding its annual MMAD Day this Friday (October 14th).

 

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If you’re not familiar with the charity, it has stacks of support in place for young Aussies doing it tough, from a free national creative wellbeing platform and street support groups to crisis casework, creative therapy programs and a music soup kitchen.

MMAD Day is all about spreading awareness of the charity, so more young folks can link up to it. And the way you spread awareness this year is through — you guessed it — dedicating songs to people.

Maybe you want to dedicate a love song as a not-so-subtle signal to your crush? Dedicate a song to pump up your mate going through a hard time? (I would highly recommend ‘Pump It’ by the Black Eyed Peas for this scenario.) Or, maybe you just want to share a delightful new tune with your mum? Whatever it is, start thinking about the song you want to dedicate now.

To dedicate a song on the day, post it on social media with the hashtag #ThisSongIsForYou and tag @mmadaustralia. The more that hashtag spreads, the more people that’ll come across MMAD — and be helped by it. Last year, the charity reached over 13 million people and as a result, connected 13,000 young people to its services. How good.

One young person who knows the power of the charity first-hand is Libby Ingels. Joining MMAD during a difficult time at just 14-years-old, Libby leaned into her love of music and has since released a single titled ‘Underwater’ which was recorded at MMAD’s studio and featured on Triple J’s Roots and All last year.

Now a MMAD graduate, Libby will be the one to kick off the song dedications on Friday with a track titled ‘Taking Back My Life’, which was written by young people from the charity. You can give it a listen below.

 

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If you’d rather donate funds, you can also pick up a pair of limited-edition socks right here with all proceeds going directly back to MMAD.

Now, go think of a sappy love song to share!