Eddie Vedder, the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Pearl Jam, joined eight young Chicago musicians from Guitars Over Guns to create the original song “Better Believe,” which they later performed during the June 18 dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) in Chicago.
Two days after the performance, Vedder, Guitars Over Guns Chicago regional director Andre “Add-2” Daniels, and the student musicians gathered at the Elie Wiesel Auditorium for a panel moderated by Obama Foundation Executive Producer Jill Van Lokeren, where they discussed the process of creating, recording, and performing the song.
Guitars Over Guns, a nonprofit launched in Miami in 2008 and expanded to Chicago in 2014, offers school- and community-based programs that give kids from vulnerable communities the opportunity to explore music, creative writing, spoken word, visual art, and music production. Former President Barack Obama has been involved with the nonprofit for several years, visiting their South Side studio in 2023, a year after the organization earned a $15,000 grant from the Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance Freedom Summer 2022 Fund.
For Vedder, an Evanston native who has been active in the music industry for almost 40 years, the emotional journey of this project began well before the performance, with the collaboration feeling almost serendipitous.
He recalled visiting the OPC campus months ahead of the inauguration, walking on plywood through clouds of sawdust in a hardhat. As he toured what would later become the auditorium, Vedder said he immediately knew that it would make a great venue for intimate performances. “I thought, ‘I’d really like to do something in here someday,’” he said, not realizing that wish would be fulfilled just months later.
Vedder noted that after speaking with Daniels and discussing his involvement in the song, he felt excited but did not fully grasp the scale and intensity of the project. “I wasn’t thinking how tall the mountain was,” he recalled. After going back and forth a few times over Zoom, the project began to take shape.
The final product was a true collaboration, “I didn’t write a song and say, ‘Here it is, do it,’” said Vedder. “We had the skeleton of a song. It had a little bit of muscle, a little bit of nerve endings, and then [the students] fleshed it out,” he added. The group later gathered in person two weeks before the performance to rehearse.
“Better Believe” is a song about finding one’s voice and persevering through adversity. With lyrics like “If I say what I wanna say / and be the one I wanna be / there’d be no one that could take my place,” the song starts with a simple instrumental and Vedder’s signature gravelly vocals. He is then joined by the students on vocals. The bridge swells, slowly gaining momentum before culminating in a massive, choir-like chorus.
Students also spoke about the paths that brought them to the program and later to the collaboration. One of the students described themselves as multi-instrumentalists who could “play whatever [people] want [them] to play.” Cassidy Lee, who plays the drums, said he taught himself to play through YouTube videos. Others said they also act, have released EPs, or are studying music business.
For Naomi Owens, a vocalist, being part of this collaboration gave her a space where her creativity and passion were celebrated. “People see me for me and how authentic I am and how authentic we are as a group,” she said. Isabella Santillan, who plays the guitar, said the project—and playing guitar more broadly—has allowed her to connect with people through music. “There’s a feeling I have when I listen to music,” she said, adding that she tries to channel that feeling into her own playing.
When the time came to record the song, Columbia College Chicago provided the space, staff, and equipment needed for the recording process, but due to time constraints, there was not an opportunity to mix and master the demo. Vedder then decided to bring the recording to professional producers, mixers, and engineers—including ones who have worked with artists like The Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga, he said—for post-production.
Once the final version was completed, he played it for the students. Vedder, speaking in a shaky voice, recalled that watching the students listen to themselves on a professional audio recording for the first time was “one of the most powerful memories that I will ever have of music in my whole life.”
Looking back at the performance, which took place at the OPC’s John Lewis Plaza and was livestreamed globally, Daniels added that there were definitely some nerves backstage. But after getting together with the group and saying a prayer, a sense of calm washed over him. “Everything that is for you, is for you,” he said.
The students experienced their own mix of nerves and excitement before taking the stage. Joy Viltz, who is a vocalist and plays the strings, recalled the moment when she met Jennifer Hudson backstage, adding that the encounter made the world of celebrities feel less distant and helped her realize that she, too, could pursue her dreams.
The students also reflected on lessons learned beyond the music. Ayden Smith, who plays the bass, said his attitude towards opportunities has become one of “Don’t say I’m going to try; say I’m going to do.” Giselle Castro (vocals) shared a similar perspective, explaining the project left her believing that “I can do more than I was meant to do.”
Vedder also reflected on the students’ potential, speaking of how music, for him, has always been the product of hard work and passion, yet some of these students were simply natural talents. “Ayden, he is a virtuoso—you are a genius, my friend,” Vedder said, turning to Smith. He added that he believed everyone on the stage could have careers in music if they chose to pursue them.
While reflecting on his involvement with the project, Daniels also acknowledged the obstacles some of these students had to overcome. Having dealt with imposter syndrome himself, he recalled wondering why he was the one given certain opportunities, asking himself, “Why me?” before shifting his mindset to, “Why not you?”
Daniel’s hope is that each and every one of the students knows that they are deserving and special young people, despite coming from neighborhoods where children sometimes have to grow up fast and do not often get to see their dreams come true at such a young age. He concluded the panel by encouraging students to recognize their own potential and value and sharing a quote from his uncle: “I don’t call you ‘son’ because you’re mine. I call you ‘sun’ because you shine.”
Throughout the panel, the first few rows on the right side of the auditorium were filled with tears, laughter, applause, joy, and admiration as the student’s families watched. Alexis Brown, Owens’s mother, expressed appreciation for Guitars Over Guns, noting that Owens’s brother also learned percussion through the nonprofit as well. She reflected on how, when her generation was growing up, the most that they could hope for was performing in a neighborhood talent show. By contrast, these students had been given the opportunity to perform on a national stage.
“We were watching our children become superstars; we were watching our children become who they already are,” she said, thanking Daniels and Vedder for their contributions.
Van Lokeren ended the panel with a difficult question: What would the mentors say to students who saw their peers perform at the OPC and wondered whether they, too, could ever have similar opportunities? The question reflected the fact that this group of students represented only a small fraction of the more than 200 children who participate in Guitars Over Guns in Chicago.
After a pause, Vedder reflected on the role that persistence had played in his own career. “Ordinarily, you’d say, well, people get breaks, people get opportunities, but I think that happens more often when you’ve worked for it and when you’ve put yourself in positions to be close to opportunities.”
He added that opportunities also come from proving to the people around you that you take things seriously, have a strong work ethic, and treat others well. “Because of that, you’ll be ready when those opportunities come forth,” he said. “I didn’t have parents or uncles or anyone in my community that had any connections, but I just cared about the music and cared about writing. I cared about the way it made me feel.”
Vedder went on to recall how, as a young man, he worked midnight shifts so he could “pretend to be a musician” and worked as a stagehand in small clubs in San Diego simply to be around music. One of his favorite memories, he said, was watching soundchecks by artists like Chuck Berry and Lenny Kravitz. “I have stories of musicians—people you’d know—who continuously showed kindness, security, and goodwill,” he said. “I thought, man, if I am ever lucky enough, this is how I would be.”
One way that Vedder has adhered to these principles of kindness and keeping a collaborative spirit was by making sure that every one of the 24 collaborators who had a part on the song—from the students to producers, engineers, and additional composers—was properly credited.
The panel closed with an acoustic performance of the song, which Vedder noted was a last-minute decision. He explained that he hadn’t wanted to place the additional burden of rehearsing both a full band and an acoustic version of the song on the students. But one day he walked into the green room, the backstage waiting area for performers, and found the students rehearsing the acoustic arrangement on their own
As the students performed, their families watched in awe, some wiping tears from their faces while steadying smartphones with shaky hands to record the moment. But as the song grew, the students had the entire audience energized and singing along to the “We Believe” refrain, with Mason Harris (rap) and Michael “Myskie” Hightower (rap) running into the crowd to further hype people up.
The performance concluded with a standing ovation, as students and mentors embraced onstage and took in the audience’s reaction. While the inauguration ceremony performance may have been the main event of the weekend, this smaller, more intimate acoustic rendition, with the students surrounded by their mentors and loved ones, felt like a love letter to the experience itself and served as a beautiful reminder of what believing and investing in the creative talents of young people can accomplish.
