Mar 17, 2016
A number of leading Washington DC figureheads have criticized the Mercury award winning singer for her representation of the Ward 7 area in her latest single, the Guardian reports. The song, titled “The Community of Hope,” is taken from her upcoming album and refers to the DC area as a “drug town” inhabited by “zombies." Harvey also makes several more specific references to the deprived area, referring to Benning Road as a “pathway of death," and even describes one school as a “shithole."
Her new album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, which will be released 15 April, was inspired by a number of locations Harvey visited during a four-year period. In addition to referencing the Ward 7 area, her lyrics also draw upon her travels to Kosovo and Afghanistan.
Leah Garrett at the DC nonprofit Community of Hope has reached out to Harvey in an open letter saying, “By calling out this picture of poverty in terms of streets and buildings and not the humans who live here, have you not reduced their dignity? Have you not trashed the place that, for better or worse, is home to people who are working to make it better, who take pride in their accomplishments.” The artist has yet to respond to the open letter.
Image: Consequence of Sound