Recent controversies around race, sexual orientation and prejudice inspired several Tisch students to collaborate on “Open Their Eyes,” a song by Tisch sophomore Nic Hanson. Hanson teamed up with Tisch sophomores Michael Ayijan and Stephen Skeel who produced an accompanying video.

Ayjian and Skeel, co-founders of 7 Wonders Cinema, produced the video that accompanies “Open Their Eyes,” in four months with no funding. The collaboration comes as a result of a continued friendship between the men.

“Nic had been sending us stuff for a while,” Ayjian said.  “We thought this song was not only a good song, but also is culturally relevant with everything going on right now, This song has a story behind it,
has meaning.”

The lyrics of “Open Their Eyes” came easily for Hanson, who wrote the song quickly over the summer after waking up with the idea. Hanson was inspired to write out of anger and confusion relating to the amount of ignorance in the world.

“It goes deeper than just race or sexual orientation — it’s the idea that prejudice extends from ignorance,” Hanson said.

Hanson and 7 Wonders Cinema will likely release another music video this spring. The second one will be a dance video to Hanson’s song “Serena.” Skeel and Ayjian hope to produce more memorable content similar to the “Open Their Eyes” music video, which enhances the experience of listening to the song.

“We feel like it’s one of his best songs,” Skeel said. “we want the video to be the best it can be.”

“Serena” is more upbeat and fast-paced than “Open Their Eyes.” The inspiration for the song came from Hanson’s real life experience with
a girl.

“The lyrics of Serena are very sad,” Hanson said. “I don’t really like sad songs, but I like taking sad concepts and making it into something happy or driving to get rid of frustration and negativity.”

A self-described happy person, Hanson is currently working on a few other projects, including a melancholy yet inspirational hip/hop collection, an electronic album with producer The 83rd and a ’90s throwback R&B collection that Hanson described as being all about sex and weather. His music style tends to vary as much as the pitch of his voice, ranging from rap to hip hop
to gospel.

Hanson already has about 60 songs that have yet to be released, 40 of which he wrote over winter break. His inspiration comes not only from his background in gospel and in choir music, but from the people he is surrounded by in New York City.

“I’m so happy to be here, I get my energy from connections with people, and from connections you can make art,” Hanson said. “My favorite thing to write about is actual relationships and how beautiful that is. It’s something you can’t
describe particularly.”

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, March 2 print edition. Email Amanda D. Morris at [email protected].