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Music

RL Grime and UNICEF Bring Child Marriage to Light with Their Powerful Collaboration

Child relief and dance music make quite the pair.

Relief organization UNICEF has partnered with RL Grime on a new campaign video that hopes to end child marriage overseas. The YouTube video, called #ENDChildMarriageNow, features RL Grime's song "Always" from his first full-length album Void.

According to UNICEF, nearly 70 percent of girls in Chad in Central Africa become child brides before they turn 18, often by force of their parents.

RL Grime told Mother Jones in an email that until UNICEF contacted him, he was unaware about the epidemic both in Chad and globally. "[So] when they came to me with the opportunity I was happy to be involved and help shed light on a very real world topic," he said. He says the track "Always" was chosen because of its ability to carry the seriousness of the topic but also reflect on an "idea of hope."

"I think it's a somber yet uplifting track," he told Mother Jones. "The lyric 'I feel better when I have you near me' really meshed well with the overall theme of the video, which to me hits on this sense of community."

The video follows the story of a young girl who is forced into marriage and loses her life too soon. But the story quickly changes direction and begins to rewind through two potential story lines?if she married young, or if she was encouraged to continue her education.