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Miguel Mourns The Loss Of Black Lives On Heart-Wrenching New Song ‘How Many’

‘I'm tired of human lives turned into hashtags and prayer hands,’ he sings

"I cannot sleep. I cannot rest. I cannot dream. I cannot stay silent."

Miguel opens his new song, "How Many," with these declarations and spends the next three minutes turning those emotions into something equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking.

At one particularly poignant point, he sings, with both pain and persistence:

"How many black lives? How many black lives? How many heartbeats turned into flatlines? How many black lives? How many black lives does it take to wake the change? / Does it take to wake the change? / Does it take to wake the change? / We can't let them die in vain"

In the description for the song on SoundCloud, the 30-year-old explained a bit about the track's origins and his plans for it: "This version was started (written/recorded) here in London in my hotel room between the hours of 4am and around 7am when i passed out. ill update this song every week until its complete. Please feel free to share. #blacklivesmatter."

Miguel joins Jay Z, Mistah F.A.B., and Schoolboy Q as artists who have addressed this week's killings of black men Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, respectively, in song.

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