13 Captivating Songs About Peace or Piece(s) | Playlist 🎧

13 Captivating Songs About Peace or Piece(s) features music courtesy of Ella Mai, Jack Harlow, Ray Charles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Wet Leg.

Back in 2000, 🎙 Marvin Sapp blessed us with that 🎵 “Perfect Peace”, which graces his 💿 Be Exalted album.  26 years earlier, 🎙 Average White Band was struggling to 🎵 “Pick Up the Pieces”.  Picking up pieces is an arduous task, particularly if those pieces are glass! Legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans combined peace and piece for his “Peace Piece”, considered one of his greatest hits.  Hopefully, you gather from this introduction that this musical compendium is all about songs that feature PEACE or PIECE(s) in their respective titles.  

🎧 13 Captivating Songs About Peace or Piece(s) features music courtesy of 🎙 Ella Mai, 🎙 Jack Harlow, 🎙 Ray Charles, 🎙 Red Hot Chili Peppers, and 🎙 Wet Leg among others.  This music compendium is comprised of R&B/soul, rap, rock, alternative, and gospel.  So, without further ado, why don’t you grab a piece of something delicious and embrace the peace (or pieces) being served up on 🎧 13 Captivating Songs About Peace or Piece(s)!

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Peace and Love”

💿 Return of the Dream Canteen • 🏷 Warner • 📅 2022 

God truly blessed 🎙 Red Hot Chili Peppers fans in 2022 🙌. How so? Well, not only did the legendary, 🏆 Grammy-winning band release one album (💿 Unlimited Love), but they released two (💿 Return of the Dream Canteen).  On the second track from Return of the Dream Canteen, 🎵 “Peace and Love,” 🎙 Anthony Kiedis serves up a heaping dose of good vibes.  “Well, I’m a lover to all my tribes / Oh, tell me, motherfucker, can you feel my vibes?” Yes, we can, Anthony!

Obviously, dropping the MF-bomb is one reason why this peaceful track earns Return of the Dream Canteen a parental advisory explicit lyrics label (🎵 “Fake as Fu@k” contributes too).  Beyond that sole instance of potty-mouthed-ness, Kiedis does serve up peacefulness, particularly in the chorus:

“Shout out to my lonely friends, a message that I meant to send

I got peace and love for you right now

And when I see my little sis, a middle western genius

She’s got peace and love for you somehow.”

Of course, there’s also the usual clever, eccentric, and intriguing lyrics that goes along with the territory of RHCP songs, including a shoutout to 🎙 Layne Staley, the deceased front man of 🎙 Alice in Chains: “Staley, are you out there? I am in your lane.” Besides the colorful lyrics, the music is sick.  “Peace and Love” thrives off its groove and of course, the bass line.  Again, a musical blessing 🙌!

2. Wet Leg, “Piece of Shit”

💿 Wet Leg • 🏷 Domino Recording Co Ltd • 📅 2022

Is there much of a gray area when the name of a song is 🎵 “Piece of Shit”? No, because characterizing yourself, another person, or an object as a piece of shit is self-explanatory – telling to say the least.  On “Piece of Shit,” 🏆 Grammy-nominated duo 🎙 Wet Leg (Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers) don’t mince their words –  an understatement.  “‘Cause now you call me up / Alright, I’m not enough,” Rhian Teasdale sings, continuing,  “Alright, I fucked it up / Alright, I’m such a slut / Alright, whatever helps you sleep at night.” Woo!

The 10^th track from 💿 Wet Leg doesn’t hold back on the colorful, salty language.  “Well, if you were better to me / Then maybe I’d consider / Fucking you goodbye.” Gah-day-um! Oh, and for good measure, what about the chorus: “You’re like a piece of shit, you either sink or float / So you take her for a ride on your daddy’s boat /… You say you think about me when you’re fucking her.” Well, safe to say Rhian isn’t happy on this one… Her, and Wet Leg’s displeasure over an ex- is our listening pleasure though – salty words included!

3. Ricky Dillard, “Let There Be Peace on Earth”

💿 Choirmaster • 🏷 Motown Gospel • 📅 2020 

Gospel standout 🎙 Ricky Dillard joined by a mass choir and an anointed countertenor (🎙Thomas Allen), delivers a record for ‘times like these’ with 🎵 “Let There Be Peace on Earth (Live)”, an advance single from his 2020 album, 💿 Choirmaster. 2020 proved to be quite the turbulent year – not the way anyone anticipated commencing a new decade.  The biggest shocker was the heartbreaking and deadly COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the entire world. What better time, hence, to petition for ‘peace on earth?’

Dillard’s rendition of “Let There Be Peace on Earth” yields amazing results. Honestly, you don’t have to be a believer to arrive at that takeaway.  The mass choir rendition finds the spirit is lofty, led by the compelling, technically sound Thomas Allen. The arrangement also deserves recognition, opting against merely being tried and true version, expanding beyond. If you’re in need of music to help assuage and soothe anxiety, doubts, and troubles, particularly given the turbulence of 2020 and beyond, “Let There Be Peace on Earth (Live)” is definitely worth adding to your listening rotation.

Appears in 🔻:

• Somber Sunday: Weekly Gems No. 3
• Weekly Gems No. 3: Week of 4-13-2020
• 11 Captivating Songs About the Earth – Well – Some of Them
• 10 Songs That Capture and Embody the Pandemic
• Awesome Songs That Tickled My Fancy: April 2020
• Epilogue: 21 Incredible Highlights from Weekly Gems
• 11 Songs That Provide That Spiritual Refresh

4. John Legend, “Pieces”

💿 LEGEND  • 🏷 John Legend Music, Inc. / Republic • 📅 2022 

Once upon a time, 🎙 John Legend was a platinum-selling R&B artist – he had an ultra-successful run. While the fame hasn’t dried up for Legend in the least (he’s still hustling hard), his albums don’t impact or sell as they once did.  Sure, 💿 Bigger Love won a 🏆 Grammy, but it didn’t sell well.  Legend’s gargantuan, 2022 album, 💿 LEGEND, has performed even worse, debuting at a tepid no. 59 on the Billboard 200.  Those sales, ladies and gentlemen certainly aren’t legendary in the least.  Regardless, the talented musician does remind us what makes him special on the song, 🎵 “Pieces.”

“I’m disconnected / Feelin’ out of place,” Legend sings in the first verse of “Pieces,” continuing, “Don’t know how this shit got so strange / Open eyes, but can’t see you.” Hmm, wonder when, indeed, shit got so strange?  “Wasn’t it you, who told me that grief was a teacher / And everything you ever loved would leave you,” John sings in the following pre-chorus, which leads into a key lyric, “And the only thing you can do is pick up the pieces / Let your broken heart learn.” Clearly, matters of the heart is what has Legend in pieces, something we see more of in the second verse where she’s got my boy feeling some type of way! All in all, the sentiment that Legend conjures up on this refined number from the second disc of LEGEND is relatable – incredibly heartfelt.  Produced by 🎛 Justin Raisen and Sad Pony, the backdrop is classy, which fits a sophisticated, legendary vocalist like Legend is.  What’s interesting, however, is the fact that the gifted pianist plays no instruments on this track.  Go figure, I suppose 🤷.

5. Taylor Swift, “peace”

💿 folklore • 🏷 Taylor Swift • 📅 2020 

“Our coming-of-age has come and gone / Suddenly this summer, it’s clear / I never had the courage of my convictions…” 🎵 “Peace” serves as the penultimate record from 💿 folklore, the eighth studio album by the ubiquitous 🎙 Taylor Swift.  Notably, folklore earned Swift her third win for the prestigious 🏆 Grammy for Album Of The Year (💿 Fearless and 💿 1989 won previously). “Peace” features some of the clearest vocals of the album – shout out the superb vocal production.  The overall production is sweet as well, with a minimalist, somewhat enigmatic vibe.  This is very much an 🎛 Aaron Dessner-helmed record – that’s a compliment. 

Of course, besides Dessner’s contributions, Swift’s sharp pen – her elite songwriting skills – can’t be neglected (“But I’m a fire and I’ll keep your brittle heart warm”).  She first utters the word peace at the end of the first verse: “No, I could never give you peace.”  Of course, peace shows up again at the conclusion of the chorus, where Swift asserts, “The devil’s in the details, but you got a friend in me / Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?” Food for thought, right? Well, when you’re a superstar like Taylor Swift, how could there be peace? Regardless, she’s dedicated AF to him, willing to “Give you my wild, give you a child,” which signals this is a long-term, serious commitment.

6. Jack Harlow, “Side Piece”

💿 Come Home the Kids Miss You • 🏷 Generation Now / Atlantic • 📅 2022 

It’s easy to roll your eyes on 🎵 “Side Piece”, the sixth track from 💿 Come Home the Kids Miss You, the 2022, 🏆 Grammy-nominated sophomore album by 🎙 Jack Harlow. More than the brief 🎵 “Dua Lipa”, which precedes it, Harlow tries to play off the Drake vibe. Remember Drake’s 🎵 “Side Pieces” song from hosting The ESPYs? Of course, Drizzy executes better than 🎵 “Young Harleezy”.

“Side Piece,” given its title and theme, is a prime example of f#¢kboy rap. Jack Harlow asserts in the chorus, “I already got a song for my main chick / So let me do a record or my side piece.” Woo! See why it’s eye-roll-worthy? It only gets more cringy with dumb cliches: “I liked them girls that was in the Abercrombie / I like them girls that was in the Aeropostale.” I won’t even analyze the second verse, which finds Harlow getting stopped in Argentina… My, my, my!

7. Ella Mai, “Pieces”

💿 Heart On My Sleeve • 🏷 10 Summers / Interscope • 📅 2022 

“Maybe it’s ‘cause we’re just two fools broken by love / We know how to pick all the pieces up.”  Maybe that’s it, 🎙 Ella Mai!  The 🏆 Grammy-winning 🎵 “Boo’d Up” artist is one of many R&B musicians who released a new album with little buzz.  💿 Heart On My Sleeve debuted at no. 15 on the Billboard 200, but ultimately spent just four weeks on the charts – BUMMER! For a comparison point, her 💿 self-titled debut, which featured “Boo’d Up,” debuted at no. 5, spent 86 weeks on the charts, and was certified double platinum.  Regardless, Heart On My Sleeve is enjoyable – a worthwhile listen, especially the song at hand, 🎵 “Pieces.”

“If this a flood, then we gon’ float,” Ella Mai sings in the first verse, adding, “You know I see what you don’t / Make you better ‘cause I keep you together, yeah.”  Woo! In the second verse of the slickly produced “Pieces,” Mai describes “… that safe love, we ain’t scared to say it / Ain’t no need to pretend, we just trust what it is.” Sure – they seem to make things work despite being two fools broken by love. Helping “Pieces” work successfully is a fine vocal performance, enjoyable songwriting, and refined production work courtesy of 🎛 Sir Nolan and DannyBoy Styles. Perhaps the peace is sus here, but the pieces are not!

8. Chris Brown, “Inner Peace” (Ft. Anderson .Paak)

💿 Breezy • 🏷 RCA • 📅 2022

In 2022, 🏆 Grammy winner 🎙 Chris Brown released a new album, 💿 Breezy.  Although it debuted respectably at no. 4 on the Billboard 200, Breezy was more of a low-key release by Brown compared to other projects.  Regardless, he earned another Grammy nomination for the album, which features a peaceful song, 🎵 “Inner Peace.” On “Inner Peace,” Brown has lots to say.  How so? Well, the record runs nearly five minutes in duration.  Notably, “Inner Peace” features a soulful groove that’s idiomatic of both neo-soul and contemporary R&B.  🎛 Bongo ByTheWay handles the production work like a champ. 

Among the best moments of “Inner Peace” is the enjoyable, memorable chorus by 🏆 Grammy winner, 🎙 Anderson .Paak:

“Come get this inner peace

She pay me no mind, I tell her don’t overthink

I pin her up on the wall, you more like my centerpiece

She tried to kick me some knowledge like she was Dr. King.”

Both, of course, perform with ample swagger and some bad-boy energy. Paak asserts in the first verse, “I got big head energy, but I still don’t overthink / She said she don’t need no Xans, I just fuck her right to sleep.”  Woo! As for Brown, in the second verse, he asserts, “Baby, let it go, I’m like Moses, I can part the sea / Waves like emotions, take you to that galaxy, yeah.” Moses, huh? Wow!  No matter what you think of Brown, he sounds fabulous vocally – he has a marvelous instrument to work with.  So does .Paak 💪.

9. Jhené Aiko, “Bed Peace” (Ft. Childish Gambino)

💿 Sail Out (EP) • 🏷 Def Jam • 📅 2013 

“Wake up, wake up, bake up…let’s get faded / Gotta call your job tell ‘em you won’t make it.” On 🎵 “Bed Peace,” 🏆 Grammy-nominated R&B singer 🎙 Jhené Aiko embraces the ‘higher’ side of life, as the excerpted, stoner-alluding lyrics confirm.  Perhaps it’s irresponsible (depending on who you are and your thoughts on being 420-friendly) but Aiko’s chill vocals/ad-libs float atop the production as if she is smoking blunt after blunt. She effortlessly brings a sense of cool, injecting ample contemporary lyrical swagger on this standout from her 2013 EP, 💿 Sail Out (“Gotta get this paper, get this cake up…”).

Of course, Aiko isn’t a solo act on “Bed Peace.” What fun would that possibly be? She enlists future 🏆 Grammy-winner, 🎙 Childish Gambino (Donald Glover), for the assist.  Glover adds an alternative rap touch, which fits the V-I-B-E.  Glover’s best moment is when he states, “I don’t wanna be around a baby so dumb high / I don’t see the beauty of a momma on inside…”  Ah, what a play on words, right? All told, “Bed Peace” marks a winning moment for Jhené Aiko.

10. Ledisi, “Pieces of Me”

💿 Pieces of Me • 🏷 The Verve Music Group • 📅 2011

“People just don’t know what I’m about / They haven’t seen what’s there behind my smile,” 🏆 Grammy-winner 🎙 Ledisi sings honestly in the first verse of 🎵 “Pieces of Me.” “Pieces of Me” serves as the opener from her marvelous 2011 album, also titled 💿 Pieces of Me.  Ledisi continues singing, “There’s so much more of me I’m showin’ now / (These are the pieces of me).”

This ballad, penned by Ledisi alongside writers/producers 🎼 ✍ 🎛 Chuck Harmony and Claude Kelly, is tailor made for her.  In the second verse, she goes on to sing, “Now I’m gonna make mistakes from time to time / But in the end believe that I’m gon’ fly / No matter if I’m wrong or if I’m right.” “Pieces of Me” perfectly captures her complexity as well as the complexity of women (though all are different, of course).  There are diverse parts that shouldn’t be disregarded, ignored, or written off.  All of these parts build the being that is Ledisi or any number of women across the world.  The chorus stupendously summarizes this with Ledisi serving up epic vocals.

“So when you look at my face

You gotta know that I’m made of everything love and pain.

(These are the pieces of me)

Like every woman I know

I’m complicated fo sho

But when I love I love ‘til there’s no love no mo.

(These are the pieces of me).”

11. John Lennon & Yoko Ono, “Give Peace a Chance – Ultimate Mix”

💿 GIMME SOME TRUTH. • 🏷 Calderstone Productions Limited • 📅 2020

“Everybody’s talking about / Revolution, Evolution, Masturbation, Flagellation, Regulation / Integrations, mediations, United Nations, congratulations.” Masturbation, 🎙 John Lennon, really? Hmm, personally, I wouldn’t necessarily associate peace and masturbation together but somehow, it happens in the pacifist rock classic, 🎵 “Give Peace a Chance”. I mean, I suppose self-pleasure can give you peace of mind…  What’s truly funny is how one lyric or even one word can earn a song a controversial stamp.  This Lennon/Yoko Ono classic is considered controversial.

“All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

Protest anthems are often elevated to controversy anyways because they are confronting and standing up for some big cause. “Give Peace a Chance” certainly fits the bill as a protest anthem decrying the Vietnam War and encouraging world peace.  Still, thow in the m-word, even in the 2020s, and eyebrows still raise.  The mindset is believed to be that 🎙 John Lennon was referencing adult entertainment being more readily available, hence more solo fun going down.  That said, the line really has nothing to do with the peace he sings about, though, to reiterate, I suppose the experience could result in much-needed peace from pent-up tension.

Appears in 🔻:

• 17 Songs Featuring Self-Pleasure Lyrics

12. Ray Charles, “There’ll Be No Peace Without All Men as One”

💿 A Message From The People • 🏷 Tangerine • 📅 1972

“What good is the sun if there is no sky above?” That is a legitimate question that 🎙 Ray Charles asks on 🎵 “There’ll Be No Peace Without All Men as One”.  The legendary, 🏆 Grammy-winning musician continues to inquire in the first verse of this gem from  💿 A Message From The People (1972), “Why should the rivers flow? / Why should a candle glow?” So, what is Charles’ point on this 🎼 ✍ Sadye Shepard-penned classic? Unity and the dysfunction caused by the lack of it.  As the chorus and titular lyric, performed by a gorgeous, lush choir, “Ah, ah, ah, there’ll be no peace without all men as one.”

Throughout the rest of the verses, Charles continues with hypothetical questions, all of which feel authentic and legitimate.  In the second verse, he’s concerned with the state of nature – leaves, trees, and flowers – all referring back to the idea of humankind not getting right and being on one accord.  Similarly, in the third verse, he’s worried about a lack of songs, bells ringing, and even day.  Worth noting, he delivers a ripe falsetto by the end of this verse, driving his transcendent point home.  Essentially, with Shepard’s poetic pen, and a marvelous arrangement courtesy of Sid Fuller, Quincy Jones, and Mike Post, Charles implores us to be better people who work together.  Sadly, Charles’ call to action still falls far too often on deaf ears.  The world is an incredibly polarized place and yet if we’d only entertain Charles’ petition for peace and unity, wouldn’t we be in a better place? If nothing else, 🎵 “There’ll Be No Peace Without All Men as One” offers up prudent food for thought.  Furthermore, it’s a radiant, radiant classic from a truly iconic, one-in-a-lifetime musician.

Appears in 🔻:

• Ray Charles, “There’ll Be No Peace Without All Men as One”: Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 35 (2022)

13. Rev. James Cleveland and the Angelic Choir, “Peace Be Still”

💿 Peace Be Still • 🏷 Savoy • 📅 1962

“Master, the tempest is raging! The billows are tossing high!” 🙌 👏 ✝ One of the most important gospel recordings of all time is none other than 💿 Peace Be Still by 🎙 Rev. James Cleveland.  The landmark album by 29-time 🏆 Grammy nominee/four-time winner was released in 1962.  Filled with gospel gems, none is bigger or shines brighter than 🎵 “Peace Be Still.”  The words of this hymn were penned by 🎼 ✍ Mary A. Baker, whose text is based on the miracle where Jesus calms the storm (Mark 4:35-41). The tune was composed by 🎼 ✍ Horatio R. Palmer.  Of course, Cleveland makes “Peace Be Still” his own with a dynamic, powerful arrangement.

Examine the score of “Peace Be Still,” and it’s a record that naturally lends itself to an ornate arrangement.  In the hands of Rev. James Cleveland, there are impressive piano riffs (left and right hands), swelling organ, and a marching drum groove, carried by the snare (gotta love those sixteenth note triplets).  Furthermore, what about the soaring choir that performs the beloved refrain:

“The winds and the waves shall obey my will

Peace be still!

Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,

Or demons, or men, or whatever it be,

No water can swallow the ship where lies

The Master of ocean and earth and skies;

They all shall sweetly obey My will;

Peace be still, peace be still!

They all shall sweetly obey My will:

Peace, peace be still!”

Of course, the gritty, gruff-voiced Cleveland can’t be left out of the mix.  He’s spirited as albeit, ministering the greatness of God.  PEACE BE STILL!

13 Captivating Songs About Peace or Piece(s) [📷: 10 Summers, Anastasiya Lobanovskaya, Atlantic, Brent Faulkner, Calderstone Productions Limited, Clement Eastwood, Cup of  Couple, Def Jam, Domino Recording Co Ltd, Generation Now, Interscope, John Legend Music, Inc., Kampus Production, Kaushal Moradiya, Matheus Henrin, The Musical Hype, M Venter, Pexels, Pixabay, RCA, Republic, San Engineer, Savoy, Tangerine, Taylor Swift, The Verve Music Group, Warner]