Diane Warren 'Slid into' Tiwa Savage's 'DMs' — and That Led to 'One Heart (Can Change the World)' (Exclusive)
"One Heart (Can Change the World)" is featured in the upcoming animated film 'OZi: Voice of the Forest'
Diane Warren and Tiwa Savage believe this to be true: it takes one heart to change the world.
Warren and Savage joined forces to spread this message in the song "One Heart (Can Change the World)," which will be featured in the upcoming animated film OZi: Voice of the Forest.
Speaking to PEOPLE about how the collaboration came to be, Warren, 67, says she was first shown a rough cut of the movie and fell in love with the "message."
"I went to my usual writing room and a couple of days later and just came up with a chorus. 'One Heart (Can Change the World),' and I thought that captured the essence," she recalls. "Because really, one heart can change the world. It just takes one person and one person's passion for it to make significant change."
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Once the song was finished, she had heard of Savage, 44, and thought she'd be the perfect person to perform it.
"I slid into her DMS. She probably thought, 'Who is this bitch?" Warren recalls.
"I was so shocked. I couldn't believe it," Savage adds. "I definitely knew that it was going to be a very, very powerful song. I was just so honored that I didn't even know that you knew I existed. I listened to it over and over again. And then the more I listened to it, the more I fell in love with it."
The film follows OZi, an orangutan who is separated from her parents and goes on to grow up in an animal sanctuary. Then, she uses her influencer skills to save her parents and home from deforestation. The family film aims to raise awareness around deforestation and its effect on ecosystems and climate change, which Warren is passionate about.
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"We need it right now. We do have that power to do something great and do something positive. And the cool thing is, it's not preachy. I don't like preachy songs," she says. "I just love the fact that it's a celebration of who you are."
The film — which features the voices of Laura Dern, Amandala Stenberg, Donald Sutherland, Djimon Hounsou, RuPaul, Dean Charles Chapman and Urzila Carlson — is out Aug. 16 in the United Kingdom and most of Europe, while a North American release will be announced soon.
"One Heart (Can Change the World)" is out now.
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Read the original article on People.