In recent years, the influence of music throughout Granite Bay has become extremely significant.

Many artists have inspired students through their music and their impact has made nationwide changes.

In March 2017, Chicago-based artist Chance the Rapper (Chancelor Johnathan Bennett) announced that he would be donating $1,000,000 to Chicago public schools in an effort to help the funding deficit.

On Friday, March 31, 2017, Chance announced that he would start an arts and literature fund for Chicago schools.

Chance’s efforts also inspired the Chicago Bulls to donate $1,000,000 to the cause.

“It’s really cool seeing someone like him where he’s trying to give back in the community so much… (and) to see him try to better our community and our society because there’s obviously some stuff wrong with it,” Granite Bay High School senior Justin Alexander said. “He talks about what’s wrong with (Chicago) and there’s like a lot of it he believes is probably from school systems.”

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Alexander started listening to Chance in his freshman year of high school and has since become a bigger fan.

“A lot of his lyrics are really empowering and talk a lot about real life stuff going on not just about … partying,” Alexander said. “His earlier (albums) were more younger age and (about) partying …  and this one (Coloring Book) is more about being a dad and stuff like that.”

During the 2016 presidential election, Chance made an effort to have an influence and encourage America’s young voters to get involved and vote.

“He wasn’t trying to promote a side or anything but he was telling people go out and vote, so he makes a really big difference in the people,” Alexander said. “It’s cool to see (artists) being recognized for it because they’re shedding light on things that actually need to be looked at seriously.”

Other groups, like One Direction, had massive impacts throughout their careers.

A GBHS sophomore girl, who wished to remain anonymous to protect the authenticity and privacy of her account, has had a Twitter account dedicated to One Direction since sixth grade.

The One Direction account now has more than 24,000 followers.

“The whole purpose was to talk about (One Direction) and learn more to see what (the band) was up to day-to-day,” the anonymous sophomore girl said. “You gain followers because people follow you when you have the same interests and you try to get noticed by them.”

The anonymous sophomore is no longer active on the account because One Direction’s members split up in 2016 and now are mainly working on personal projects.

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The sophomore also disclosed that she didn’t have enough time to keep up with the account.

“I stopped being active a few months after Zayn left and especially now, but I will go on it from time to time,” the anonymous sophomore girl said. “The first (split) was very drastic because Zayn stopped going to the shows and everyone was kind of confused, but I feel like we all saw it coming. Once he left, the whole fanbase was really sad.”

Since the band stopped working together, some fans are no longer as interested as they once were.

“My peak of Directionism was probably during the Take Me Home tour (in 2013) in summer,” the anonymous sophomore girl said. “It fizzled out probably when Zayn left and … even more as time progressed.”

Sophomore Raegan (Toni) Scheer, a Panic at the Disco Fan, said that she started listening to “I Write Sins not Tragedies,” a popular song at the time period, after getting an iTunes account.

“I listened to the rest of their albums and I just fell in love with their music,” Scheer said. “Because they change sound, it’s almost like a different feel for each of their albums. It always goes with what your mood is.”

As time progresses, there seems to be a trend of artists and celebrities shifting the focal point towards bettering their communities and supporting those in need.

“It’s cool to see people go out of their way helping people and not be so self-focused,” Alexander said. “I’d love to do something like that where it’s making a big change on the community or people in need.”