Since disclosing thousands of classified NSA documents and being hit with two counts of espionage by the Department of Justice, Edward Snowden has been on the run. The former CIA employee was granted asylum in Russia, where has been since 2013. As public sentiment has shifted in his favor for his reveal of widespread governmental surveillance, Snowden has slowly increased his public exposure. 2015 was a big year for him, as he started a highly opinionated Twitter account and appeared on talk shows with John Oliver and Neil deGrasse Tyson. His newest venture now sees him entering the music industry, releasing a track with electronic music legend Jean Michel Jarre.
While Jarre surprised Edward Snowden with his proposal to work together, the two ultimately met up in Russia to work on the track. The song was named “Exit” by Snowden, who explained, “It’s about an action which may change everything from where we are to another direction, a departure to somewhere else.” The track features pointed quotes from Snowden, such as “technology can actually increase privacy” and “saying that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different to saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.” These quotes perfectly complement this frenzied techno track which Jarre fitting explained as “evoking the constant and hectic production of data and the obsessive quest for more information.”
