Ken Freirich of Random Acts of Kindness talks about ‘I Wish’ single
- betterworldrecords
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Songwriter, musician, and executive producer Ken Freirich of Random Acts of Kindness chatted about the new single “I Wish.”
How did “I Wish” come about?
I was writing another song called “Peace for a Day” and had the idea of “I Wish” for the bridge.
I loved the messaging and lyrics so much I developed it into its own song, with the idea of spreading peace and kindness around the world. I wanted to keep the song simple, with deep and meaningful lyrics.
The simplicity and power of “Imagine” from John Lennon was always in the back of my mind. Through a series of wishes that create strong imagery in the verse and using elements of the universe in the chorus, I wanted to provide listeners hope and inspiration at a time when they could use lifting up.
The lyrics are all meaningful to me, but two standouts are: The verse, “I wish for a day where we all smile and laugh a real long while, a day where we all belong, A day where we just get along” pushes and inspires us as human beings to be better people, to be kind, to accept others and to realize the power of a smile and what that can do for ourselves and others.
The vivid chorus is a plea to the earth, sun and moon for help: “Fire in the sun, open your mind, sing like a bird, tell us how to be kind.“
These are appeals to the universe and the elements that provide the light and energy for life to help us break through the impasse of stubbornness and strong beliefs that cloud societies in the free world.
It drives us all to do better and to strive for a patient, accepting world that can bring us inner peace and happiness.”
What inspires your music and songwriting?
I started writing songs when I was eight years old. I loved music, played the drums and also really enjoyed writing poems, that’s how I got started.
Topics such as loss (the guitarist in my first band had a tragic accident and passed away at age 15), being different than others, and some girl crushes were topics that inspired me at that time.
My focus is now on writing lyrics and music that can help people and change the world, which is really my mission in life now. I believe that music can bring us all together and lyrics and music with positive messaging is very much needed today.
In my last single, “Free to Roam,” which became a Billboard and MediaBase Top 20 hit, messages included freedom, self-expression, liberation and empowerment.
Sometimes I will use personal experience to write the lyrics and other times I am just aspirational. I feel the pulse and heartbeat of what people need and write from the heart.
During COVID, I felt a calling to write and produce a song that could bring people together in a time of crisis and created “Healthcare Workers Rock!” as an anthem for healthcare workers and to give them the recognition they deserved.
I needed a name for the music group and decided to call it Random Acts of Kindness for two reasons.
The first is that it embodies my strong belief in kindness and making the world a better place.
Moreover, since I do random acts of kindness every week, it felt like the right name and that it could also give me platform to encourage others to be kind.
The second reason is that I liked the phrase “random acts,” since that would give me the flexibility of working with a variety of talented creatives for each track so that I could team up with different singers, artists producers and musicians.
We have a lot of flexibility in being able to pull all kinds of cool cats in to jam on the music, very excited about it.
There are lots of conversations in the works ranging from appearances at half time shows, big horse races, benefit concerts, global stages and smaller venues.
We are also interested in partnering with established artists to perform our songs and raise money for their charities.
What do your plans for the future include?
I had an idea to do different vocal versions of the song, featuring children’s choirs from around the world.
I felt that these meaningful lyrics about basic human needs delivered by children could harness the power of their voices to inspire and hopefully have an even greater impact on the world.
I wanted to test out this “idea” and found the perfect opportunity a few months ago.
For the first live performance of “I Wish,” I enlisted the San Diego Children’s Choir and they delivered an incredible rendition of the song in front of an audience of 50,000 people at horse racing’s World Championships, the Breeders’ Cup, which took place in Del Mar, CA.
When I heard the song come to life through the voices of the Children’s Choir, it brought tears to my eyes. It turned out to be a huge success!
I had dozens of people come up to me after to share that it also brought tears to their eyes, and they were so moved by the song, kids and choir.
As of result of this experience, I decided that I wanted to record and release new versions of “I Wish” with children’s choirs around the world!
The next version was recorded in Uganda in December, will feature the African Children’s Choir and will be released on February 6th. This will be followed by the San Diego Children’s Choir in March and then the National Choir of Anguilla and the Anguilla Music Academy version in April.
We will continue to release versions with kids from all of the major continents around the world throughout 2026! Future stops will be in the UK, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Canada, etc. I am super excited about it. Our children’s choirs will also be performing our music live all over the world.
(And) I will be launching a global kindness initiative that will complement the song and hopefully generate billions of kind acts around the world.
What is your advice for young and aspiring artists, songwriters and creatives?
Follow your passion, be true to yourself with your lyrics and music and don’t ever, ever give up. One yes or viral video can change your life forever.
What does the word success mean to you? (My favorite question)
For Random Acts of Kindness, I would define success in being able to have a positive impact on the world, one person at a time.
If the music could uplift, inspire, help one person get through difficult times, encourage them to be kind and spread kindness, then we will have succeeded.
As mentioned, I do believe one can act can change the world and grow exponentially beyond our wildness dreams.
Having said all of that, I would love for our lyrics and music to be heard all over the world so that we could have as big of impact as possible.
What would you like to tell our readers about “I Wish”? (What’s the one thing you want them to get out of it)
It’s a song that can change them and change the world if they listen closely to the lyrics. It can provide readers with hope and inspiration.
The other take away is to encourage them to do their part, accept others, spread peace and kindness and to always remember, “one kind act can change the world.”
The new single “I Wish” is available to stream by clicking here.
To learn more about Random Acts of Kindness, follow its official website, Facebook page, and Instagram page.
Written By
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 24,000 original articles over the past 19 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is an 18-time "Best of Long Island" winner, where for three consecutive years (2020, 2021, and 2022), he was honored as the "Best Long Island Personality" in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.
