Johanna Dadap’s “The World’s Gone Up in Smoke”

09/19/2022

A NoHo Arts music review of Johanna Dadap’s “The World’s Gone Up in Smoke” single.

Nineteen-year-old Filipino singer songwriter Johanna Dadap releases her environmental plea to the world, “The World’s Gone Up in Smoke.”

Her beautiful smokey voice, full of texture and heartache mixed with the soulful acoustic guitar is the perfect balance to this melancholic ode to our beautiful world.

There’s sweetness in “The World’s Gone Up in Smoke,” too. It’s not all doom and gloom. Dadap sings to the conscience of the planet, appealing to us to honor our responsibilities and not turn away from the vulnerable.

It’s a lovely song, softly spun, beautifully buoyant, and a pleasure to hear, but a tough lesson. Dadap pulls no punches, “when the elephants are gone and the birds give up their song” she sings, “it will all be too late, too soon.”

I know my kids can’t understand why the ravaging of the planet isn’t the only thing we talk about every single day. I understand how apathy can seem to be the only thing we can all agree on. Let’s hope this is a warning song and not a prophecy. But then ‘hope’ is what got us here didn’t it, in place of action.

I love this song, a gorgeous juxtaposition of hard-to-hear truth about the state of our world and a sweet refrain sung with a voice far deeper and more poignant than her years should allow.