For Apple Music's Juneteenth-inspired Freedom Songs, a collection of covers and originals, Jean Dawson created the original song “Ghost,” a record he says is “for the people who’ve felt unseen and unheard.” Dawson says he first learned of Juneteenth as a child. “The holiday itself should never have needed to exist,” he tells Apple Music. “My ancestors should have never been slaves and built a country that would show to be a curse to my Black skin. Nevertheless, I live in this version of reality where Black folk were and are seen as beasts, devils, and animals. So the day my beautiful Black ancestors were freed is the greatest cause for celebration and reflection.”