--- description: The Grammy winner is repurposing her hit song for public health. title: How Ciara Became an Advocate for HIV Prevention image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7366531aaf9e1aa/69d9141f47096d4926acb274/GettyImages-2266912744.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [HIV](/tag/hiv/) ## HIV Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Ciara Became an Advocate for HIV Prevention  by [Alice Park](/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Apr 9, 2026 7:58 PM CUT  by [Alice Park](/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Apr 9, 2026 7:58 PM CUT "1, 2 Step" is an early 2000s earworm—one that Grammy-award winner [Ciara](https://time.com/3855335/ciara-interview-jackie-bmf/ "undefined") feels protective of, more than 20 years later. "I've never lent that song to anything," she says. "I've been very particular about that sample being used." But when [Gilead](https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2025/7289609/gilead/ "undefined"), the makers of the [HIV-prevention medicine called PrEP](https://time.com/5604357/uspstf-prep-hiv-recommendation/ "undefined"), approached Ciara to explore licensing the song to raise awareness for PrEP—short for pre-exposure prophylaxis—the singer-songwriter says she didn’t hesitate. “I thought, ‘This is such an amazing opportunity, where you get to see the power of music coming together with the power of medicine...and ultimately being able to impact someone’s life,” she says. Ciara licensed the rights to her song to Gilead, returning to the studio to re-record the lyrics for their "One2PrEP" campaign to raise awareness about HIV prevention. Not only is there a highly effective daily pill that people at risk for HIV can take to protect themselves from infection, but as of June 2025, there's also a [new option for people to get a PrEP injection](https://time.com/7295343/fda-hiv-shot-lenacapavir-yeztugo/ "undefined") just twice a year. The shots reduce the risk of HIV by 96% to 100%, depending on the circumstances of exposure, and offer an appealing option for those who don't want to take a pill every day. Ciara sees music as a unique way to help spread public-health messages to more people, “no matter your profession or part of the world you’re in. The idea is to remove the stigma surrounding these types of conversations. And my greatest hope is that you’re talking about it, you’re curious about it, and you think, ‘This could actually help protect me in a situation or relationship I’m having, and maybe I should take the 1, 2-step to get my One2PrEP, so I can be prepared.’” Despite tremendous advancements in preventive medications, people in the U.S. and worldwide continue to get HIV, in part because of the perception that HIV has been brought under control. Ciara remembers the days when HIV was more of a top-of-mind issue, and raising awareness about preventing infection—with safe sex, clean needles, and medications—was a public-health priority. But the urgency and attention surrounding HIV waned as the public became complacent about the disease. “Those conversations just kind of fell more to the background or to the wayside,” she says. “But the reality is that this disease is still rolling strong, and there is so much opportunity for people to protect themselves. So whenever there’s an opportunity for me to impact someone’s life and essentially help save lives, I’m going to be the first in line to do it, because I feel an obligation to do that with my platform.” Cutting down on new HIV infections with PrEP would mean less virus circulating—so the ultimate goal of such prevention strategies is to help finally control, or even end, the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “I’m very optimistic,” says Ciara about that potential. "The PrEP shots alone are groundbreaking…and just knowing that there are these types of things in the universe that didn’t exist before encourages me to be optimistic for what more developments could come in, hopefully, the near future.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/-ciara-advocate-hiv-prevention/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/-ciara-advocate-hiv-prevention/"},"headline":"How Ciara Became an Advocate for HIV Prevention","datePublished":"2026-04-09T19:58:54.690Z","dateModified":"2026-05-13T06:52:16.859Z","description":"The Grammy winner is repurposing her hit song for public health.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/-ciara-advocate-hiv-prevention/","keywords":["HIV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7366531aaf9e1aa/69d9141f47096d4926acb274/GettyImages-2266912744.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7366531aaf9e1aa/69d9141f47096d4926acb274/GettyImages-2266912744.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ciara","caption":"","creditText":"Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Gilead Sciences","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/hiv/","name":"HIV"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/-ciara-advocate-hiv-prevention/","name":"How Ciara Became an Advocate for HIV Prevention"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ciara on lending her song \"1, 2 Step\" to promote HIV prevention","description":"Singer-songwriter Ciara partnered with Gilead Sciences to launch the \"One2PrEP\" campaign, promoting HIV prevention and a long-acting PrEP shot.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/CEQFQyu6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-03-31T17:02:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CEQFQyu6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/-ciara-advocate-hiv-prevention/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/-ciara-advocate-hiv-prevention/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```