A video Kumsa shared of herself singing her song "Burn it Down" in serenade to Pele, Hawaii's volcano goddess, while sitting near the lava touched the hearts of many people:
"Today after evacuating another big amount of stuff from our home on papaya farms road we went to see pele where she has crossed railroad and is making her way down the slope. I couldn’t help but to sing a song I wrote about two weeks ago called “Burn It Down” about this 2018 puna lava flow that will change the Puna we know forever... Sure is hard to let go of some of the most amazingly beautiful places I know and have grown up in, all the nature ocean and magic this island has to offer! Pele is burning way for new and in the most incredible and surreal way. 🌋🌏❤️#gowiththeflow #punalavaflow2018 #music #lava #fire #bigisland"
Journalist Johanna Li followed up to interview Kumsa for Inside Edition after she saw her video:
"Kumsa Maphalala, 18, of Puna, explained she wrote the song, “Burn It Down,” just a few weeks ago, after their community and home were threatened by last month's eruption.
"The song ‘Burn It Down’ is just about letting go, and letting go of our attachments to material things,” Maphalala, who appeared surprisingly calm, told InsideEdition.com. “I was just in a place where I was ready to let go. That was pretty much why I wrote it. The lava was coming and I was emotional about it.”