{"id":280698,"date":"2026-02-12T16:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/280698\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T16:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:07:10","slug":"listen-to-the-soulful-new-damon-albarn-grian-chatten-and-kae-tempest-collab-flags-from-help2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/280698\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen to the soulful new Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten and Kae Tempest collab ‘Flags’ from ‘Help(2)’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damon Albarn<\/a>, Grian Chatten<\/a> and Kae Tempest<\/a> have shared the captivating new song \u2018Flags\u2019, which they recorded for the forthcoming \u2018HELP(2)\u2019 album.<\/p>\n

The track is the latest to be taken from War Child\u2019s new charity compilation album \u2018Help(2)<\/a>\u2018, following on from the Arctic Monkeys\u2019 single \u2018Opening Night\u2019<\/a>, which marked their first new music since 2022.<\/p>\n

The star-studded album is set for release on March 6, and will raise money and awareness for children whose lives have been affected by war and conflict. Visit here to pre-order<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today (Thursday February 12), another preview of the album has been shared in the form of \u2018Flags\u2019. It sees Blur<\/a> and Gorillaz<\/a> icon Damon Albarn come together with Fontaines D.C.<\/a> frontman Grian Chatten and British poet and artist Kae Tempest.<\/p>\n

The song is driven by an upbeat, yet slightly melancholic piano melody, and opens with Albarn\u2019s signature vocals. \u201cNow you left yourself there on the wall\/ Looking up, painted on teeth, powdered concrete\/ Here on earth, the sun in the sky, between my teeth\/ Looking down, shaking some hand, older than mine,\u201d he sings, before Chatten takes over vocal duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sun cries tears\/ And they land inside ya\/ You feel the fear where you once felt pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Produced by Albarn, James Ford, Marta Salogni and Toby L, the song also features contributions from Johnny Marr<\/a>, Dave Okumu, Adrian Utley (Portishead<\/a>), Gorillaz\u2019 bassist Seye Adelekan, and Ezra Collective<\/a>\u2019s Femi Koleoso, as well as a 43-piece children\u2019s choir.<\/p>\n

A second, all-star choir was also involved in adding additional vocal depth, and included Marr, Pulp<\/a>\u2019s Jarvis Cocker<\/a>, The Libertines<\/a>\u2019 Carl Barat<\/a>, Declan McKenna<\/a>, English Teacher<\/a>, Black Country, New Road<\/a>, Nadia Kadek<\/a>, and more.<\/p>\n

Filmmaker and Academy Award Winner Jonathan Glazer also worked with Academy Films for art direction for \u2018HELP(2)\u2019, handing the cameras over to children in order to see the world through their eyes. It includes footage of what they saw in the studios, as well as footage from those on the ground in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan. You can check out a clip from the studio below.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecording \u2018Flags\u2019 was a genuinely joyful two days, with a strong sense of purpose throughout the building,\u201d Albarn shared. \u201cI was particularly struck by the decision to employ children to do all the filming in the studio \u2013 it felt inspiring and directly reinforced the point we were trying to make about communicating with kids, by involving them in the process itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel honoured to be a part of this project. I loved writing this song and collaborating with the other artists, it was like a fever dream that day at Abbey Road. Couldn\u2019t believe how good it felt and the sheer force of will that shepherded all those energies together and directed them towards this beautiful conclusion,\u201d Tempest added. \u201cIt was a true collaboration. It\u2019s a great album and I hope we can raise lots of funds and energy. For the children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grian Chatten also added that \u201cto be gifted the chance to collaborate with such talented artists as Damon and Kae in aid of such an important cause was really special, and that \u201cit\u2019s a rare occasion that you feel the energy for change in such a tangible way and from so many, but that is exactly how it felt in the room that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new \u2018HELP(2)\u2019 record comes following the original \u2018Help\u2019 record for War Child, which was released in 1995 and featured Oasis<\/a>, Blur<\/a>, Radiohead<\/a>, Orbital<\/a>, Portishead<\/a>, Massive Attack<\/a>, Suede<\/a>, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor<\/a>, Manic Street Preachers<\/a>, The Boo Radleys<\/a> and more.<\/p>\n

It raised over \u00a31.25million for the non-profit organisation, and was followed by other charity records including 2002\u2019s \u20181 Love\u2019, 2003\u2019s \u2018Hope\u2019, 2005\u2019s \u2018Help!: A Day in the Life\u2019 and 2009\u2019s \u2018War Child Presents Heroes\u2019.<\/p>\n

The new 2026 album is produced and stewarded by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Florence + The Machine<\/a>, Blur, Pet Shop Boys),<\/a> and was recorded through \u201ca close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios\u201d mostly during one week in November 2025.<\/p>\n

Other huge names featured on the album include Anna Calvi<\/a>, Arlo Parks<\/a>, Arooj Aftab<\/a>, Bat For Lashes<\/a>, Beabadoobee<\/a>, Beck<\/a>, Portishead<\/a>\u2018s Beth Gibbons<\/a>, Big Thief<\/a>, Cameron Winter<\/a>, Blur\u2019s Graham Coxon<\/a>, Depeche Mode<\/a>, Dove Ellis<\/a>, Wolf Alice<\/a>\u2018s Ellie Rowsell<\/a>, Foals<\/a>, Greentea Peng<\/a>, King Krule<\/a>, Nil\u00fcfer Yanya<\/a>, Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>, Pulp<\/a>, Sampha<\/a>, The Last Dinner Party<\/a>, Wet Leg, <\/a>Young Fathers<\/a>, and other members of Fontaines D.C..<\/p>\n

As well as Chatten recording \u2018Flags\u2019 for the album, he and the rest of Fontaines have also created a cover of Sinead O\u2019Connor\u2019s 1990 protest song \u2018Black Boys On Mopeds\u2019 for the record<\/a>, and described it as a \u201cunique and life-affirming experience\u201d.<\/p>\n

In other news about \u2018HELP(2)\u2019, James Ford recently revealed that some artists refused to be involved in \u2018HELP(2)\u2019 as they thought it was \u201ctoo political\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten and Kae Tempest have shared the captivating new song \u2018Flags\u2019, which they recorded for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[5921,156,591,157,111,139,69,4917,1629],"class_list":{"0":"post-280698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-electronic","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-indie","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-rap","16":"tag-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}