{"id":423838,"date":"2026-02-13T15:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/423838\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T15:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:56:09","slug":"carl-barat-jarvis-cocker-johnny-marr-english-teacher-marika-hackman-and-more-formed-supergroup-choir-for-new-damon-albarn-grian-chatten-kae-tempest-help2-song-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/423838\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl Bar\u00e2t, Jarvis Cocker, Johnny Marr, English Teacher, Marika Hackman and more formed supergroup choir for new Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten, Kae Tempest \u2018Help(2)\u2019 song \u2018Flags\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Huge names including Johnny Marr<\/a>, Pulp<\/a>\u2019s Jarvis Cocker<\/a>, The Libertines<\/a>\u2019 Carl Bar\u00e2t<\/a>, Declan McKenna<\/a>, English Teacher<\/a>, and more helped form the choir that features on the new \u2018Help(2)\u2019 song \u2018Flags\u2019.<\/p>\n

The song was released yesterday<\/a> (Thursday February 12) as the second preview of War Child\u2019s new charity compilation album, which features a star-studded cast and raises money for young people whose lives have been affected by war and conflict.<\/p>\n

Titled \u2018Flags\u2019, the song followed on from the Arctic Monkeys\u2019 lead single \u2018Opening Night\u2019<\/a> \u2013 their first new music since 2022 \u2013 and saw Blur<\/a> and Gorillaz<\/a> icon Damon Albarn<\/a> come together with Fontaines D.C.<\/a> frontman Grian Chatten<\/a> and British poet and artist Kae Tempest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was Albarn, James Ford, Marta Salogni and Toby L, and also featured instrumentation 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<\/p>\n

A second choir was also featured in the recording, which was comprised of some massive names including members of Pulp and The Libertines.<\/p>\n

Britpop icon and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker helped form the choir, as did The Libertines\u2019 guitarist Carl Bar\u00e2t. Also included was soloist and former Smiths<\/a> icon Marr, as well as Declan McKenna, English Teacher, Black Country, New Road<\/a>, Nadia Kadek<\/a>, Marika Hackman<\/a> and Rosa Walton (Let\u2019s Eat Grandma<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Carl Bar\u00e2t shared some photos from his time in the studio forming the choir, and urged people to interact with the album as \u201cevery stream, pre-order, and share helps turn compassion into action \u2013 raising vital funds and awareness for children living through the unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albarn also shared a statement saying that it was a \u201cgenuinely joyful two days\u201d recording the song, and that it felt like there was \u201ca strong sense of purpose throughout the building\u201d.<\/p>\n

As well as sharing the single, filmmaker and Academy Award-winner Jonathan Glazer also directed art for \u2018Help(2)\u2019, handing the cameras over to children in order to see the world through their eyes.<\/p>\n

The footage includes what they saw in the studios, as well as footage from those on the ground in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan. A new clip from the studio during the recording of \u2018Flags\u2019 is out now, and available to watch below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The all-star choir isn\u2019t just featured on \u2018Flags\u2019 either. In a recent interview with Apple Music 1, Albarn revealed that while Cocker featured in the choir for his contribution to the album, he also joined a star-studded choir for Pulp\u2019s song for the record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulp\u2019s song for the charity album has not yet been released, but will be called \u2018Begging For Change\u2019.<\/p>\n

The new \u2018HELP(2)\u2019 record will be released on March 6 and can be pre-ordered here<\/a>. It 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

That initial release 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 was recorded through \u201ca close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios\u201d mostly during one week in November 2025, and is produced and stewarded by James Ford.<\/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\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>, Sampha<\/a>, The Last Dinner Party<\/a>, Wet Leg, <\/a>Young Fathers<\/a>, and other members of Fontaines D.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Huge names including Johnny Marr, Pulp\u2019s Jarvis Cocker, The Libertines\u2019 Carl Bar\u00e2t, Declan McKenna, English Teacher, and more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[25065,6491,96,3583,1581,3584,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-423838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-alternative","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-indie","12":"tag-pop","13":"tag-rock","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}