In 1995, a bunch of musicians locked themselves in a studio, recorded an album in a day, and raised over a million quid for children caught in war. It worked.
Thirty years later, things are worse.
Enter HELP(2) — War Child Records’ reboot of one of the most important charity albums ever made, updated for a world where nearly one in five children now live in conflict zones. Out March 6, the record doesn’t try to romanticise urgency. It runs on it.
The first taste, “Opening Night” by Arctic Monkeys, is already out. It’s restrained, slightly haunted, and perfectly chosen: a band big enough to pull attention, smart enough not to steal focus.
One Week. No Safety Net.
Instead of recreating the original album’s famous 24-hour deadline, HELP(2) took over Abbey Road for one intense week in November 2025, with James Ford acting as ringmaster. What followed was less a schedule and more a series of productive collisions.
Damon Albarn recording with Johnny Marr, Kae Tempest, and Grian Chatten.
Olivia Rodrigo linked up with Graham Coxon for a stripped-back cover of “The Book of Love.”
Beth Gibbons, Sampha, Pulp, Depeche Mode, Wet Leg, Big Thief, King Krule, Fontaines D.C., Ezra Collective, Young Fathers, Arlo Parks, Nilüfer Yanya, and more, drifting in and out.
It feels less like a supergroup album and more like a temporary city built around a single idea: do something useful.
Filmed by the People This Is For
The most radical part of HELP(2) isn’t musical — it’s visual.
Jonathan Glazer (yes, that Jonathan Glazer) stepped in as Creative Director with a blunt concept: “By Children, For Children.” Kids were handed cameras and invited into the studio to film the artists however they wanted. No guardrails.
At the same time, Glazer’s team worked with children filming their own lives in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and Yemen — not as subjects, but as authors. The footage doesn’t soften anything. It just sits there, impossible to ignore.
This isn’t “raising awareness.” It’s proximity.
Why It Exists (And Why It Has To)
When the original HELP came out, about 10% of the world’s children were affected by war. Today it’s 520 million kids. Funding is being slashed. Conflicts are expanding. The gap between outrage and action keeps growing.
That’s the point of HELP(2).
“It felt like a no-brainer,” James Ford says. “To help galvanise the music community into doing something unarguably positive.”
Arctic Monkeys put it more plainly: they showed up because it mattered.
Not a Victory Lap
The original HELP went to number one, won awards, and became legend. HELP(2) isn’t interested in that kind of mythology. It doesn’t celebrate the music industry — it uses it.
All proceeds support War Child’s work providing emergency aid, education, and mental health support to children living through war, in places most people only encounter as headlines.
This isn’t about feeling good.
It’s about doing something.
HELP(2) is out March 6.
Listen. Buy it. Share it.
Then remember why it exists.
words Al Woods
