Arctic Monkeys have shared their new single ‘Opening Night’, one of the leading tracks from HELP(2), the new album from War Child Records.
The new record arrives on March 6 and is directly inspired by 1995’s landmark release HELP, which saw the likes of Oasis, The Stone Roses and Radiohead all coming together to record songs which supported War Child’s mission of providing vital aid to children affected by conflict around the world.
The follow-up is equally star-studded, with Arctic Monkeys joined by venerable legends such as Pulp, Blur‘s Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon and Depeche Mode, alongside modern stars such as The Last Dinner Party, Fontaines D.C., Cameron Winter, Arlo Parks, Foals and many more.
It was recorded during one week at Abbey Road Studios in November 2025, produced by James Ford, while the visuals on the project were led by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Glazer. Glazer and frequent collaborator Mica Levi’s work was focused around the concept of “By Children, For Children” – with the pair handling cameras to youngsters who were invited into Abbey Road to film the artists without restrictions.
In addition, Glazer’s team worked with fixers and filmmakers in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan to gather footage filmed by children on the ground in these conflict zones.
“When James Ford called and asked if we’d contribute to the HELP(2) album we set to work on a song idea and assembled in Abbey Road to record it,” said Arctic Monkeys. “We are proud to support the invaluable work War Child do and hope the record will make a positive difference to the lives of children affected by war.”
James Ford added: “I felt incredibly honoured when War Child asked me to work on HELP(2). The original HELP meant a lot to me and to have the opportunity, given the current news cycle, to help galvanise our music community into doing something as unarguably positive as helping children in war zones seemed like a no brainer.
“The experience of making the album itself has been very powerful, and dare I say life affirming for me personally, against the backdrop of a very difficult year. I’m extremely proud of the results and of the efforts made by all involved. I can’t wait for people to hear this very special record.”
You can check out the HELP(2) tracklist in full below.
- Arctic Monkeys – ‘Opening Night’
- Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten and Kae Tempest – ‘Flags’
- Black Country, New Road – ‘Strangers’
- The Last Dinner Party – ‘Let’s do it again!’
- Beth Gibbons – ‘Sunday Morning’
- Arooj Aftab and Beck – ‘Lilac Wine’
- King Krule – ‘The 343 Loop’
- Depeche Mode – ‘Universal Soldier’
- Ezra Collective ans Greentea Peng – ‘Helicopters’
- Arlo Parks – ‘Nothing I Could Hide’
- English Teacher and Graham Coxon – ‘Parasite’
- Beabadoobee – ‘Say Yes’
- Big Thief – ‘Relive, Redie’
- Fontaines D.C. – ‘Black Boys on Mopeds’
- Cameron Winter – ‘Warning’
- Young Fathers – ‘Don’t Fight the Young’
- Pulp – ‘Begging for Change’
- Sampha – ‘Naboo’
- Wet Leg – ‘Obvious’
- Foals – ‘When the War is Finally Done’
- Bat For Lashes – ‘Carried my girl’
- Anna Calvi, Ellie Rowsell, Nilüfer Yanya and Dove Ellis – ‘Sunday Light’
- Olivia Rodrigo – ‘The Book of Love’
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rollingstone.co.uk ’
