Jon Hopkins and Ólafur Arnalds Collaborate With NASA for New Song ‘Forever Held’

Jon Hopkins has collaborated with NASA for a new single, ‘Forever Held’. The track features string arrangements by Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds, and it was composed for NASA’s new immersive experience Space for Earth, which is open to the public at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Check it out below.

‘Forever Held’ is inspired by love letters that NASA’s creative director, the artist Erica Bernhard, wrote from Earth to space. “I took this opportunity to create a full orchestral piece,” Hopkins said in a press release. “I wanted to make something timeless that would transmit the feeling of being ‘held’ by the Earth. I was thinking about the fragility and power of our planet, and of the human race’s role in its own destiny.”

Bernhard, who also created the song’s music video, added: “Space is not merely the backdrop to human existence, but a living, breathing dimension. There are invisible communications happening between Earth and the NASA satellites that observe our planet. The view from space offers a profound shift in perspective – astronauts call this the overview effect. Hopkins’ compositions capture that shift – infusing sound with the expansiveness of space while grounding us in the essence and rhythms of life on Earth. His soundscapes act as a bridge between these realms, translating the awe and wonder of space and Earth into a sonic and immersive journey that asks us to consider our place in the universe and our responsibility to the planet.”

Ahead of today’s release, Coldplay used ‘Forever Held’ for the intro to their latest album, Moon Music. Since releasing his LP Ritual earlier this year, Hopkins has also contributed to Charli XCX’s Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.

Konstantinos Pappis
Konstantinos Pappis
Konstantinos Pappis is a writer, journalist, and music editor at Our Culture. His work has also appeared in Pitchfork, GIGsoup, and other publications. He currently lives in Athens, Greece.
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