Five singles were released in promotion of the album; "Opening Night" on 22 January, "Flags" on 12 February, "Let's Do It Again!" on 17 February, "Begging for Change" on 19 February and "Helicopters" on 26 February. Help(2) was received positively by critics, who were positive about the album's line-up of artists and described it as a worthy sequel to The Help Album.
The album will accompany a documentary film directed by Jonathan Glazer.
Background and production
War Child is a charity which "[works] to protect, educate and stand up for the rights of children living through conflict".[1] In previous years, War Child has released compilation albums bringing artists together to raise funds for the charity and to spread awareness.[2] Most notable was The Help Album produced by Brian Eno, which was recorded in a single day in September 1995 and featured contributions from artists such as Radiohead, Blur and Oasis.[3][4][5] The album would go on to sell 70,000 copies in its first week and raise £1,200,000 for the charity.[5][6]
In 2025, War Child reached out to James Ford and asked him to work on Help(2), to which he felt "incredibly honoured".[7] The album was recorded over a period of one week in Abbey Road Studios.[8][9] During recording of the album, artists often collaborated with each other; examples include a choir consisting of members from English Teacher, Pulp and Black Country, New Road among others on "Flags", Cameron Winter and cellist Amy Langley performing together on "Warning" and Olivia Rodrigo with Blur guitarist Graham Coxon for "The Book of Love",[10] a cover of the song by the Magnetic Fields.[6]
Release
War Child teased the album earlier in January 2026 with an Instagram post reading "There is a group of artists who are working on something in support of War Child. There will be more information coming soon."[11] On 20 January, War Child confirmed the release of a brand new song by Arctic Monkeys, accompanied by a short slow-motion video of a child running into the sea.[12] The song, titled "Opening Night", was released on 22 January,[13] alongside the announcement of the album, scheduled to be released on 6 March 2026.[14] "Opening Night" is a ballad about "political sloganeering" and "supercomputer crusades"; it had been worked on a couple of years before its release, but was unfinished.[6] The second single "Flags", by Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten and Kae Tempest, was released on 12 February.[15][16] The third single, "Let's Do It Again!" by The Last Dinner Party, was released on 17 February.[17][18] The fourth single, "Begging for Change" by Pulp, was released on 19 February.[19][20] A fifth single, "Helicopters" by Ezra Collective and Greentea Peng, was released on 26 February.[21] On 2 March, it was revealed that a recording of Oasis' "Acquiesce" taken from their Live '25 Tour would be made available as a bonus track.[22]
The album will include a companion film by Jonathan Glazer; Glazer gave cameras to children throughout the studio while the album was being recorded, allowing them to record artists without any restrictions.[23][24] Footage recorded by children in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan was also obtained by Glazer's team and used in the film.[25]
Help(2) was received positively by critics upon release. At Metacritic, which aggregates scores from mainstream critics, Help(2) received a rating of 82 out of 100 based on six critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[26]
In a review for DIY, Matthew Davies Lombardi said the album had "something here for everyone" and that it was great to see a large variety of artists take part.[27] Will Russell of Hot Press called it a "collaborative album on steroids" and said it had a good range of featured artists.[28] Writing for Rolling Stone, Jonathan Bernstein described the album as "remarkably on-message and cohesive" and a "gratifying follow up to its storied predecessor".[29] Fiona Shepherd of The Scotsman said the album's line-up was "superb".[30] Writing for Stereogum, Tom Breihan said that while some songs "[blurred] into each other", the album as a whole was enjoyable. Breihan also noted the album releasing shortly after the start of the 2026 Iran war made the songs "hit a little harder than they did before".[32] In an article for The Times, Jonathan Dean described the album as "another stellar collection by the biggest stars in the world".[33] Andy Von Pip of Under the Radar said the album was "heartfelt" and that it "bridges generations and genres".[31]
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