In the opening frames of the new video, a small hand steadies a shaky phone camera as a child runs past a wall of rubble and into a field. The soundtrack is spare: a soft, aching vocal and a thread of strings. That soundtrack belongs to olivia rodrigo, but she does not appear on screen; instead, the film is stitched together from footage shot by children in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and Yemen.
What did Olivia Rodrigo give to HELP?
On HELP, olivia rodrigo supplies the closing track: a cover of The Magnetic Fields’ “The Book of Love. ” She shared the release on her Instagram story, writing, “HELP is out now and every stream & purchase supports @warchilduk in their efforts to help children living through the unthinkable. So many wonderful artists I admire are on the album and I am honored to have been able to be a part of it. ” The recording is described as an emotional rendition, with Rodrigo’s vocals laid over soft, polished instrumentation that shifts the original song’s indie edges toward a more tender, vulnerable sound.
The contribution is part artistic, part practical: HELP is the second major charity compilation from War Child Records, intended to raise funds and awareness for children affected by conflict. The album gathers contemporary acts alongside Rodrigo and positions her cover as the collection’s closing statement.
How does the video put children at the center?
The music video for Rodrigo’s cover turns the camera over to children in conflict zones. Clips show everyday moments — running and laughing amid rubble, playing in open fields, recording the sound of planes overhead — captured with the immediacy of first-person footage. Rodrigo’s voice threads through those images without appearing herself, letting the children’s footage drive the narrative.
War Child Records framed the project with a “By Children, For Children” concept: a team tasked children in conflict zones to serve as cinematographers, lending intimacy and resilience to the visual component. The visual side of HELP was overseen by Oscar Award–winning filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, and James Ford produced the record at Abbey Road Studios. Ford, the album’s producer, praised Rodrigo’s work on the song, saying, “She was such a pro and was happy to take a gung-ho approach to it. She just walked into the studio and nailed it. “
Why does HELP matter and what is being done?
HELP follows a model established by War Child’s original 1995 release: recruit prominent artists to raise funds and shine a light on children caught in conflict. The 1995 record included rising acts of its moment; the new volume mirrors that strategy by enlisting modern icons and bands. The album pairs music with footage of artists in the studio and with films made by children themselves. War Child Records described the collection as being especially dedicated to the world’s most pressing conflicts and noted the earlier record’s long-standing influence, calling it “one of the greatest charity albums of all time” and crediting it with helping to set the organization on a course it still follows.
Beyond awareness, HELP channels proceeds: every stream and purchase supports War Child’s work to protect, educate, and stand up for the rights of children living through conflict. The project highlights a stark shift in the scope of need — by the time of the second volume, more than half a billion children worldwide are living amid mass conflict — and uses music and images to translate that scale into individual scenes and faces.
Artists across the album contribute diverse covers and original pieces, and the record closes with Rodrigo’s reflective take on “The Book of Love, ” leaving listeners with the quiet impression of intimacy amid chaos.
Back in the opening scene, the child lifts the camera to catch a friend laughing, the strings swell, and the final lines of the song — “The book of love is long and boring / And written very long ago” — drift over the image. The frame freezes on a small, defiant smile. For now, the camera belongs to the child; the music belongs to olivia rodrigo; and the album belongs to a larger effort to turn attention, funds, and creative labor into concrete support for children who made the film.
