Olivia leaves you with a track about the redemptive power of love.

Damon Albarn is standing in the door of the Abbey Road canteen and is in deep conversation with Carl Barat of The Libertines.

Nearby, pupils are lining up for a fresh batch of lasagna.

Around them, half a dozen children are running around, filming everything with handheld cameras.

They are all excitedly awaiting the arrival of Olivia Rodrigo.

These were the scenes in London last November, when some of the world’s biggest stars gathered to record a new charity album in aid of War Child.

The tracklist, released yesterday, is full of indie rock legends. Wet Legs, The Last Dinner Party, Wolf Alice, Fontanas DC, Nilufar Yanya, Cameron Winter, Ezra Collective, Foals, and Young Fathers all contribute.

Over the course of a week, 23 tracks were recorded. At times, Abbey Road’s five famous studios were in use, with collaborations emerging from moment to moment.

Blur’s Graham Coxon played guitar with Rodrigo on the cover of The Magnetic Fields’ The Book of Love. Damon joined Albarn on a session with Johnny Marr on guitar, with Kay Tempest and Grian Chayton providing additional vocals.

Later in the day, Jarvis Cocker came back from a bathroom break and found them all in his studio – so he asked them to sing the intro to a new Pulp song, Begging for Change.

“It just came, so I thought, ‘Why not?'” he laughs. “I’m not used to this kind of thing, but it was really cool.”

The album is a spiritual successor to 1995’s Help! – Recorded at the height of Britpop, and features contributions from Paul Weller, Radiohead, Suede, Paul McCartney, The KLF, Portishead and The Manic Street Preachers.

Famously, the release was the only time Oasis and Blur appeared on the same record, just months after their famous (and bitter) chart war.

Noel Gallagher said at the time, “We will put aside our differences for this cause.” “And this is the only time you’ll see us agree on anything.”

The record sold 70,000 copies in its first week, raising approximately £1.25 million to help children in war-torn areas such as Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2025, raising funds is even more important. According to War Child, 520 million children worldwide – almost one in five – are affected by war, with simultaneous crises in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza.

While governments around the world are cutting international aid, the figure is higher than at any time since the Second World War.

“Right now, it feels like there are a lot of really bad things happening, and many people feel powerless,” Cocker says.

“They’re watching the news and they don’t know what to do. So I hope this album will be something that people can enjoy and also know that they’re trying to make positive change.”

The first single, released on Thursday, is a new track from Arctic Monkeys called Opening Night.

A sparse, haunting ballad, it finds Alex Turner singing about political sloganeering and a “supercomputer crusade” before a beautifully harmonised chorus that delivers a message of hope in dark times.

Drummer Matt Helders told the BBC that the song was a few years old but had never been finished.

They were urgently required to complete the song when they received a call from Warchild, which had lyrics that felt like a call to arms.

“With a charity record, it’s often tempting to do a cover or an interesting collaboration,” he says, “but we enjoy making records and being in the studio, so it was fun to work on something we wrote.

Adding to the entertainment was a film crew of children, primarily between the ages of eight and 10, who documented the entire recording process.

They were helmed by BAFTA-winning director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Under the Skin, The Zone of Interest), who wanted to help connect the musical back to young people.

Helders notes that the freedom to roam around significantly altered the atmosphere.

“The studio can be quite a harsh, clinical environment sometimes. But they were moving around and bumping into stuff. That made it fun.”

Cocker wasn’t so sure.

He says, “I hate having anyone in the studio watching me sing; I’m kind of a self-conscious person, and having someone point a camera at me doesn’t help that.”

“And while I was there singing, I think they were getting a little bored, so they were lying on the floor and filming the ceiling.”

Ultimately, he found the presence of children liberating. His complete lack of interest helped him abandon the idea that studio recording had to capture the “correct, definitive version” of a song.

As a result, Pulp’s contribution to Help 2 – Begging for Change – has a loose, live band feel that really exemplifies the album’s sense of spontaneity and community.

In fact, the young camera crew even recorded it.

“It’s an interesting thing, you know, because kids are always told, ‘Shut up, because I’m trying to think,’ or, ‘Shhh, your daddy’s hungover,'” he says.

“So when they’re given a chance to make noise, they will do it. “So what we tried to do with our song was make them scream, and they did that very well.”

You won’t get to hear that song until Help 2 is released on March 6. Thanks to the record label and pressing plant donating their services free of charge, it will be cheaper than standard albums – double vinyl costs around £26 – and War Child will receive all profits.

“We found that this project has really lit a fire in the creative community,” says Rich Clark, the charity’s head of music. “Many people wanted to get involved.”

He explained that the album’s 23 tracks were not the sole product of the week-long recording sessions.

“There are a lot of tracks, about 10 or so, that came when people heard about the project. So really, there were some tough decisions for the team about making it on the record.”

But Olivia Rodrigo’s song – about the purity of love – was always set as the closing track.

“It’s a really beautiful cover,” says Clark.

“The record really takes you on a journey with some powerful themes around struggle, but Olivia leaves you with a track about the redemptive power of love, which is a really poignant final note.”