The UK, and especially London, has been hit so hard on several occasions, lately, and each time I'm amazed at the unity this country is showing. From strangers in Manchester opening their doors to many teens and parents in distress after the attack there, to people in London donating stuff and food to those who had lost everything in the apartment complex fire in Grenfell. Everybody wants to help and musicians are no different.
Fairly quickly after the fire, Simon Cowell took the initiative to record a song to benefit the families who had lost loved ones or lost everything they owned. It wasn't long after that the first names were announced of famous participants ranging from Jessie J, Robbie Williams to Labrynth, Emeli Sande, Gareth Malone, Rita Ora and many more. I'm sure Simon had more applicants than he had lines for and that's probably why broke every line of lyric into pieces sung by a different artist. It's like a relay race of vocals because of this, but in no way irritating.
In fact, I always find these types of charity singles fascinating. The first time I heard this song, I only managed to get hold of the audio and I didn't even knew who was singing on it. It was a great way to judge it, because it's like the blind auditions of The Voice. I tried to decipher who was singing and only a few were undisputable clear (Emeli Sande, Jessie J, Leona Lewis). They just have their way about them, but I managed to get a lot wrong too though.
Expect for that little bit of a messy start where the rap is overlapping Robbie Williams' lines, I think they've done a fab job with this track. It really couldn't get more symbolic than Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water", but I've now heard this song a few times and even seen the official video now, and each time it just tears me up. You can really feel that everybody wants to lend support and it's beautiful. Not just the thought behind it, but the song too.
The raps really tie it together to the events that happened and obviously the video is even more emotional to watch. Once again the UK is showing the world that music can build bridges.
