Jon Hopkins joins forces with Ólafur Arnalds on new single "Forever Held" created in collaboration with NASA

NASA JPL collaborated with Jon Hopkins to compose the song “Forever Held” for Space for Earth, which is NASA’s first immersive experience open to the public commissioned by NASA and located at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. The song was inspired by letters written by NASA Creative Director and artist Erica Bernhard during the creation of the installation.

Talking about the music, Hopkins says: “I took this opportunity to create a full orchestral piece. 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.”

“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," adds Erica Bernhard. "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."

After the collaboration between NASA JPL/Erica Bernhard and Jon Hopkins in the creation of “Forever Held”, the song has continued to evolve, grow and live outside of the installation. The song, stills from its music video, the original letters and pieces of the Space for Earth installation, have been engraved and encoded onto a NanoFiche disk which will be sent to the moon as part of the Lunar Codex via NASA CLPS.