Singer Armaan Malik Joins 30 Global Artists Blending Music with Nature Sounds for a Cause With UN Live's Sounds Right
Each artist has taken a unique approach to incorporating nature into their work, using sounds recorded in forests, oceans, and urban green spaces.
Published : April 22, 2025 at 10:04 AM IST
In celebration of Earth Day 2025, over 30 acclaimed artists from across the globe have released new music infused with the sounds of nature: from birdsong and crashing waves to glaciers, moths, antelopes and rainforest wildlife. This collection of songs is released as part of Sounds Right, an initiative that made history by launching NATURE as an official artist on streaming platforms for the first time last year, highlighting its beauty to millions while generating significant royalties for global conservation.
The new tracks feature an eclectic mix of artists, with singer-songwriter Armaan Malik and Indian-American singer-songwriter Raveena fronting a stellar lineup that includes Grammy winners and rising stars across multiple genres. French composer Yann Tiersen, electronic powerhouse Steve Angello (Swedish House Mafia), and Seattle indie-rocker SYML, are among the key contributors. They are joined by artists such as Rozzi, George The Poet, Rosa Walton, Penguin Cafe, Madame Gandhi, Franc Moody, and many more.
Multiple Genres
Representing countries including India, the UK, US, Japan, Colombia, Russia, Hong Kong, Denmark, and Argentina, these music artists span a diverse range of musical styles: from I-pop (Armaan Malik) and classical (Evgeny Grinko) to hip-hop (KAM-BU) and techno (Amelie Lens). They follow in the footsteps of the likes of Brian Eno, Ellie Goulding, and Lykke Li, who have collaborated with NATURE previously.
Each artist has taken a unique approach to incorporating nature into their work, using sounds recorded in forests, oceans, and urban green spaces. Some tracks feature field recordings from celebrated sound recordist Martyn Stewart and The Listening Planet, while others integrate the artists’ own environmental recordings, making each piece a deeply personal tribute to the natural world.
Armaan Malik contributes What In The World (feat. NATURE), a soaring anthem blending pop with environmental urgency. Originally debuted during a Billboard Live At-Home performance at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the song captured the spirit of reflection and global reset. Malik, who rose to international prominence with his English-language debut Control, builds on his global fan base with this release, offering a timely message of connection between humanity and the natural world.
Reflecting on the track’s message and its collaboration with NATURE, Malik shared: “Nature is speaking - we just have to listen. What In The World is a call to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the world around us. That’s why the Sounds Right initiative is so important. Music has the power to inspire change, and together, we can make a difference.”
Describing the track, Armaan adds, “What In The World starts as a gentle reflection and builds into a powerful pop-rock anthem, echoing the growing urgency of its message. It explores waking up to the chaos around us, questioning our impact on each other, our environment, and the planet as a whole - while holding onto the hope that change is still possible.”
Raveena offers Morning Prayer (feat. NATURE), a meditative track weaving together nature, healing, and ancestral memory. Known for her ethereal vocals and genre-blending sound, Raveena draws from her Sikh Punjabi roots and deep spiritual connection with the Earth. The track fuses ambient textures, instrumentation, and the serene sounds of the natural world to evoke reflection, stillness, and joy. Raveena will spotlight the track alongside songs from her latest album Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain during her multi-city US tour, which runs from 30th April through June 10th 2025.
On the inspiration behind the track, Raveena shared: “Jenn and I wrote Morning Prayer born out of a very magical moment in nature. We were on a trip together deep in the forest and I was doing my morning meditation for 30 minutes in the rain outside. Jenn said that at the peak of my meditation, there was this moment where the light was pouring in through the rain drops and she was so inspired that she took a voice recording of the rainfall and some photographs of me meditating. She sent me an instrumental she made with the nature recordings from our vacation day, two weeks later. I was so inspired and wrote Morning Prayer song on the spot, recalling a photographic memory of the earlier experience. This song truly felt like the perfect song for NATURE’s Earth Day series.”
Other artists have drawn inspiration from personal stories, environmental crises, and endangered species to create tracks that reflect their unique connections with the natural world. As a passionate birdwatcher, I. JORDAN chose to spotlight birds from the UK’s ‘Red List,’ including the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, whose distinctive call is featured on their track Lesser Spotted (feat. NATURE). Rosa Walton focussed on the evocative, soft sounds of moths, inspired by her father (a moth specialist who has witnessed the decline of moth populations over decades due to climate change). On Orange Skies - Chapter 2 (feat. NATURE), Rozzi draws attention to the devastating wildfires that recently swept through her hometown of LA. Meanwhile, Alice Boyd’s All We Are (feat. NATURE) weaves together two field recordings from Birmingham’s Bluebell Wood: one captured by Martyn Stewart (The Listening Planet) in spring 1976, and another recorded by Boyd herself in spring 2024. By the end of the track, the rich birdsong of the past has faded slightly, overtaken by the distant rumble of airplanes.
All the tracks can be enjoyed on the “NATURE’s Collaborations” playlist on Spotify and can also be found on NATURE’s artist profile on major music streaming platforms. With every stream, funds are raised to support conservation projects in critical ecosystems, meaning that anyone can now be an activist simply by enjoying the sounds of our planet.
Gabriel Smales, Global Programme Director for Sounds Right at UN Live, said: “We asked a question: what if nature could speak (and be credited) through music? A year later, the answer is clear. Millions are listening, and directing real funding to communities protecting the planet’s most vital ecosystems. Further, by collaborating with NATURE, artists from around the world are reminding us that music can do more than move us emotionally; it can enable us to protect what matters most. If music can make nature a collaborator, imagine what could happen if other industries followed suit.”
Since its launch, Sounds Right has engaged millions of people with the sounds of nature. Over the past year, NATURE has grown into a major presence on streaming platforms, with 130 million total listeners, over 11 million listeners on Spotify alone, and India regularly ranking among the top 10 countries streaming NATURE on Spotify.
In 2024, the initiative committed $225,000 to support Indigenous and community led conservation work in the Tropical Andes (the most biodiverse region of the world), among them Fundación Proyecto Tití which protects Colombia's iconic cotton top tamarin monkeys and 900 hectares of reclaimed forest reserve in partnership with local farmers to protect crucial forest corridors.
For 2025, the ambition is even greater. In under two years, Sounds Right will commit over half a million dollars to conservation projects around the world. Ecosystems targeted to start receiving funding from 2025 onwards include Key Biodiversity Areas in the Amazon and Congo Basins, often described as “the lungs of the earth” given the critical role they play in producing the world’s oxygen.
In Denmark, nature immersion trips have been organized, with leading artists and biologists supporting young people to listen to and monitor biodiversity levels. In Bogotá, workshops on deep nature listening, meditation, and field recording are being introduced in public schools, aiming to connect hundreds of young people with the sounds of their environment. Looking ahead, Sounds Right will release major new playlists ahead of COP30 in Belém, ensuring that music remains at the heart of the global conversation on nature protection at a critical juncture for our planet.
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