Olivia Rodrigo releases “The Book of Love” cover as Help(2) arrives
Friday at 9: 10 a. m. ET, olivia rodrigo shared a new music video tied to her cover of The Magnetic Fields’ 1999 song “The Book of Love, ” released as part of War Child Records’ charity album Help. The timing is central: the video and the album arrived the same day, turning the release into a coordinated push for War Child’s fundraising and awareness efforts.
The visual, posted to Instagram, stitches together footage filmed by children living in areas affected by war, including Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen. The clips focus on everyday moments—kids running, playing games, and moving through spaces marked by rubble and disruption—while the track plays with Rodrigo’s gentle vocal over subtle strings.
War Child Records’ Help pairs olivia rodrigo’s cover with child-shot footage
War Child Records’ new compilation Help includes olivia rodrigo’s rendition of “The Book of Love, ” which appears as the closing track on the album. The music video’s concept centers on children serving as cinematographers, creating a point-of-view perspective that shows how they find fragments of normal life during conflict.
In the video, scenes of play and movement unfold across different settings, from open fields to roads and neighborhoods affected to varying degrees by upheaval. The approach is designed to keep attention on children’s lived experience rather than on artists’ performances.
Rodrigo also used Instagram to highlight the charity element of the release, writing that Help was out and that “every stream & purchase” supports War Child’s efforts to help children living through conflict, while adding that she was honored to be part of a project featuring artists she admires.
James Ford and Jonathan Glazer shape the Help studio and video concept
Producer James Ford described recording Rodrigo’s version of “The Book of Love” as a standout studio moment, recalling that he encouraged what he called a “Sinatra-style” take—recording live with a string section. He said Rodrigo took a direct, “gung-ho approach” and completed the session efficiently.
The broader album includes accompanying video footage highlighting artists’ time in the studio, with the visual component overseen by Oscar Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Glazer. The project was built around a “By Children, For Children” concept, with children in conflict zones tasked with filming material that would appear in the release’s visuals.
Help follows War Child’s 1995 Help compilation and expands today’s crisis focus
Help arrives three decades after the original Help compilation and follows War Child’s 1995 release, which brought together artists including Paul McCartney, Oasis, Sinéad O’Connor and Radiohead to raise money connected to the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s. The new album again uses a cross-artist lineup—this time including Arctic Monkeys, Damon Albarn, Depeche Mode, Arlo Parks, Beabadoobee, Big Thief, Fontaines D. C. and Wet Leg, among others—to support War Child’s mission.
For this volume, War Child and participating artists are directing support toward people affected by humanitarian crises in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Syria, as well as the civil wars in Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo. War Child’s stated mission is to protect, educate, and stand up for the rights of children living through conflict.
Rodrigo has also spoken publicly about the conflict in Gaza. In a July Instagram post, she wrote that “there are no words to describe the heartbreak I feel witnessing the devastation that is being inflicted upon innocent people … it is horrific and completely unacceptable, ” adding, “to give up on them is to give up on our shared humanity. ”
As of 2: 00 p. m. ET Friday, Help and the “The Book of Love” video remained available as part of the album’s release, with proceeds directed to War Child’s work; if additional official updates on the project’s visuals or participating artists are shared, more details are expected to follow.
