Six songs for Attenborough, and the fans who sang them

JADE's new single was first played on Tuesday morning, on Greg James's Radio 1 breakfast show. "Into The Deep (Seas Cry)" is the title track of Blue Planet III, which comes to BBC One and iPlayer this autumn. She wrote it with Hans Zimmer and Thom Lukas of Zimmer's company Bleeding Fingers, with lyrics by JADE, Pablo Bowman and Fin Dow-Smith.

"I've been a huge fan of Blue Planet for many years," she said in the announcement, "and have so many memories of watching the show throughout both childhood and adulthood."

That sentence could have come from almost anyone in this story.

Since Blue Planet II in 2017, the BBC's planet series have built a second tradition alongside the Attenborough narration: bringing pop artists into Hans Zimmer's world. Sia, Camila Cabello, AURORA, RAYE, Bastille and SEVENTEEN have all been involved. And quite a few of them grew up watching the programmes they later ended up making music for.

Where it started

The first one was not written for the BBC at all. Radiohead's "Bloom" opened The King of Limbs in 2011, and Thom Yorke had already explained where it came from: "'Bloom' was inspired by the original Blue Planet series."

Six years later, Zimmer rebuilt it with the band for Blue Planet II. "(ocean) bloom" premiered in September 2017. So the whole thing started with an artist watching Blue Planet. Nine years later, it has come back to Blue Planet again.

Sia, Camila, and an AURORA cameo

For Seven Worlds, One Planet in 2019, Zimmer wrote "Out There" with Sia and Chris Braide. Attenborough launched the series at Glastonbury that summer.

Frozen Planet II followed in 2022 with Camila Cabello. "To be able to combine my passion for the planet we live on and my music is a dream come true," she said.

"Take Me Back Home" came out on 26 August. Two days later, it was performed live for the first time at the Earth Prom in the Royal Albert Hall. But not by Cabello. AURORA sang it.

Zimmer also appeared during the evening to talk about his work with the BBC Natural History Unit. AURORA's voice also runs through the score of the series itself.

We caught AURORA at Superbloom in 2023, then again at Roskilde and Sziget the following summer.

RAYE, the stan

Then came Planet Earth III in 2023. "Mother Nature" premiered in much the same way JADE's song did: on Greg James's breakfast show, alongside an extended trailer. RAYE sang it with Bastille's Dan Smith.

After the premiere, fans kept asking for a release, and on 27 October it came out. "I am a Planet Earth stan," RAYE said. "I've watched religiously for years, so having this opportunity open for me doesn't even feel real."

RAYE is the one we know best from this list. Colin shot her at the Melkweg in February 2023. We were both at Superbloom that September, a few weeks before "Mother Nature" came out. Then came Sziget in 2024 and Lollapalooza Berlin last summer.

The exception

Asia in 2024 is the odd one out. SEVENTEEN's DK and Seungkwan sang the trailer song, with music by Jacob Shea and Laurentia Editha of Bleeding Fingers. It still came from Zimmer's company, but Zimmer himself is not on it.

Colin had photographed SEVENTEEN at Lollapalooza Berlin a month before the trailer came out.

Back to the deep

Blue Planet III has six episodes, moving from "Tropical Seas" to "The Deep", before closing with an episode on the future of the oceans. Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers are back on the score. This time, JADE is the voice attached to it.

Radiohead wrote "Bloom" after watching Blue Planet. Fifteen years later, JADE is talking about watching the same series as a child.

Listen to the albums

The songs mostly live outside the soundtrack albums. "(ocean) bloom", "Out There" and "Mother Nature" are not on them. The albums below are the scores they grew out of.