For its 2020 Year in Search campaign, Google enlisted Peter CottonTale to create the first original song for its annual look back. The final product? A record appropriately titled "Together," featuring Chance the Rapper, Cynthia Erivo, the Chicago Children's Choir, and the Matt Jones Re-Collective Orchestra.
Peter composed, produced, and recorded the song, with contributions from 80 Black artists, engineers, producers, side musicians, and music executives. The Grammy-winning producer/composer explained he wanted to use the opportunity to highlight and celebrate Black creatives, especially those who have done great work for their communities during an undeniably crazy year.
"The cast of people involved in creating the music and the film were if not leaders themselves, they were surrounded by leaders who in their own way are pushing for change in the community," he said," showing what’s best about who we all are and giving everyone hope, a bit of celebration too, that by working together, growing together, we will get through this period."
As part of his Google collaboration, Peter secured $50,000 in donations from the tech giant. The money will benefit the Chicago Children’s Choir and Merit School of Music.
"2020 has been the CRAZIEST year of my life so far for sure, and I’m sure others feel the same way too, from health concerns to the spotlight on the Black struggle, it was an honor and blessing to help contextualize, to increase representation and create awareness and opportunities for all of those involved with a large influential company like Google, which worked with me to showcase Black artists, adding awareness about them and to other large companies and [has done important work] showcasing opportunities for Black artists."
"Together," which also features contributions from Rachel Robinson and Friends, is the first full-length song to appear on Google's homepage.
You can listen to the track below via Spotify/Apple Music and check it out again on Dec. 23 when it lands on Google's homepage.
