Back in May, Nightwish frontwoman Floor Jansen released a solo song in Dutch entitled “De Beelden Blijven.” Now the singer has released an English-language version of the track, “The Fight Goes On.”
The beautiful, operatic song is meant to raise awareness for War Child, an organization that, according to their website, is dedicated to “supporting children and young people affected by war.”
Said Jansen of the organization in a post on her website, “War Child is providing aid in Beirut as we speak and that makes this song extra important. Because the fight goes on. In so many places on this beautiful green earth help and support is vital for the future of children hurt by war and other forms of terror.”
“War Child helps children worldwide who suffer from the traumas of war,” she continues. “They want to help them with their invisible scars, to break the silence about their experiences on a child-friendly way through music, play and interaction with other children. So called psycho-social help.”
In a live Q&A with fans Jansen gave back in May, she said that she was “very grateful” to have worked on “De Beelden Blijven”/”The Fight Goes On.” “That was a huge honor, and I cannot start to tell you how amazing I thought it was to see all the reactions,” said Jansen (as reported by Blabbermouth). “I think now it’s 25 languages the lyrics got translated in. It’s fantastic to see everybody worldwide so engaged and so touched by the song.”
She continued, “War, unfortunately, is a worldwide phenomenon, but it’s music that does the wordless talking sometimes. And even though it’s cool to see it in your own language, I think one of the first reactions that I saw was that a lot of people felt it before they actually knew what it really meant. And to know the words, of course, if amplifies the actual meaning, but it was wonderful to see the initial reactions. It came in so strong. That was the intention, of course.”
“It’s War Child doing all the helping, and trying to help, in this case, children to cope with the effects of war and make sure that, or try at least to make it so that it’s not a sentence for life mentally, which is quite a challenge that I can only imagine.”
“De Beelden Blijven” was written by Han Kooreneef and performed by Jansen for the War Child-backed documentary ‘Kinderen In Oorlog: 75 Jaar Later.’
Nightwish’s latest album, Human. :II: Nature., was released in April via Nuclear Blast. The band’s ninth studio album, it is the follow-up to 2015’s Endless Forms Most Beautiful, and second to feature Jansen on vocals.
