“Nature is speaking - we just have to listen."
Armaan Malik and Raveena are front and centre of a new global music campaign using the sounds of nature to raise funds for conservation.
Their contributions are part of Sounds Right, a pioneering initiative that marks Earth Day with a playlist featuring over 30 global artists.
The campaign includes bird calls, crashing waves, and even the hum of moths, woven into new songs credited to NATURE – the world’s first official “artist” made up of natural sounds.
Armaan’s track ‘What In The World’ (featuring NATURE) blends powerful pop-rock with an environmental message.
Raveena offers ‘Morning Prayer’ (featuring NATURE), a meditative piece inspired by a moment of stillness in the forest.
Both songs are featured on Spotify’s NATURE’s Collaborations playlist and are available on all major streaming platforms.
Armaan Malik said: “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.
“‘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.”
The track was first introduced during the pandemic and later performed unplugged at the 2020 GQ Men of the Year Awards.
Its re-release with natural soundscapes marks a fresh chapter in Armaan’s career, which has seen him expand from Indian pop to an international audience.
Raveena, known for her soulful genre-blending style and spiritual themes, drew on a personal experience for her contribution.
‘Morning Prayer’ incorporates ambient field recordings taken during a rainy forest meditation.
Raveena said: “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 raindrops 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.”
The Sounds Right initiative, led by UN Live’s Museum for the United Nations, began by crediting nature as an official artist on streaming platforms.
So far, it has reached over 130 million listeners, with India regularly among the top ten countries engaging with NATURE on Spotify.
Armaan Malik and Raveena are among a global group of contributors, including Yann Tiersen, SYML, Rozzi, and Steve Angello.
The campaign also includes tracks inspired by environmental crises.
Rozzi’s ‘Orange Skies – Chapter 2’ reflects on the LA wildfires, while Alice Boyd’s ‘All We Are’ compares two sound recordings taken nearly 50 years apart in the same English woodland.
Alice’s track highlights the decline in birdsong and the growing presence of urban noise.
Gabriel Smales, Global Programme Director for Sounds Right, 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.”
Every stream of a NATURE collaboration raises money for conservation projects.
In 2024, the initiative committed $225,000 to work in the Tropical Andes, one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. By 2025, the figure is set to exceed $500,000, supporting efforts in the Amazon and Congo basins.
Yann Tiersen, who also contributed to the playlist, said: “I’m grateful to be part of the Sounds Right campaign.
“We live in a time where the human narrative has been placed at the centre of everything. It’s time to rewrite that story.
“The Earth isn’t a backdrop to our ambitions – it’s a living, breathing force we are entangled with.”
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