A lot can be said about 2020, and to recap the year and its overwhelming amount of emotions, Google commissioned music producer Peter CottonTale, 29, for its first-ever original song for the “Year in Search” campaign.
According to Business Insider, CottonTale united Chance the Rapper, singer and actress, Cynthia Erivo, the Chicago Children’s Choir, and over 80 Black artists, engineers, producers, and managers to bring the song, titled “Together,” to life.
“Trying to make a sound that culminates 2020 … was honestly way too sad,” CottonTale told Insider of the song that premiered in early December. “Because for a lot of people [the year 2020] sounded like loss, or it sounded like a lot of challenges in their personal lives.”
Though a rough year for all, CottonTale’s goal was to narrate 2020 through the perspective of the Black community while bringing light to Black creatives. He spent two months working with the Google team, and as an added bonus of the partnership, he requested that Google donate $50,000 to the Chicago’s Children Choir and the Merit School of Music.
“All the stars aligned on this collaboration with Peter CottonTale,” Google’s Head of Production Patrick Marzullo told Insider. “The tone and story he wanted to tell through music aligned perfectly with our vision for the film, so from there it was easy to give him the time and space to do what he does best.”
