Bloom

Album: The King of Limbs (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song was inspired by BBC's 2001 natural history TV series The Blue Planet. Frontman Thom Yorke explained during a BBC 6 Music interview: "It was me lying on the sofa trying to go to sleep after being up too late with my young son and it was just coming in and out of my subconscious."
  • In 2017 Radiohead collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer to record an orchestral version of "Bloom" for a prequel video previewing the Blue Planet II series. The new rendition was recorded alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra. Thom Yorke said:

    "Bloom was inspired by the original Blue Planet series so it's great to be able to come full circle with the song and re-imagine it for this incredible landmark's sequel."
  • In 2022, a Thom Yorke solo version of "Bloom" from one of his concerts in 2019 was used in a Greenpeace video to draw attention to the dwindling shark population.

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