By Colin 
Acclaimed producer and songwriter Gregory Darling has teamed up with Grammy-nominated artist Julian Lennon to release their reimagined single, ‘A New Dream’, on 1 February 2025. Written in collaboration with their close friend Anthony Caligagan in the South of France, the song first appeared on Darling’s debut album, Shell. Now, with fresh production and a renewed sense of purpose, ‘A New Dream’ is set to inspire a new generation of listeners.
Darling and Lennon’s friendship dates back to the early 1990s in Los Angeles, when Darling was performing with his band, Darling Cruel. They reconnected in Europe during the mid-90s while working on Lennon’s album Photograph Smile, sparking a creative partnership that has lasted decades. They have since collaborated on numerous projects, including tracks on Lennon’s albums Everything Changes and Jude.
Speaking about their latest single, Lennon remarked, “Working with Greg is like working with your brother/best friend… And ‘A New Dream’ is something we both aspire to.”
A Song of Hope and Transformation
‘A New Dream’ resonates with universal themes of hope, resilience, and the pursuit of dreams, connecting deeply with listeners. The song’s lyrics reflect a poignant sense of longing: “I’m helplessly waiting, clocking the days of my innocent youth, oh I’m hopelessly romanticising everything black and white, all the colours seem dark in the night, I need a new dream to get by on.”
The single’s updated production reflects this introspection. Darling replaced the original arrangement’s strings with atmospheric synths, added guitars, bass, and backing vocals, and introduced a new beat. Mixed by Ian Kelosky, the result is a track with a rich, melancholic tone and vocals that shine with sincerity and emotion. “Locking myself in the studio during Covid lockdown gave me the space to reimagine the song’s arrangement,” Darling explained.
The music video, directed by Charlie Warner, employs a hand-drawn animation style, capturing the track’s nostalgic and heartfelt essence. Warner’s painstaking attention to detail mirrors the song’s message of resilience and transformation.
As advocates for change, Lennon and Darling embody the spirit of their music. Lennon is the founder of the White Feather Foundation, while Darling is the head of artist outreach for Reluvotion and a supporter of the Gift Of Love Foundation. Both organisations champion global change and human potential, aligning perfectly with the song’s themes.
With ‘A New Dream’, the duo hopes to inspire listeners to overcome life’s challenges and embrace the power of creativity to transform dreams into reality. This poignant and uplifting track sets a hopeful tone as the world steps into 2025.