Spring is often considered a hopeful time, and Porter Robinson is looking to make the most of the season. On Wednesday (Jan. 27), the producer announced that his much-anticipated sophomore album, Nurture, will drop April 23 via Mom + Pop. The album is Robinson’s first under his own name in seven years.
The news comes alongside Nurture’s fourth single, “Look at the Sky.” The shimmering, propulsive and ultimately joyful track was written during a moment of personal crisis for the North Carolina-based producer, who has dealt with crippling anxiety since he blew up upon the release of his 2014 hit debut album Worlds, and whose personal challenges multiplied when his brother was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
“‘Look at the Sky’ is fundamentally a song about hope,” Robinson says in a press release. “There’s no shortage of fuel for despair, but you can’t take meaningful action to improve things if you don’t have some belief that things might get better. That’s what hope is, and I think it’s an emotion worth nourishing.
“I wrote this song at my lowest point emotionally,” he continues, “when I thought I couldn’t make music anymore, and I wasn’t sure if my existence would have any meaning if I couldn’t make music. In the lyrics, I’m sort of imagining what life would be like once I was on the other side of all that fear and anxiety and sadness. I’m happy to report that it’s amazing on the other side of all this, and I’m so glad I had hope and persisted.”
Robinson debuted “Look at the Sky” during his Secret Sky virtual festival this past May. Featuring a lineup including G Jones, Jai Wolf, Kizuna AI, Madeon, San Holo, A. G. Cook and Anamanaguchi, the livestream was broadcast via a custom digital auditorium that drew an audience of more than 4 million.
Listen to “Look at the Sky” below.
