British singer-songwriter Rumer has dropped her new single Before The Planes, a deeply reflective song honouring the firefighters, first responders and civilians whose courage and sacrifice defined the immediate aftermath of the 11th September 2001 attacks.
Released ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Before The Planes looks back on the events in New York City through the perspective of those who experienced them first-hand. Rather than attempting to retell the tragedy on a grand scale, Rumer focuses on individual acts of bravery, compassion and human connection, assembling fragments of testimony into what she describes as a collective memory of that morning and its aftermath.
Rumer
The song has its origins in Rumer’s wider reflection on the quarter-century since the attacks. Looking at a world increasingly marked by conflict, division and instability, she began questioning when that trajectory had changed and whether 9/11 represented a defining dividing line. “When 9/11 happened, it seemed a line was drawn in the sand,” she says. “It felt as though there was a world before September 11th and a world after.”
That reflection led her into an extensive period of research. Over several months, Rumer listened to and watched hundreds of hours of eyewitness testimony from survivors, witnesses and family members, concentrating particularly on accounts from New York. What emerged most strongly from those accounts was not simply the scale of the disaster, but the extraordinary acts of courage and selflessness displayed by those caught within it. Every word and image in Before The Planes is rooted in that testimony. Fragmented voices, radio communications, observations and stories of courageous acts are woven together to create an impressionistic portrait of the day and its aftermath.
Among the individuals referenced is Battalion One Chief Joseph Pfeiffer, the first New York Fire Department battalion chief to arrive at the scene. His brother Kevin, also a firefighter, was killed in the North Tower. Rumer incorporates the haunting moment in which Joseph calls out for his brother over the radio, receiving no response.
Another story at the centre of the song is that of the firefighters of Ladder 6, led by Jay Jonas. As they were being instructed to evacuate the tower, the firefighters stopped to help Josephine Harris, an older injured secretary. Their decision to remain with her ultimately led them to Stairwell B, the only air pocket when the tower collapsed around them, allowing the group to survive and eventually be rescued.
These individual stories are placed alongside the wider efforts of firefighters searching the debris for family members, friends and neighbours in the aftermath of the attacks. Rumer also acknowledges the tragedy that continued long after the day itself, with toxic dust from the debris contributing to hundreds of further firefighter deaths in the months and years that followed.
The song’s use of Danny Boy adds another layer of remembrance. The traditional ballad was frequently used at firefighters’ funerals and memorial services for those who lost their lives, and its inclusion helps connect the individual stories within the song to the wider rituals of mourning that followed the attacks. Musically and lyrically, Before The Planes is deliberately concerned with the human rather than the political. Its ultimate message is one of hope — finding evidence of kindness and courage even amid unimaginable loss. “The ultimate message of the song is that despite the terrorist atrocities we have faced and continue to face around the world, there are always heroes in our midst,” says Rumer, “and their acts of extraordinary bravery, kindness and love give us hope for a better world.”
The title itself evokes the sense of an irrevocable dividing line: a reference to the ordinary morning before the attacks, when New York was experiencing a clear September day and children were returning to school, contrasted with the extraordinary events that would follow. For Rumer, the project represents a departure into subject matter of considerable historical and emotional weight. The British singer-songwriter first rose to prominence in 2010 with her million-selling debut album Seasons Of My Soul, establishing herself with a distinctive voice and songwriting style. Before The Planes now marks the beginning of another chapter, with Rumer having recently signed to independent music company Breaking Wave Group. The single also precedes a new studio album scheduled for release in 2027.
The accompanying video further reinforces the song’s memorial purpose, featuring images of the 434 firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11. Rather than separating the music from the people whose stories inspired it, the visual component places those individuals directly at the centre of the project.
Twenty-five years after the attacks, Before The Planes does not attempt to offer easy answers to the questions surrounding the events or their lasting consequences. Instead, Rumer uses the voices and experiences of those who were there to highlight something more fundamental: that alongside destruction and suffering, moments of extraordinary courage and compassion can endure.
By drawing together individual testimonies into a single musical narrative, Before The Planes becomes both a tribute to those who were lost and a celebration of those who risked everything to save others — a reminder that, even in the darkest circumstances, humanity can still provide its own source of hope.
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