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SPACELY and the Making of Here, JP Warner’s Sci-Fi Single About Staying in the Moment

A Chicago Producer’s Cinematic Alt-Pop Project Turns Mental Health Into an Original Sci-Fi Saga

When JP Warner started writing as SPACELY, he made one decision that shaped everything after it. He would tell his own story through a character. That character is Captain Joseph Spacely, stranded with his crew on an uninhabited moon and facing their inner demons. Released on April 3, 2024, the SPACELY single Here then takes that idea somewhere direct, because it is alternative pop about staying fully present.

SPACELY and JP Warner have Here in the playlist below, so it is the first stop for anyone meeting the project today, and the rest of the coverage sits on his artist profile. Here came through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news sites. Play it first, then read on for why it matters now.

SPACELY and the Making of Here, JP Warner’s Sci-Fi Single About Staying in the Moment

Why the SPACELY Single Here Matters Now, as the Sci-Fi Saga Heads Toward Its Next Chapter

The timing is worth explaining. ECLIPSE, the album that holds Here, arrived a chapter at a time through 2024. Crash was billed as Chapter 3 that May. After that, Reforge followed as Chapter 9 of 11 by December, and the full record finally landed in 2025. Now SPACELY’s official page promises that the captain and crew will return in 2026. So the story sits between chapters, which makes this a natural moment to return to the song that states its purpose most plainly.

Here sits fourth on the finished album, after the overture, Destiny and a short interlude titled with a numeric code, 012.012.082. In total the album runs to 22 tracks and 43 minutes, and those coded interludes recur between the songs. Heard in that sequence, Here lands early, almost like the thesis of the whole record.

The SPACELY single also arrived with a head start. In the weeks after its April 2024 release, Here drew write-ups from Hailtunes, Mesmerized, Beach House Mag and Muse Chronicle. Brazil’s IndieOclock covered it too. In fact, most of them picked up on the same pairing of a large sound and a very personal subject.

The Chicago Producer Behind SPACELY and the Captain Joseph Spacely Story

The person behind it has spent years on the other side of the glass. JP Warner is a Chicago-based producer, artist and storyteller with more than a decade in the studio. First, he co-founded the DJ duo MiNDTRiX, and only then moved into pop production. His collaborators include TE/MO, Excision and Jorge Rivera-Herrans, the creator of EPIC: The Musical.

Alongside SPACELY, he also runs a jazz catalogue under his own name and NIGHTSWIM, a melodic house project. SPACELY is the one he describes as his vessel for processing what he has learned about managing his mental health and finding inner peace.

Musically, Here is built from layered synths and punchy percussion. On top, the vocal climbs from firm verses into a wide, soaring chorus. Muse Chronicle traced the influences to Hans Zimmer, Blink-182 and Porter Robinson. Meanwhile, Mesmerized heard the finished single as grand, sweeping alt-pop when it arrived.

The theme is simple, and deliberately so. Muse Chronicle described Here as a song about being fully immersed in the present moment. Similarly, Beach House Mag noted how deeply Warner’s own experience with mental health runs through the lyrics. Writing through a character is also what makes that honesty possible. SPACELY told Mesmerized that writing as Captain Joseph Spacely makes it easier to be vulnerable. In addition, the same interview credited sci-fi films as the fuel for building the world around the songs.

SPACELY and the Making of Here, JP Warner’s Sci-Fi Single About Staying in the Moment

What Here Offers Fans of K-Pop, Game Soundtracks and Film Scores

SPACELY’s music is pitched at a crossover crowd: fans of K-pop, Riot Games soundtracks, film scores and electronic music. The SPACELY single suits that listener well, because its hook is pop-sized while its scale borrows from the screen.

The clearest reference point is Porter Robinson, whose album Nurture turned a hard stretch of self-doubt into bright, big-hearted electronic pop. Hans Zimmer explains the other half of the sound, with its patient builds and the sense of a scene opening up. Blink-182 may look like the outlier. Still, that band’s gift for a plain-spoken chorus is exactly what keeps Here grounded.

So what does Here answer? For listeners who like their pop with a story attached, it is an easy way into a larger world. Meanwhile, for anyone facing their own version of the captain’s moon, it is a three-and-a-half-minute reminder to come back to where they are.

The NewMusic.News curator team: “Here works because JP Warner keeps the message small while the production goes big. The chorus opens out like a film cue, yet the idea at its centre is a single instruction to stay present, and that contrast is what gives the song its pull.”

Stream the SPACELY Single Here and Follow the Project Across Platforms

Start with the SPACELY single at the top of the page. After that, carry on through ECLIPSE, where Here sits among the chapters of the captain’s story.

Keep up with SPACELY and JP Warner here: