Edward Snowden starts his music career with a techno song about privacy

Nearly three years after rocking the worldwith hisunprecedented leak of documents aboutclassified,top-secret governmentsurveillance programs, Edward Snowdenis finally makinghis dance music debut.

Hey, weirder-sounding things have happened on the musical front.

But before you start calling theNSA whistlebloweranEDM beat-dropper, it's important to note that Snowden isn'tjust upand abandoning his information privacywork to become a recording artist.

He'd be off to a good start if he were, though,with one of the genre's most-accomplishedproducers on his side.

French electronic music pioneerJean-MichelJarre on Friday released his 15th studio album, Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise after months of media hype surrounding both Jarre and the myriad people featured in his brand new tracks.

Part two of a project based on collaborations, the album featuresabout 15 different artists from a wide range of musical genresAmerican pop starCyndiLauper,British singerGary Numan, French musicianSbastien Tellier,Canadian electronic artist Peaches and GermancomposerHans Zimmeramong them.

And if you don't stand up for it, then who will?- Edward Snowdenon theJean-Michel Jarretrack 'Exit'

While some of the album's guest-starsdo activism workin addition to beingperformers, Snowdenappears to be unique in that he's the only collaboratorwithout any sort ofmusical background.

According to Jarre, who went to great lengths in his efforts to contactSnowden about recording a song, that choice was intentional.

"Edward is an absolute hero of our times,"he told the Guardian in April after news of their partnership broke."When I first read about him, it made me think of my mother ...She joined theFrench resistancein 1941, when people in France still thought they were just troublemakers, and she always told me that when society is generating things you can't stand, you have to stand up against it."

"The wholeElectronicaproject is about the ambiguous relationship we have with technology: on the one side we have the world in our pocket, on on the other, we are spied on constantly," he continued."It seemed quite appropriate to collaborate not with a musician but someone who literally symbolises this crazy relationship we have with technology."

With Snowden in mind, Jarre wrote what later became their song Exit a "hectic, obsessivetechnotrack" about big data and "the manhunt for this one young guy by the CIA, NSA and FBI," according to Jarre.

Hereached out to the Guardian asking if they'd put him in touch with the former CIA contractor, anda connection was eventually made with the help ofSnowden's solicitor.

After a 90-minute conversation between Jarre and Snowden on Skype, the process was in motion. Vocals were recorded long distance, butfootage for the song'smusic video was filmed in person whenJarre travelled to Moscow.

As you can see by watchingthe music video itself,Snowden doesn't actually sing on Exit. Instead, he recites a monologue set (and at times twisted around)Jarre's driving, franticbeats.

"Technology can actually increase privacy," he says at one point in the song."The question is: Why are our private details that are transmitted online, or why are private details that are stored on our personal devices, any different than the details and the private record of our lives that are stored in our private journals?"

"What may not have value to you today may have value to an entire population ... an entirely people ... an entire way of life tomorrow ... andif you don't stand up for it, then who will?"he says sternlynear the end of the song before repeating the last phrase.

"And if you don't stand up for it, then who will? ...And if you don't stand up for it, then who will?"