Songfacts®:

• "Unravelling" is a thunderous, synth-drenched return that is Muse's first release since 2022's Will of the People. It's loud, layered, a bit terrifying, and – crucially - very Muse.
• From the opening moments, "Unravelling" plunges into classic Muse territory: eerie, arpeggiated synths followed immediately by sharp and metallic guitar. This maximalist theatricality is a hallmark of Muse's style; "Unravelling" draws comparisons to their album Will of the People's lead single, "Won't Stand Down."
• Matt Bellamy narrates a story of two lovers forced to flee together from a shadowy, oppressive force. The threat is characteristically vague, but with Muse, it's usually something like an authoritarian surveillance state, or possibly just late-stage capitalism. As always, the emotional stakes are turned up to 11.
• Fans have noted the melancholic edge to the song's tone and lyrics, sparking speculation that "Unravelling" might reflect something personal from Bellamy's life. But then again, this is Muse - a band that once wrote an entire album about the Second Law of Thermodynamics. So, themes over autobiography, as usual.
• On "Unravelling" Matt Bellamy plays an eight-string guitar for the first time, an instrument more commonly found in the metal world.
  
  Speaking to BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders, Bellamy said the spark for the song came from his new toy: "It's amazing. It's like having a bass guitar and a guitar at the same time... I literally got the guitar and the first thing I wrote was 'Unravelling.' It just came straight out – boom!"
• "Unravelling" was written with festival stages in mind, particularly after Muse stepped in as headliners for several metal festivals when Foo Fighters pulled out. It's engineered to shake open-air venues and possibly the ozone layer.
• Muse debuted "Unravelling" live at the opening show of their European tour on June 12, 2025, at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki, Finland. It was the first song of the set.
• Muse co-produced the song with Dan Lancaster, who previously mixed "Won't Stand Down" and performs keyboards and additional guitar in Muse's expanded live band on tour.
  
  Lancaster has also worked with the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, Enter Shikari, and Blink-182. "We've always known he's a great producer," said Bellamy of Lancaster, "so this is our first time really bringing him in as a producer, and it's really nice, kind of, having somebody who's kind of in the band and part of the live show, producing the new songs as well, because I think he's got a really good insight of what the crowd's into and all that kind of stuff."
• "Unravelling" was released as the lead single from Muse's 10th album, The Wow! Signal. The album title references the famous Wow! Signal; a 72-second burst of radio energy detected in 1977 from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.
  
  The signal stood out for its unusual strength and narrow bandwidth, leading some to speculate about a possible extraterrestrial origin. When astronomer Jerry R. Ehman reviewed the data, he circled the sequence "6EQUJ5" on the printout and wrote "Wow!" beside it.
  
  The concept fits squarely within Muse's long-established thematic territory. Since albums like Origin of Symmetry and Absolution, the band have frequently explored ideas of cosmic isolation, hidden forces, and humanity's uncertain place in the universe. A mysterious signal from deep space -powerful, unexplained, and possibly unknowable is a natural extension of those recurring motifs.