Rumble
by Skrillex (featuring Fred again)

Album: Quest For Fire (2023)
Charted: 19
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Here, Skrillex teams up with British producer Fred Again and British grime MC Flowdan for a thunderous, bass-forward banger. The song features additional uncredited vocals from American singer Elley Duhé and Jamaican-American singer-rapper Beam.
  • During Flowdan's ominous flow, he references the smell of spiffs, which is so strong you can hear it. But when he steps into the "jungle" (room) he makes a noise so loud it overshadows the aroma.

    The word "rumble" has several meanings. Here, it refers to the sound of a large crowd, which Flowdan describes as "killers in the jungle."
  • "Rumble" was initially a collaboration between Fred Again and Flowdan that took place in 2018. After Skrillex met Fred and heard the song for the first time, he asked for the track's stems and created his own version. "I didn't like it," he told Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1, "I thought I ruined the song. I was scared to play it."

    Eventually, the three of them started working on "Rumble" again in the first half of 2022.
  • English producer Four Tet was also involved in the song's production before getting "kicked off" from the project. "Four Tet is an honorary producer on everything we do, pretty much like a ghost producer," explained Skrillex.
  • "Rumble" first saw the light of day when Fred Again included it in his June 29, 2022 Boiler Room session broadcast from London. The song became a fan-favorite from the set, generating anticipation for its official release. This led to unofficial versions of the song appearing on YouTube, before Skrillex released it as a single through Atlantic Records and Owsla on January 4, 2023. It is the lead single from Skrillex's double album QFF / DGTC.
  • "Rumble" won for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the Grammy Awards in 2024. Flowdan made history becoming the first ever grime MC to win a Grammy.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.

Tanita Tikaram

Tanita TikaramSongwriter Interviews

When she released her first album in 1988, Tanita became a UK singing sensation at age 19. She talks about her darkly sensual voice and quirky songwriting style.

Cheerleaders In Music Videos

Cheerleaders In Music VideosSong Writing

It started with a bouncy MTV classic. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms.

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Rush: Album by Album - A Conversation With Martin Popoff

Rush: Album by Album - A Conversation With Martin PopoffSong Writing

A talk with Martin Popoff about his latest book on Rush and how he assessed the thousands of albums he reviewed.