Dubstep icon Skrillex, up-and-coming rapper Starrah and eclectic electronic legend Four Tet collaborated on a new single called “Butterflies.” It’s a creative, constantly evolving track that plays up each contributor’s abilities.

The song begins with a vocal house loop that was likely made by Four Tet, who has been making minimalist house music since the start of the 2010s. The loop repeats at several points throughout, juxtaposed with Skrillex’s modern EDM sound and Starrah’s vocal hook, “Everybody loves somebody/Know you’re not just anybody/Butterflies when you touch my body/I’ll let you know baby, shortly, shortly.” There are plenty of variations in both the beat and lyrics throughout the track, and several left-field moments including a bright synthy bridge section.

Skrillex has been known as a proponent of collaboration. Most recently, he has been working with Boys Noize as Dog Blood, under which they last released an EP called Turn Off the Lights together in 2019. Before that was the incredibly successful partnership with Diplo as Jack Ü, when they released hits like “Take Ü There,” “Where Are Ü Now” and “To Ü” from 2014-2016. Other artists that Skrillex has collaborated with include Kaskade, Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley, The Game, Rick Ross, Joyryde, Ty Dolla $ign and several smaller artists. “Butterflies” is Skrillex’s first official release since Ty Dolla $ign, Skrillex and Boys Noize’s song “Midnight Hour” came out in 2019.

Four Tet is more likely to collaborate through remixes, although he has teamed up with Burial and Thom Yorke several times over the years, including last year’s 12’’ single “Her Revolution”/“His Rope.” He also arranged, edited and mastered Madlib’s 2021 album Sound Ancestors, which Freddie Gibbs recently freestyled over. Singles from the album including “Dirtknock” and “Hopprock” show off the record’s general style.

Starrah is also known for her collaborations. She and Raye were featured on Charli XCX’s “Dreamer,” which is the opener to her hit mixtape Number 1 Angel. However, that’s far from the only popular album featuring Starrah. She has also appeared on albums by G-Eazy, Cashmere Cat, Big Sean and Vory, among others. In addition, Starrah released a collaborative EP with Diplo in 2017.

Photo credit: Mehreen Rizvi