Hear Grimes’ Dark ‘Suicide Squad’ Song ‘Medieval Warfare’
Grimes pairs droning, metallic guitars with rapid-fire programmed drums on “Medieval Warfare,” her contribution to the all-star Suicide Squad soundtrack. The art-pop singer debuted the track Wednesday on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 radio show, explaining that “Warfare” originated from an old demo she tailored to fit the DC Comics’ film “sonically and lyrically.”
Grimes, speaking to Lowe while touring in Europe, explained that she “watched the [Suicide Squad] trailer at least 20 or 30 times” before working on the track and was “openly weeping’ when contacted to contribute. Feeling intense pressure to deliver the perfect balance of hooks and experimentation, she chose to make “the end more weird and the beginning more normal.”
She compared the pressure to working on a music video, saying, “You’re doing something where every second of it is costing thousands of dollars and involves hundreds to thousands of people, [so] there’s no room for improv or chill vibes, really.”
While the singer enthused about working on this particular project, Grimes said she’s hesitant to move deeper into the film world. “Everyone I know who’s ever done it brutally hated it and highly recommends against it,” she admitted. “So now I feel a bit more fearful of it. Literally everyone I know who’s done it has extreme vitriol and says things like, ‘I wasted three years of my life.'”
The Suicide Squad soundtrack – out August 5th, the same day as the movie – also features the Skrillex/Rick Ross collaboration “Purple Lamborghini,” the Dan Auerbach/Action Bronson/Mark Ronson team-up “Standing in the Rain” and tracks from Eminem, Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Kevin Gates, Imagine Dragons and Ty Dolla $ign, among others.
Find out five things we learned from Grames. Watch here.