LISTEN: Kelis & Skream collaboration | The Quietus

LISTEN: Kelis & Skream collaboration

Dubstep poster boy takes another confident step into the mainstream

Both in his own productions and as one third of Magnetic Man, Skream’s forays into the charts have become increasingly self-assured over the past couple of years.

It feels only right, then, that Ollie Jones should be collaborating with a bona fide, platinum-selling popstar. The news that the producer would be working on Kelis’ new album has been floating around for a while now – with the record apparently having “a real 1990s vibe” – but ‘Distance’ is the first concrete evidence of the pairing.

As Skream-does-pop goes, it’s certainly a damn sight classier than last year’s controversial, trance-leaning collaboration with Sam Frank, ‘Anticipate’. In fact, its sparse UK Garage chassis is one of the most understated things Skream’s put his name to in a while; the perfect framework on which to hang an angsty ballad of relationship paranoia. You can listen to ‘Distance’ below.

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