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.