Skrillex surprise fans, releases second album in 24 hours ‘Don’t Get Too Close’: Listen
It is hard to believe that it has been 9 years since Skrillex dropped Recess before exploring new sounds with Jack Ü, producing an album for Incubus, collaborating with Justin Bieber, and overall just keeping fans anxiously awaiting new music from the dubstep legend. All that energy and anticipation would culminate in the most unforgettable Valentine’s Day week ever as Skrillex took over the entire music world with several pop-up events in New York City, plus the release of not just one but two new albums.
It has been a while now since fans have been aware of two upcoming releases from Skrillex, but the looming question of ‘when’ always hung over that knowledge. At the start of 2023, the producer took to social media to promise the release of both albums would be forthcoming before releasing the highly anticipated single, Rumble, back on January 5th. While a slew of singles followed, Skrillex finally delivered one new album, Quest For Fire, on February 17th, thus breaking the internet as he toured New York City with Four Tet and Fred Again.. It was about three hours into his massive, Saturday night pop-up event at Madison Square Garden that Skrillex grabbed a fans phone and announced that his second album, Don’t Get Too Close, had just hit streaming services.
While Quest For Fire is loud and features the dub elements that helped Skrillex rise to prominence, Don’t Get Too Close is the more subtle yang of his musical output, still well produced and infectious, yet more ethereal and airy in concept. With a completely different set of collaborators and singers, Skrillex delivers an album that finds him rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kid Cudi, Anthony Green, Justin Bieber, PinkPantheress, and Swae Lee. It is fun, it is uplifting, and it is carefully crafted at every turn to let listeners into the head of Sonny Moore and his recent admittance of mental health issues in years past.
Culminating with Painting Rainbows, a collaboration with Bibi Bourelly, he connects this closing track with Quest For Fire closer Still Here (with the ones that I came with), a track that drops the tag line again, looking back on the friends and support that helped the producer reach the surreal heights of success which he has achieved. The list of deserving superlatives for the work of Skrillex is endless as he continues to amaze, delight, and be a pioneer for music, but sometimes fans and critics need to just sit back and enjoy greatness when it happens in real time.
Image Credit: Anthony Lrpn
