“She gave me perspective on letting go,” he explains.
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They’d hang out and catch a movie together, just like regular friends, and this shared experience almost became “like an artist rehabilitation programme” for him. Working with Sia was a game-changer for Lab on several levels. Last year, he formed LSD, a supergroup that saw him team up with Sia and Diplo, and together the trio scored a big hit with the genre-blending bop “Thunderclouds”. Cowell, like everyone else in the British music industry, was clearly impressed.īut according to Lab today, “feeding the beast of entertainment” doesn’t necessarily mean spending hours working on your voice, musicianship or songwriting skills: “It’s more about, ‘does this make people laugh, does this make people cry, does it make them lose their minds with excitement?” And for me, that became pretty draining.”įollowing his first flush of solo success, Lab left London and relocated to Los Angeles, purposefully keeping a pretty low profile as he began to figure out what type of artist he really wanted to be.
He had been making tracks and honing his songwriting skills since he was a teenager, but had recently broken through by producing a couple of sonically inventive, drum and bass-influenced hits for British rapper Tinie Tempah: “Pass Out” and “Frisky”, which he also featured on.
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Lab just hasn’t been conforming to the high pressure, conveyor-belt pop machine that insists it’s biggest stars can’t take a break for fear of losing their place in the cultural landscape - the way previously had after initially signing with Simon Cowell’s label Syco back in 2010.Īt that time, it looked live a curveball move for both Lab and Cowell: Lab being the first artist in six years that the X Factor mogul hadn’t scouted from a TV show. He also produced and featured on “Make Me (Cry)”, 2016’s excellent debut single from Miley’s little sis, Noah Cyrus. In 2014 he dropped a couple of singles from a planned follow-up LP that never materialised before teaming up with DJ duo Sigma in 2015 for the club hit “Higher”. To be fair, although fans are still eagerly waiting on his upcoming second album, Imagination & the Misfit Kid, Labrinth hasn’t exactly been slacking. What people don’t realise is that when you’re in the entertainment industry, it’s about constantly feeding the beast of entertainment”. And then when fame came, it was like, ‘I thought this was about music’, but it wasn’t, it was about entertainment. “But, do you know what?” Lab adds, switching his tone to thoughtfully reflect on why he took a step back from his solo career, “When I started in the music industry, I just wanted to make music. Casually strumming a Ramones song on his acoustic guitar, Lab starts to explain exactly where and why he disappeared after dropping his debut album, Electronic Earth, home to the chart-topping Emeli Sandé duet “Beneath Your Beautiful” and three other top-five hits, back in 2012. He’s relaxed and chatty, sporting a fresh new look and hairstyle, replete with his signature feathers (that he wears to keep him connected to his true self and imagination).
“Um… I just had to fuck off, and say ‘I’m done’,” laughs Hackney-born singer-songwriter-producer Timothy McKenzie, better know as Labrinth - or as he, and just about everyone else, affectionately refers to him, ‘Lab’.