Bring Me The Horizon have spoken about their surprise collaboration with AURORA on ‘Limousine’, revealing it was very nearly another popstar.
Frontman Oli Sykes sat down with NME to talk through the Sheffield band’s new record ‘Post Human: Nex Gen‘. There, he explained the choices behind some of his collaborators on the rexord, including AURORA’s surprise appearance on ‘Limousine’.
“I know what I wanted on that song and that was someone to bring something that could level it up – someone like a really ethereal, haunting, beautiful, voice,” he told NME. “I wanted someone to elevate it and take it somewhere else. The song itself is very Deftones-influenced, almost to a point of parody! For this whole record, we’re happy to admit that the songs all are very nostalgic homages to loads of bands, but it’s also felt very important that we do something where we were pushing it as well to make it our own, put our own stamp on it.
AURORA, Sykes reasoned, “was that person that helped elevate the song to something that feels exotic and different.” He added: “AURORA for me is what a pop star should be, what the next wave of pop stars should look like; someone that has the songs, but is a real person who dares to speak what they believe in, who gives a shit about the world.”
Sykes compared AURORA to other big pop stars like Dua Lipa. Though he called the ‘Houdini’ singer “awesome”, he said: “I do sometimes get the sense of, ‘How many times can you sing about a lover not being good enough?’ I do find that with a lot of pop albums: you’ve found the thing that makes you big and you’re sticking to it.
“With AURORA, it’s like a constant desire to be something more, to push pop and use that platform for good. She is what the next generation of pop stars will look like. The younger generation will want something with something tangible, something with actual substance, you know.”
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Previously, Oli Sykes revealed that Billie Eilish was nearly on the song, explaining they connected through her photographer, who was a fan of Bring Me The Horizon and suggested a potential collaboration. “So I her sent ‘liMOusIne’. And this was quite a while before it was in its full, finished state. I mean, I can’t say for 100 per cent that she listened to it, but I knew it got to her,” he told the Radio 1 Rock Show.
“So me thinking that ‘liMOusIne’ wouldn’t mean anything to anyone but me and maybe her if she saw the comment, [I] left it on her Instagram, not thinking that a week or two later when we did the tour, we put the file names on our visuals live, and everyone connected it.
He added: “It was one of them things that seemed like such a proper cheap way to try and get some press, but it really wasn’t. I was actually quite embarrassed when I found out – like, ‘Oh god, no!’ Because I knew the chance of Billie doing a song with us was slim to none.”
In the same NME interview, Sykes also teased the future direction of the ‘Post Human’ series. ‘Nex Gen’ is the second record in the series, and delves into Sykes’ return to rehab for addiction, along with exploring on the band’s newfound success and the departure of pivotal member Jordan Fish.
When asked about where the album’s narrative arc goes next, Sykes responded: “That’s an interesting one. This whole record is a proper narrative that actually explains the first record. I’ve realised that what I’ve been doing for years is building this world in my head and not telling anyone about it. That narrative is going to feed into the next one and I don’t want to give it all away because the way the record ends for me personally is realising that I’ve got to leave.”
Clarifying what he meant by “leave”, he replied: “I’ve got to end a lot of relationships, I’ve got to leave my own country, I’ve got to get away and I’ve got to kind of kill apart of myself. I realise that I can’t heal in the place that made me sick. That’s why that last song on the record [‘Dig It’] feels a bit like a suicide note or a good letter, because it’s a bittersweet ending of realising that I’m fully on this path of healing now, but it’s going to mean I’ve got to kill part of myself.
“It kind of leaves it on a cliffhanger, in a way,” the singer continued. “This record has turned into such a bigger beast than I ever thought it would do, so it’s a bit it’s a bit too soon to tell you exactly where it’s going to go. I’ve got an idea of not only what the next record sounds like but where it is – and it’s not in a good place. But it’s it’s all to play for. It’s going to be four records and this will be that third act – usually where things go south. We’ll see – anything could change.”
In a four-star review of the album, NME wrote: “Few modern rock bands have made an album that is such a bombardment of sound and colour. Post-Jordan Fish, they continue to be what they’ve always been: a creative force that transcends the personalities of its individuals. It entirely justifies the four-year wait, which already feels like ancient history. Buckle up – because this is still BMTH’s world, and we’ll be living in it for quite some time yet.”