Skrillex “Don’t Get Too Close” Album Review

Don’t Get Too Close

Skrillex

• Genre: Electronic
• Date: 18 Feb, 2023
• Content: explicit
• Region: NGA
• Track(s): 12
• ℗ 2023 OWSLA/Atlantic Records, Inc.

He “drank the grief away” after his mother passed away in 2015, and last year he “found himself with no motivation and purpose for the first time.” Yet he made it plain that he had changed and was prepared for a new chapter by posting those tweets on his 35th birthday.

The fact that Skrillex makes a comeback a month later with two albums and four highly anticipated DJ sets throughout New York City, including a last-minute sold-out performance at Madison Square Garden, is both appropriate and illuminating. He is likely planning this move to dominate the pop scene and gain underground respect, rap endorsements, and grudging support from Four Tet fans. And to accomplish that, he has set up a quick pincer. His strategy is to stake out the entire region by releasing two albums: one of dizzying emo-rap and one of the super-massive bass juggernauts is brilliant.

Album Art

A cute-eyed hedgehog is seen as he adorably poses for the camera with almost-surprised looks. However, blood on its spine signals that it can also get brutal, even though it wants to remain as cute as ever. This diagrammatic representation of what Skrillex aims to tell whoever cares to listen is direct- “Dont take me for granted. I can be dangerous too, “seems to be the message.

Tracks And Features

Skrillex sets out on a quest for the most fire beats in the world in “Quest for Fire” and a few of the sickest drops for good measure. Heavyweights (Four Tet, Missy Elliott, Mr. Oizo) and underground favorites (artists like Bristol bass sculptor Joker and experimental drummer Eli Keszler) are crammed in close together as special guests.

The more daring but significantly less effective of the two, “Don’t Get Too Close,” uses a very-now mashup of emo, rap, J-pop, meme-core, video game music, and moody boy-girl duets to score the interior world of our hero’s trip. Once more, there are guests everywhere: Justin Bieber, a longtime friend; Chief Keef; Kid Cudi; Swae Lee; and viral pop newcomers PinkPantheress and Prentiss.

“Don’t Go Too Close” is intriguingly unique, sure to perplex the more seasoned listeners while opening up new opportunities for Skrillex as a collaborator. It is, at its core, an emo album: a sentimental look back to his teenage preferences as well as a producer’s reaction to the cultural shift that is occurring right now, in which experimental music sounds like pop, pop sounds like rap, and rappers sound like emo vocalists.

The overriding sentiment is nostalgia, a meditation on innocence gone that is conveyed through constant contrast. The post-Blink we-oh vocals of Trippie Redd serve as a counterpoint to PinkPantheress’ bouncy 2-step raps on “Way Back.” In “Ceremony” and “Real Spring,” Yung Lean and Bladee take the ‘sandbox mentality’ into heavenly, harp-filled realms—two instances that suggest Skrillex can still completely baffle anyone’s folks.

The generational divide is bridged on “3 am,” where 15-year-old bedroom-pop cherub Prentiss drops a kindergarten tune next to veteran rock singer Anthony Green’s eternally youthful voice. On the album’s lead single, “Back to the Future,” Bibi Bourelly and Skrillex channel their younger selves for a longing duet: Don’t come too close/Nobody knows me, warns Skrillex as he begs, “I’m on my PC/I see famous people/I think they’re like me/So why aren’t we equal.”

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	ARTIST	TIME
1	Don’t Leave Me Like This	Skrillex & Bobby Raps	1:42
2	Way Back	Skrillex, PinkPantheress & Trippie Redd	1:59
3	Selecta	Skrillex & BEAM	3:10
4	Ceremony	Skrillex, Yung Lean & Bladee	3:12
5	Real Spring	Skrillex & Bladee	2:09
6	Summertime	Skrillex & Kid Cudi	2:11
7	Bad For Me	Skrillex, Corbin & Chief Keef	2:53
8	3am	Skrillex, Prentiss & Anthony Green	3:26
9	Don’t Go	Skrillex, Justin Bieber & Don Toliver	2:48
10	Don’t Get Too Close	Skrillex & Bibi Bourelly	4:04
11	Mixed Signals	Skrillex & Swae Lee	2:46
12	Painting Rainbows	Skrillex & Bibi Bourelly	3:15

Album Summary

Skrillex probably won’t stop creating the intense, emotional music that angsty kids and sentimental adults enjoy. He will forever be the hoverboard-riding emo guy who wants to take his fiancée to Disneyland and the guy who sees himself as a 3D hedgehog with sad eyes (don’t get too close!) -The lovely sweetness endures forever, along with other traits. It’s possible that he won’t be able to upend another business in his lifetime, but with Quest for Fire and Don’t Go Too Near, he’s still determined to cause a stir, driven only by his unbridled excitement. When the smoke clears, his mid-career rebrand, Skrillex 2.0, will emerge from the ruins if you like.

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