"Back 2 the Wild" is a song by English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

duo

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene ...

, released on April 12, 2013, via

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based independent label 37 Adventures. The song was written and produced by group members Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton while Korean artists Baby Chay and Miss Emma Lee contributed the vocals. At the time of the release, "Back 2 the Wild" was intended to be the lead single of their then-upcoming seventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

entitled ''Music'', but the idea was eventually scrapped. The group instead released ''

Junto Junto may refer to: * Whig Junto (c. 1700), English political leaders' group, that began to dominate the ministry from 1693 and held onto power intermittently until 1717 when members of the group fell out * Junto (club) The Junto, also known as ...

'' (2014), which deluxe edition features the song's Korean version and remixes. Upon its release, "Back 2 the Wild" received critical acclaim from

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

Mat Maitland Mat Maitland is an English art director and visual artist who lives in London. He is renowned for his photo collage works and for co-creating numerous music mascots for music artists because of his creative direction, including the "seafox" for ...

and Natalia Stuyk directed its accompanied

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

. Female idol group

Team Syachihoko Team Shachi (stylized as TEAM SHACHI), formerly , is a Japanese female idol group consisting of four girls from the city of Nagoya. Overview Team Syachihoko is a sister group of two other girl groups managed by the Stardust Promotion talent age ...

was chosen to perform the song's Japanese version released in May 2015. MTV Video Music Awards Japan nominated the version's live performance video for Best Collaboration that same year.

Background and composition

The song made its premiere on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

show ''

Annie Mac Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...

''. After the release, the band's publicist announced more single releases to follow and a possible of a new

. "'Back 2 the Wild' we did as kind of

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

track to fit in with the world," Buxton said, "and everyone found it really left field and everyone said, 'God it’s really kind of quirky and arty and weird,' and we were like ‘That’s us trying to do something straightforward!’ So in a way, it's great, and it goes down so well live, but it ended up falling a bit more into the '

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

y' bracket. I didn't mind at all: that's great for me." The duo chose Japanese girl group

to perform the track's Japanese version after having seen a video of them performing. The version was released as a

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

single and

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

on 18 May 2015. During the duo's tour in Japan, both performed the song live. The group also interviewed them backstage, their segment was later aired on

MTV81 MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

in June.

Critical response

Tom Breihan of ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' praised the song for being "frantic and shamelessly, goofily fun as ever." The song was described by Evan Sawdey from ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' as "an otherworldly banger that seemed to exist on the more extreme planes of maximalist dance music".

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by Basement Jaxx's long-time collaborator

with additional directorial work from Natalia Stuyk. It was said to feature Maitland's signature

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

style of design along with specially made items by French

hair stylist A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be refe ...

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

Charlie Le Mindu and

make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other similar productions inc ...

Isamaya Ffrench. Maitland also shot the single's cover which similarly uses a headpiece from Le Mindu. It was choreographed by Masumi Saito. Nicole James from ''

Fuse Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protect ...

'' named her article "WTF is Going On in Basement Jaxx's "Back 2 the Wild" Video?" and stated: " Cavewomen and

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

s and flying flowers, oh my. The British electro-dance group is back, and trying to make junglepunk a thing. We think it's working." '' Consequence of Sound'' cited ''

Fruitopia Fruitopia is a fruit-flavored drink introduced by the Coca-Cola Company's successful Minute Maid brand in 1994 and targeted at teens and young adults. According to ''New York Times'' business reports, it was invented as part of a push by Minute ...

'' commercials as the inspiration for the video. This version was later nominated for Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. Tom Breihan of ''Stereogum'' said the video doesn’t disappoint due to the group's long history of "brain-wrecking" music videos. "It’s a frantic collage of kitschy jungle tropes, filtered through a hyperactive color scheme, with enough strobe-flashing that it might need an

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

warning," Breihan described. Similarly, '' Pitchfork'' contributor Carrie Battan called the video "eye-popping" and "it's every bit as vibrant as the title and sound of the song would imply: zany safari outfits, psychedelic nature excursions, bright color overload, the works."

Track listings and formats

;12" single #"What A Difference Your Love Makes" – 6:00 #"What A Difference Your Love Makes" – 6:13 #"What A Difference Your Love Makes" – 5:54 #"Back 2 The Wild" – 9:10 #"Back 2 The Wild" – 6:20 ;12" limited edition single #"Back 2 The Wild" – 4:48 #"Back 2 The Wild" – 4:13 ;Digital download #1 # "Back 2 the Wild" – 4:12 ;Digital download #2 #"Back 2 The Wild" ;Digital download remixes EP # "Back 2 the Wild" – 4:12 # "Back 2 the Wild" – 9:10 # "Back 2 the Wild" – 6:46 # "Back 2 the Wild" – 6:20 # "Back 2 the Wild" – 6:36 # "Back 2 the Wild" – 6:42

References

External links

Pitchfork article on the song

Spin article on the song
{{authority control Basement Jaxx songs 2013 songs Songs written by Felix Buxton Songs written by Simon Ratcliffe (musician)