"Mantra" (often stylized in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...
) is a song by British
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Bring Me the Horizon
Bring Me the Horizon (often abbreviated as BMTH) are a British rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004. The group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Matt Nicholls and keyboardist Jordan Fis ...
. Produced by the band's vocalist
Oliver Sykes
Oliver Scott Sykes (born 20 November 1986) is a British singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Bring Me the Horizon. He also founded the apparel company Drop Dead Clothing, and created a graphic novel.
Early l ...
and keyboardist Jordan Fish, it is featured on the group's 2019 sixth studio album ''
Amo''. The track was released as the first
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
from the album on 21 August 2018, topping the
UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart
The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...
and spending three weeks at that spot.
Promotion and release
Bring Me the Horizon released "Mantra" as their first new material since ''
That's the Spirit'' on 21 August 2018, the day before the band's sixth studio album ''
Amo'' was announced. The song was originally teased with a promotional campaign including a billboard in
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 ...
, which featured the lyric "Do you wanna start a cult with me?" The billboard also contained a phone number that contained a sample of the track, and the website joinmantra.com was set up to reveal the single's release date. The group performed the track live for the first time at
Reading Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
on 23 August, followed by a performance at Leeds Festival the following day.
Composition and lyrics
"Mantra" has been described as a
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
,
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
,
electronic rock
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...
,
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
,
and
pop metal
Pop metal (sometimes conflated with or used interchangeably with glam metal) is an umbrella term for commercial heavy metal and hard rock styles which feature prominent pop music elements such as catchy hooks and anthemic choruses. It became ...
song. Speaking to music magazine ''
Metal Hammer
''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...
'', vocalist
Oliver Sykes
Oliver Scott Sykes (born 20 November 1986) is a British singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Bring Me the Horizon. He also founded the apparel company Drop Dead Clothing, and created a graphic novel.
Early l ...
revealed that "Mantra" was inspired by ''
Wild Wild Country
''Wild Wild Country'' is a Netflix documentary series about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), his one-time personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela, and their community of followers in the Rajneeshpuram community located in W ...
'', a documentary about controversial Indian guru
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed as a controv ...
, explaining that "As I was watching it and trying to write lyrics at the same time, I was drawing these similarities to cults and love."
Moving on to speak about the lyrics, he added that "Starting a relationship – especially a marriage – is like starting a cult, a small two-man cult, because you have to give yourself over completely to this person, you have to trust them, you have to love them unconditionally ... so that's where the thinking behind the song came from".
Musically, "Mantra" is described by ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' writer Tom Connick as featuring "a twisted, glitchy
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
intro" followed by a "festival-headline-baiting chorus", contributing to a sound that he claims is "built for huge stages".
Connick goes on to claim that the electronic elements of the song "add atmosphere".
Music video
The
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 ...
for "Mantra" was released on 24 August 2018, three days after the song was first made available. According to music website ''
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
'', the video "depicts frontman Oli Sykes as a cult leader, as his followers hang on his every word". ''
Revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
'' magazine's John Hill outlined that "The visuals in the video clash repeatedly, elements of video games, late-night infomercials, and church sermons all run on a closed loop next to each other for a vicious effect", describing it as "crazy". Similarly, Emmy Mack of ''
Music Feeds
''Music Feeds'' is a free bi-weekly digital music and lifestyle magazine (street press) established in 2008 and based in Sydney, Australia. It is distributed electronically every second Tuesday, with additional material posted on the website r ...
'' dubbed the video "
batshit crazy".
Reception
Critical
Tom Connick of the ''NME'' praised "Mantra" as "an inventive cut of ballsy, bluesy modern rock, fit for stadiums and headline slots", highlighting the electronic elements of the song and the vocal performance of Oliver Sykes.
Axl Rosenberg of
MetalSucks
MetalSucks is a heavy metal music-themed news website. The site features reviews, interviews, information on latest metal releases and blog-like posts from the writers, most notably Vince Neilstein and Axl Rosenberg.
History
The site was foun ...
criticised the song, calling it "
drek" and joking, "If you hate everyone in your immediate vicinity, turn your speakers way up and crank "Mantra"."
Accolades
In 2019, "Mantra" was nominated for the ''
Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...
'' category at the
61st Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
and was also nominated for
Best Song at the
Kerrang! Awards
The Kerrang! Awards are an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine ''Kerrang!'' and focusing primarily on rock music. The annual awards features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of mo ...
.
Personnel
Credits adapted from
Tidal
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
.
Bring Me the Horizon
*
Oliver Sykes
Oliver Scott Sykes (born 20 November 1986) is a British singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Bring Me the Horizon. He also founded the apparel company Drop Dead Clothing, and created a graphic novel.
Early l ...
– lead vocals, production, composition
* Lee Malia – guitars, composition
* Matt Kean – bass, composition
* Matt Nicholls – drums, composition
* Jordan Fish – keyboards, synthesizers, programming, percussion, backing vocals, production, composition
Additional personnel
* Romesh Dodangoda – engineering
*
Ted Jensen
Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''.
Biography
Ted ...
– mastering
*
Dan Lancaster
Dan Lancaster is a producer, mixer, songwriter and artist from the UK.
He is best known for his mixing and production work in contemporary rock music, and has worked with prominent global acts such as Blink-182, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Bring M ...
– mixing
In popular culture
* "Mantra" is featured on the soundtrack for the 2020 video game ''
Watch Dogs: Legion''.
*"Mantra" was played during an episode of
MTV
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 ...
's 34th season of ''
The Challenge''.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Cover versions
In 2020, Japanese girl group
Passcode covered the song on their official YouTube channel.
References
{{authority control
2018 singles
2018 songs
Bring Me the Horizon songs
RCA Records singles
Songs written by Oliver Sykes
Sony Music singles