"Obey" 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 ...

and English singer

Yungblud Dominic Richard Harrison (born 5 August 1997), known professionally as Yungblud (pronounced "Youngblood"), is an English singer, musician, songwriter and actor. In 2018, he released his first EP, ''Yungblud'', followed shortly after by the albu ...

. 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 was released as the third single from the group's 2020 commercial release '' Post Human: Survival Horror'' on 2 September 2020. "Obey" was voted as

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) ...

's "''Hottest Record of the Year''" in 2020.

Promotion and release

In May 2020,

tweeted out a cryptic tweet asking

and Jordan Fish to check their inboxes. This led to a lot of speculation and teasing of a collaboration between the band and the singer. Sykes later revealed that the band and Yungblud "have something coming". The track was then officially teased when Sykes posted a

QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about th ...

leading to a website with a snippet of the music video. Within a week until the song's release, both of the artists revealed promotional pictures for the collaboration which pictured Sykes and Yungblud being half naked and covered in blood, that would feature a caption that said "u ain't ready".

Composition and lyrics

"Obey" has been described as a "massive, genre-bending call-to-arms"

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With r ...

, electronic metal,

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 ...

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

and 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 ...

song, including elements of electronic dance music and

rave music A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

. It was written and composed by Oliver Sykes, Jordan Fish and

during quarantine times for the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The lyrics talk about the oppression that people suffer because of world leaders and politicians. It is written mostly from the point of view of the oppressor, as Sykes told ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'':

Music video

The music video for "Obey" was released on the same day as the single. Directed by Sykes himself, the video features two giant robots which look like a

Power Ranger ''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Enter ...

Transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

hybrid, that are both controlled by Sykes and Yungblud. Before confronting, the two robots dance and then engage in a fight where the robot controlled by Yungblud knocks the other robot down. When the robot controlled by Sykes gets up, they both seem to lose control of their respective robots who then make out with each other and then stroll off into the sunset. The song surpassed 1 million views within the first 24 hours after premiering on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. In its first week, the video for the song reached 4.4 million views.

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 *

– lead vocals,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Lee Malia – guitars * Jordan Fish – keyboards, programming, percussion, backing vocals, production, engineering * Matt Kean – bass * Matt Nicholls – drums Additional personnel *

– vocals * Mick Gordon – percussion, synthesiser, additional production * Jordan Baggs – backing vocals * Luke Burywood – backing vocals * Clayton Deakin – backing vocals * Tom Millar – backing vocals * Giles Stelfox – backing vocals * Sam Winfield – backing vocals * Chris Athens – mastering *

Zakk Cervini Zakk Cervini is an American record producer, vocal producer, songwriter, and mixing engineer. He was born in Monroe, Connecticut on June 2, 1993. Cervini's work includes collaborations with Simple Plan, Limp Bizkit, Blink-182, All Time Low, Mach ...

– mixing,

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

* Carl Brown – recording

In popular culture

In 2021, "Obey" was used as the theme song for

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

's NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day PPV.

Charts

References

{{Yungblud 2020 singles 2020 songs Bring Me the Horizon songs Yungblud songs Songs written by Oliver Sykes RCA Records singles Sony Music singles Nu metal songs Songs about the COVID-19 pandemic