"Warlordz" (stylised in all caps) is a song by British

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 ...

producer

TroyBoi Troy Henry (born 23 November 1987), known professionally as TroyBoi, is a British DJ, record producer, and musician. His music combines elements of trap, house, bass, future bass, vogue, and dubstep. His debut album ''Left is Right'' was rele ...

featuring American record producer Skrillex, released on 21 June 2019 through Owsla.

Background and release

On 6 June 2019, Skrillex first previewed the song under the title "War Cry" while

live streaming Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

on Instagram while he was travelling to the electronic dance music

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

Ultra Korea. A clip of the live stream showcasing the song was posted to the r/Skrillex subreddit, though it was reported that Skrillex announced the song's release date earlier in the live stream as the week after, this was not captured in the clip. On 16 June, the song was previewed during a

live-set Live-set refers to any performance of electronic music that is generated live out of a bank of equipment or a laptop rather than a DJ mix, which is played from a pre-recorded medium, such as vinyl and CD with turntables or audio files with DJ soft ...

by TroyBoi and Skrillex at Paradiso Festival, with the song later being announced as "Warlordz". It was further announced that the song was to be released the week after. On 21 June, the song was released as a digital download on international digital stores through American record label Owsla, as well as being released through various music streaming services. The song's artwork was created by Spanish painter

Sanjulián Manuel Pérez Clemente (better known as Sanjulián; born 24 June 1941) is a Spanish painter, most notable for his magazine and novel covers. He was born in Barcelona, and studied at Belles Arts of Sant Jordi. Sanjulián began working for Selecc ...

and was adapted by Marilyn Hue and Jade Fenix Hobday to depict TroyBoi and Skrillex fighting a horde of

gorillas Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

Critical reception

"Warlordz" was well received by most critics. Bella Bagshaw of '' Dancing Astronaut'' called the song "boisterous", and that it was "intuitively named for its audacious architects", finalising her review by stating that the track "exudes the complexity and dexterity of its creators, oscillating between throaty Asian vocals and tender piano-driven interludes." ''Your EDM'''s Matthew Meadow noted that even though Skrillex only gets credited as a featured artist, it does not make his contributions to the song "any less bombastic" and that the style of both artists being "clearly presented in this 3-minute tribal bass journey", with TroyBoi's style of trap and bass music feeling "right at home" alongside Skrillex's heavy wobbles and punchy synths. Writing for ''T.H.E – Music Essentials'', Pavan Kumar praised the song, mainly focusing on Skrillex's contributions to the song, calling such "raw, subtle and yet, ever-engaging" and his quality of work would make you go "absolutely berserk."

Track listing

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2019 singles 2019 songs TroyBoi songs Skrillex songs Song recordings produced by Skrillex Song recordings produced by TroyBoi Songs written by Skrillex Songs written by TroyBoi Owsla singles