Examining The Cultural Reset That Was Labrinth’s ‘Earthquake’
Labrinth, come in.
While finally gaining international recognition for the genius he weaved into the last two seasons of Euphoria, in our opinion, Labrinth’s best work is still the iconic 2011 track ‘Earthquake’.
The UK singer-songwriter and producer brought on rapper Tinie Tempah to deliver a head-bopping, robotic banger on his debut studio album Electronic Earth, coming up for its 10-year anniversary in April.
However, as well as topping the charts in the UK, the song also did strangely well in Australia — and not really anywhere else. Played on commercial radio and school discos nationwide, ‘Earthquake’ continues to live on as a nostalgic throwback for Gen Z’s stuck in peak hour traffic, or millennials reminiscing about tumblr’s heyday.
It’s unclear why ‘Earthquake’ did so well here — apart from just sounding good — but can be partly attributed to the chokehold UK artists had at the time. Ed Sheeran had just released ‘A Team’, and ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ had propelled One Direction from talent show niche to worldwide heartthrobs around the same time.
A year later, he brought the song down under with a live performance of ‘Earthquake’ to millions of X Factor Australia’s dedicated viewers across the country, which helped make the song a household name through his electric guitar solo and the orchestral choir who joined him on stage.
Despite being overlooked for other great hits like ‘Beneath Your Beautiful‘ featuring Emile Sandé, or ‘Make Me (Cry)‘ with Miley’s little sister Noah Cyrus, ‘Earthquake’ successfully toed a line between rap, R&B, and dance, with palatable experimentalism, and cheeky lyrics that could only be pulled off by a 22-year-old — as he was at the time.
Electronic Earth also offered a severely under-appreciated track ‘Earthquake (All Stars Remix)‘, with an impressive line-up featuring Busta Rhymes, Kano, Wretch 32, and Tempah again. As far as borderline objectifying lyrics go, “They call me earthquake, ’cause I make that pussy cave in,” still holds a decade on.
“A lot of people say my voice or approach to sound is different on every song of mine they’ve heard — ‘Let The Sun Shine‘ is very different to ‘Earthquake!’ My ethos is musical freedom: to create whatever I want,” he said at the time. However, that versatility proved both a blessing and a curse.
He reflected on the period with Esquire in 2020, saying meeting everyone’s expectations after ‘Earthquake’, and trying to sell his creative vision ended up burning him out. That extended break where his discography was scattered with a few new releases and features here and there probably gave him the reset needed to come back stronger than ever for Euphoria Season 1 in 2019.
While Labrinth is being adored again by a new generation of the hit HBO show’s fans, it’s important to remember Labrinth’s roots, and the cultural reset ‘Earthquake’ proved to be.
The fact that people only know @Labrinth for Euphoria scares me. Earthquake at school discos was the same vibe as them parties in euphoria.
— ?. (@hslavbot) February 25, 2022
sure this recent Labrinth music is good but Earthquake ft Tinie Tempah??? Unmatched ?
— hanz ? (@bitchitshan) March 2, 2022
It amazes me that Earthquake is far from Labrinth’s most played song, that song absolutely banged
— Tom ? (@tom_webb22) February 23, 2022