Four animated characters stand flush against a blue, pulsing screen. Ty Dolla $ign, Kanye West, FKA twigs, and Skrillex take their respective turns breaking down the remnants of a broken relationship (and ego) on “Ego Death.”
Produced by Ty Dolla $ign and Skrillex, with additional production by BoogzDaBeast, the track’s thick pulsing beats wrap around lyrics “It hurt my ego when you walked away / Gave you my all that wouldn’t make you stay / Murdered my ego when you walked away.”
In the days prior to its release, Ty Dolla teased the track on his social media by revealing the artist’s animated character, one by one, in each post. “Ego Death” collaborators were a natural fit for the Grammy-nominated Dolla $ign, who already worked with Skrillex on several tracks, including “So Am I” off his second album, 2017’s Beach House 3, along with “Midnight Hour,” “Malokera,” and “two nights part ii.”
Longtime collaborator West, who released his new album Wash Us in Blood a day earlier, worked on multiple tracks with Dolla $ign like “Everything We Need,” off West’s ninth album Jesus Is King (2019), “Only One,” and “Real Friends.” West takes his turn on “Ego Death” bursting on his own ego trip—even calling out his angry Grammy appearance, singing “Lotta people be thinking, but I’m just a sayer / all of us can’t perform at Super Bowl, but it’s OK for the players/ all these halfway movements need a whole lotta improvement… Showin’ up to the Grammy’s mad / Tryna win some’ we already have / Tryna become some’ we already are / Don’t make me go Rastafar.”
“It’s always an honor working with my brother ‘Ye,” shares Ty Dolla. “He’s a genius and we make incredible records every single time we link up. Skrillex and Twigs came in and blessed us with the magic that only they can put on the record.”
Visually, the still video captures the animated likeness of all four artists, illustrated by artist HARRY moving through syncopated, electro beats. Following the release of Beach House 3, Ty Dolla has kept busy working with Lykke Li, Jame Arthur, J. Cole, and other artists and recently revealed that he’s finishing his third album, which is set to release some time in 2020.
