View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Blake (@jamesblake)

The video is shot in black and white and is set at a funeral, with a number of black cars with individuals wearing black suits and dresses. One car is filmed and seats Slowthai at the back, with the 4 other people who look to be upset, fitting due to it being a funeral. Slowthai leaves the car for a cigarette before starting his verse, which then leads James Blake to be in the seat that Slowthai had just left with the mood in the car having changed to laughter.

The song “Funeral” is off James Blakes latest album, Friends that Break Your Heart(Bonus), with the original version not having Slowthai as a feature on the track. The project was released on the 8th of October and in the midweek charts is expected to reach a top 5 in this week’s charts. The pair teamed up to perform their new track together on The Tonight show with Jimmy Fallon.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by James Blake (@jamesblake)

James Blake has announced an intimate solo piano show for banquet records on the 28th of April to celebrate the release of his new project, performing at Pryzm, Kingston.

Ahead of the release of his new project James Blake has appeared on the cover of a number of notable magazines including Contents, GQ and Clash. As well as this the 33-year-old musician has announced the Friends that Break Your Heart tour which will the singer perform at 9 dates, including Glasgow, Manchester, Brussels, Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris, Utrecht, Sheffield and London.

This isn’t the first time Slowthai and James Blake have worked together with James Blake appearing on Slowthai’s latest album Tyron on the track “Feel a Way”. This is also not James Blakes first time working with a rapper and in recent years the 33-year-old has made a habit of having worked alongside Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock and UK rapper Dave.

Slowthai has been relatively quiet since the release of his chart-topping album Tyron, with his only musical appearance having been as a feature, one alongside Pa Salieu for their track “Glidin” which was announced to be on the upcoming FIFA tracklist, “BDE” with Shygirl and “Slugger” alongside $not and Kevin Abstract.

The video for James Blakes track “Funeral” featuring Slowthai is available to watch here:

Before will serve as the climax to the string of brilliant singles that Blake has shared recently. Blake dropped a cover of Frank Ocean’s Godspeed on September 11th, before working with Mount Kimbie and slowthai for collaborative track feel away, that premiered on September 15th. 

Earlier this week, Blake indicated at a new project through some heavy hinting on social media. Taking to Instagram, Blake posted a story with two telephone numbers, one for the UK and one for the USA.

When excited Blake fans call either number in the artist’s bio, they will be directed to a timer on the official James Blake website, counting down to October 14th. The Before EP will be Blake’s first full-length project since Assume Form, the twelve track album that Blake released back in January of 2019. 

Music broadcaster Boiler Room confirmed the EP release date as October 13th by sharing a post of the Before promotional poster to Twitter. The exciting post can be viewed here.

View this post on Instagram

I love working with Starrah. She’s a dream. After ‘Are You Even Real’ we stayed on a roll and this one came along soon after. Couldn’t be happier to have a production with her, with help from my man @dom_maker – this one she absolutely killed. I know she’s known for her great melodies, but the lyrics on this one are‘Complex, convex, can tell you love to project’…@whereisstarrah @dom_maker

A post shared by James Blake (@jamesblake) on Sep 23, 2020 at 11:12am PDT

Blake, who is widely known for his genre-defying music, has said that he has at times struggled to write music since attaining success. In an interview with NME, the multiinstrumentalist spoke on his plans for future releases: “I’m embracing more of the experimental side of myself, different time signatures and being a bit more fluid”

Blake continued, expanding on the pressure he sometimes feels making music as a globally known artist: “if you feel pressure to create a big song, which I think is in the back of the mind of any artist who’s had a big song, unfortunately, that creates a pressure to homogenise further songs to the framework that you think will create another big song”

Recently, Blake teamed up with singer-songwriter Starrah by producing her enchanting track, Keep Calm, which came out on September 23rd. In a post to Instagram, Blake showed his appreciation for Starrah, real name Brittany Hazzard, who collaborated with Blake on Are You Even Real? 

Blake wrote affectionately “I love working with Starrah. She’s a dream. After ‘Are You Even Real’ we stayed on a roll and this one came along soon after. I couldn’t be happier to have a production with her.” Keep Calm can be listened to here.

Before is out on October 13th.