Labrinth, born Timothy Lee McKenzie on January 4, 1989, is a British singer, songwriter, rapper, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer from Hackney, East London. He grew up in a deeply musical household with eight siblings, in a family of Jamaican heritage where gospel music was a major part of everyday life; as a child, he and his siblings even formed a group called Mac 9. He attended Stoke Newington School and became interested in music while he was still young, with his older brother Mac, a producer, introducing him to music production in his home studio when Labrinth was around 15. Labrinth has also spoken about being interested in art and storytelling as a child before music eventually became his main creative outlet. Labrinth went on to establish himself as an artist who moves comfortably between pop, R&B, hip-hop, electronic music, soul and cinematic composition. A major turning point came when Labrinth became the composer behind HBO’s Euphoria, creating the show’s distinctive, emotionally charged musical world. His work on the series brought him a new international audience and earned major recognition. Outside the music itself, Labrinth has generally kept much of his personal life away from the spotlight, with interviews tending to focus more heavily on his creativity, family background and artistic process. What is publicly well established is the importance of his family and upbringing to his musical identity: he grew up surrounded by siblings who were also musically gifted, and he has described music as something that was essentially unavoidable in his childhood home.
Four: Beneath Your Beautiful — Labrinth ft. Emeli Sandé
“Beneath Your Beautiful” is a soulful R&B ballad by Labrinth featuring Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé, released in October 2012 as the sixth and final single from Labrinth’s debut studio album, Electronic Earth. The song was written by Labrinth, Emeli Sandé and American songwriter Mike Posner, with production handled by Labrinth and Da Digglar, and it became one of the most important songs of Labrinth’s early career. The song’s central message is about vulnerability and allowing someone to see the real person underneath their outward image. Commercially, this was HUGE for Labrinth. “Beneath Your Beautiful” became his first UK No. 1 single as a lead artist, topping the Official Singles Chart in October 2012 and spending 31 weeks on the chart, including one week at No. 1. It also became his first Top 40 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 34, and reached the Top 40 in more than 15 countries. additionally, this track garnered over 371M streams on Spotify and over 391M views on its official music video on YouTube. The song’s rise to No. 1 was helped significantly by a memorable live performance on The X Factor UK in October 2012. Labrinth and Emeli Sandé performed the song together on the show on October 21, and the exposure gave the track a major sales boost. Critically and commercially, the song became a defining early Labrinth record, and its biggest significance is what it proved about him as an artist: he could make a commercially successful, emotionally vulnerable ballad without relying on the huge electronic production that characterized some of his other early work.
FYI
- Before Labrinth became a solo artist, Simon Cowell originally signed him to Syco as a producer and songwriter—making him the first non-classical artist signed to Syco without already having released a single as an artist.
Three: Never Felt So Alone — Labrinth ft. Billie Eilish
An electropop track by Labrinth featuring uncredited vocals from Billie Eilish, “Never Felt So Alone” was officially released on April 7, 2023, through Columbia Records as the second single from his third studio album, Ends & Begins. However, the song had already become familiar to Euphoria fans before its official release, appearing in the HBO series during its first and second seasons; that connection helped build anticipation around the track long before it became a standalone single. Garnering over 451M streams on Spotify and over 42M views on its official music video on YouTube. The song is essentially a portrait of intense loneliness and emotional dependence. Commercially, the song performed strongly internationally. In the UK, it peaked at No. 33 on the Official Singles Chart, spending seven weeks in the Top 100. It also reached No. 17 in Ireland, No. 28 in Australia, No. 13 in New Zealand, and appeared on the Billboard Global 200, showing that its appeal extended well beyond Labrinth’s UK home market. And critically, the song’s biggest recognition came from the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, where “Never Felt So Alone” was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. That nomination put Labrinth and Billie Eilish alongside some of the biggest collaborations in contemporary pop and marked Labrinth’s third Grammy nomination overall. Its connection to Euphoria is what makes the song even more significant. Labrinth wasn’t simply creating a pop song and then having it placed in a television show; he was already responsible for the show’s distinctive musical identity.
Two: I Want to Know What Love Is
“I Want to Know What Love Is” is Labrinth’s latest single, released on September 21, 2026, and it arrives during a particularly active period in his career following the release of Cosmic Opera Act II in May and his 2026 Undoing Tour. Labrinth’s 2026 release is a new recording/reinterpretation of the famous song, rather than an original song with an unrelated title. The original composition was written principally by Mick Jones and became Foreigner’s only UK and US No. 1 single. And because this is Labrinth’s newest release, there isn’t much streaming data available just yet, as the song is only beginning its journey with listeners. There isn’t yet enough chart history, streaming data or established critical reception to honestly call it a commercial success or critical hit. What makes Labrinth’s version particularly interesting for us is the choice of material. Labrinth has built much of his reputation around transforming emotionally heavy ideas into huge, cinematic musical experiences, so taking on a song whose entire emotional premise is vulnerability, longing and the search for connection fits naturally into the artistic territory he’s explored throughout his career.
Awards/Nominations
- Labrinth has earned major recognition across both music and television, with his work as a songwriter, producer, recording artist and composer receiving nominations and wins from some of the industry’s biggest award bodies.
- His major recognition began in 2016, when he received his first Grammy nomination as part of The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness, which was nominated for Album of the Year.
- In 2020, he earned another Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media for Beyoncé’s “Spirit,” while his work on Euphoria earned him two Emmy nominations and his first Emmy win for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for “All for Us.”
- In 2022, he received two more Emmy nominations for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for “I’m Tired” and “Elliot’s Song,” both from Euphoria.
- In 2024, Labrinth earned another Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance alongside Billie Eilish for “Never Felt So Alone.”
- By 2026, his award history includes three Grammy nominations and four Emmy nominations, with one Emmy win, highlighting the recognition he has received across both recorded music and television.
Discography
* Electronic Earth (2012)
* Imagination & the Misfit Kid (2019)
* Ends & Begins (2023)
* Cosmic Opera: Act I (2026)
* Cosmic Opera: Act II (2026)
Bonus: Mount Everest
“Mount Everest” is a song by Labrinth, originally released on November 22, 2019, as part of his second studio album, Imagination & the Misfit Kid. Labrinth wrote and produced the track himself, with the song running for approximately 2 minutes and 37 seconds. At first listen, the lyrics sound like pure confidence and bragging rights: Labrinth compares himself to Mount Everest and the Burj Khalifa, basically declaring that even the world’s most impressive heights cannot compete with him. But the meaning underneath is much darker and more introspective. Labrinth explained that the song is about achieving everything and eventually realizing that it means nothing — essentially, reaching the top only to discover that the things you sacrificed to get there may have been more valuable than the success itself. Deep. Commercially, the song’s journey is a perfect example of a slow-burn hit. It did not initially become a major chart success when it was released in 2019, but its exposure through Euphoria and later social-media popularity gave it a second life. It has garnered over 913M streams on Spotify and over 95M views on YouTube. The song eventually entered the UK Singles Chart, demonstrating how a track that initially flew under the radar can find a completely new audience years after its original release.
One: Formula
“Formula” is one of Labrinth’s most recognizable songs and appears on the soundtrack to HBO’s Euphoria, where Labrinth serves as the series’ composer. The song was originally released in 2019 as part of the first-season soundtrack, but its streaming life grew substantially over the years as Euphoria reached a wider international audience. It eventually received an official single release in 2022, when it entered the UK Singles Chart and peaked at No. 81. Commercially, “Formula” has become Labrinth’s biggest streaming song. It has successfully garnered over 1.1B streams on Spotify and over 78M views on its official audio on YouTube. Its lyrics revolve around the idea of trying to understand or calculate a complicated emotional relationship, with the repeated idea of a “formula” suggesting a desire to find some kind of equation for love, pain or human connection. And what makes “Formula” particularly important to Labrinth’s career is that it represents the point where his talents as a composer, producer, vocalist and storyteller all came together. Euphoria introduced his music to an audience far beyond the traditional pop and R&B space, and “Formula” became one of the clearest examples of that crossover. It helped establish Labrinth not just as a recording artist, but as a composer capable of creating a sound that becomes inseparable from a visual story.
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