"Genius" is the debut single by pop music supergroup

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

, released on 3 May 2018. It is from the group's 2019 debut studio album, ''

''. The song was written by

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record lab ...

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD wit ...

and

Jr Blender Philip Meckseper, known professionally as Jr Blender (sometimes stylised as Jr. Blender or Junior Blender), is a German record producer and songwriter from Hamburg. He is notable for his collaborations with American dance music group Major Lazer. ...

, and produced by the last three with Gustave Rudman. The single was accompanied with a "psychedelic" animated music video directed by Ben Jones and art by Gabriel Alcala. The song impacted the US alternative radios on 19 June 2018. A remixed version of "Genius" featuring American rapper

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

was released in January 2019. The song is featured in the video game ''

FIFA 19 ''FIFA 19'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and released by Electronic Arts on 28 September 2018 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. It is the 26th instal ...

'', by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

Composition

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awa ...

said the song has an "eclectic, loosely Caribbean production". ''

Dancing Astronaut Dancing Astronaut is an American media platform founded in 2009 that primarily covers the electronic dance music industry. The website covers concerts and festivals, reports on entertainment news, reviews music, and publishes original content sy ...

'' described the song as "

and

swapping syncopated versework over a characteristically catchy hip-hop lite Diplo beat." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' called it "a distinctly Diplo

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

drop Drop, DROP, drops or DROPS may refer to: * Drop (liquid) or droplet, a small volume of liquid ** Eye drops, saline (sometimes mydriatic) drops used as medication for the eyes * Drop (unit), a unit of measure of volume * Falling (physics), allowi ...

". Lyrically, the song references

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He w ...

, Stephen Hawking, and

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the g ...

Music video

Produced by the company

Bento Box Entertainment Bento Box Entertainment (also known as Bento Box Animation) is an American animation studio located in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2009 by executive producers Scott Greenberg, Joel Kuwahara, and M ...

, illustrated by Gabriel Alcala and directed by Ben Jones (creator of ''

The Problem Solverz ''The Problem Solverz'' is an American animated television series, animated television series that aired on Cartoon Network. Created by Ben Jones (American cartoonist), Ben Jones, it follows Alfe, Roba, and Horace; a group of detectives in thei ...

'' and ''

Stone Quackers ''Stone Quackers'' is an American adult animated television series created by Ben Jones. The series premiered October 27, 2014 on FXX as part of their Animation Domination High-Def block. Despite the Animation Domination High-Def block origin ...

''), "Genius" is a surreal animated cartoon, influences from an American Pop Artist,

Peter Max Peter Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein, October 19, 1937) is a German-American artist known for using bright colors in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art. ...

and

Heinz Edelmann Heinz Edelmann (20 June 1934 – 21 July 2009) was a Czech-German illustrator and designer. His art direction and character designs for the Beatles' 1968 animated film '' Yellow Submarine'' brought him additional recognition around the world. ...

, who designed for

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

's animated musical film, '' Yellow Submarine''. Characters are 2D, boldly colored caricatures of LSD members and anthropomorphic animals. Historical geniuses such as

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...

and

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially re ...

are also referenced, depicted as humanoid mice (mice being a recurring motif in LSD animations). The scenes follow a psychedelic, non-chronological storyline lightly tied to the lyrics, and symbolic animals such as three-eyed tigers and human-like mice are present throughout the video.

Track listing

*Digital download –

Banx & Ranx Banx & Ranx are a music production duo from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, formed in 2014. Members Soké (real name Zacharie Raymond) and KNY Factory (real name Yannick Rastogi) are producers, songwriters and remixers. They are currently signed to Un ...

Remixes #"Genius" (Banx & Ranx Remix) – 2:57 #"Genius" (Banx & Ranx Reggae Remix) – 3:14 *Digital download #"Genius" (

Remix) (featuring Lil Wayne) – 2:42

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

– production, programming *

– production, engineering, programming *

– production, programming * Gustave Rudman – production *

Manny Marroquin Manny Marroquin (born September 21, 1971) is an American mixing engineer.Daley, Dan (May 2005).Manny Marroquin. ''Sound on Sound''. Retrieved February 10, 2007 He has received ten Grammy awards for his professional audio work. Life and career ...

– mix engineering * Chris Galland – mix engineering * Randy Merrill – master engineering * Bart Schoudel – engineering * Luke Dimond – engineering * Robin Florent – engineering assistance * Scott Desmarais – engineering assistance

Charts

Certifications

Lil Wayne remix

"Genius (Lil Wayne Remix)", featuring American rapper

, was the first official remix of "Genius". It was released on January 17, 2019 by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and featured on LSD's debut studio album, ''

'' (2019).

Music video

On January 17, 2019 the official music video of "Genius" (Lil Wayne Remix) was released on the official

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

channel of the group.

Remix personnel

Credits adapted from

. *

– guest vocals, lyrics * Sia Furler – lyrics, composition *

Timothy McKenzie Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record labe ...

– composition *

Philip Meckseper Philip Meckseper, known professionally as Jr Blender (sometimes stylised as Jr. Blender or Junior Blender), is a German record producer and songwriter from Hamburg. He is notable for his collaborations with American dance music group Major Lazer. ...

– composition *

– production, programming, composition *

– production, engineering, programming *

– production, programming * Gustave Rudman – miscellaneous production * Manny Galvez – recording engineering * John Hanes – mix engineering * Serban Ghenea – mix engineering * Randy Merrill – master engineering * Bart Schoudel – engineering * Luke Dimond – engineering * Robin Florent – engineering assistance * Scott Desmarais – engineering assistance

References

{{authority control 2018 songs 2018 debut singles Columbia Records singles LSD (group) songs Song recordings produced by Diplo Song recordings produced by Labrinth Songs written by Diplo Songs written by Jr Blender Songs written by Labrinth Songs written by Sia (musician) Animated music videos Number-one singles in Israel

Composition

Music video

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Lil Wayne remix

Music video

Remix personnel

See also

References