"Kill4Me" (stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...

. It was released as the second single from their tenth studio album, ''

Heaven Upside Down ''Heaven Upside Down'' is the tenth studio album by American Rock music, rock band Marilyn Manson (band), Marilyn Manson. It was released on October 6, 2017, by Loma Vista Recordings and Caroline Distribution, Caroline International. The record h ...

'' (2017). It was released on streaming platforms and as an immediate download with

pre-orders A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

of the album on music download services such as

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manag ...

on September 20, 2017. The song's official music video was released on November 13, and was the second video from the album to feature

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...

, following " Say10".

Composition and style

"Kill4Me" is an

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

song, with ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'' writer Phil Witmer calling it the "latest in the Manson tradition of swinging, toothy industrial rockers", before comparing it to several of the band's previous singles, such as "

Disposable Teens "Disposable Teens" is a song by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on November 7, 2000 as the lead single from their fourth full-length studio album, ''Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)'' (2000). It was released in ...

" and "

The Dope Show "The Dope Show" is a song by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released in September 1998 as the lead single from their third studio album ''Mechanical Animals''. The lyrics were written by Marilyn Manson and the music composed by Twiggy ...

". Diffuser.fm said the track "evokes Manson's ''

Antichrist Superstar ''Antichrist Superstar'' is the second studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on October 8, 1996, by Nothing and Interscope Records. It was recorded at Nothing Studios in New Orleans and produced by the band's epo ...

'' era, and the song's lyrical themes don't suggest for a moment that the one-time bête noire of

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

has undergone a softening of heart." Kory Grow of ''

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. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' also compared it with ''Antichrist Superstar'', while noting the presence of "throbbing

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

and a disco beat". Graham Hartmann of

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...

said the track was inspired by '80s

new wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop music, pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of Punk subculture, punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all fo ...

, and contrasted it with the band's previous single " We Know Where You Fucking Live", writing: "While 'We Know Where You Fucking Live' went for the full-on aggression of Manson's classic sound, 'Kill4Me' is much more in the vein of his 2010s material."

Release and promotion

The track was released as the lead

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

single from ''Heaven Upside Down'' in the United States, where it was serviced to

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

s during the chart week beginning September 26. It debuted at number 47, before rising to number 24 the following week, becoming the "greatest gainer" on the chart. The song has also appeared on a number of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' component charts, such as

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

and

Hot Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...

, peaking at numbers 5 (the band's first top five single on that chart) and 39, respectively. The song's music video was uploaded to the band's YouTube on November 13. It was directed by Bill Yukich, and features actor

and models Jocelyn Binder and Bailee Cowperthwaite.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Heaven Upside Down''. Credits * Recorded at Abattoir Studios,

Studio City, California Studio City is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1 ...

* Songs of Golgotha (BMI)/Box Cutter Music. (BMI), under exclusive licence to

Loma Vista Recordings Loma Vista Recordings is a record label founded by Tom Whalley, former chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records and Executive of A&R at Interscope Records. The label was initially a joint venture with Republic Records and is based in Beverly Hill ...

and

Caroline International Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (singer) (born 1981), Japanese glitch pop musician * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (1933–2017), American football player * Jamie Caroline (born 1999), British racing driv ...

Personnel *

– vocals *

Tyler Bates Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, music producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like '' Dawn of the Dead'', ''300'', ''Suck ...

–

instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

, production, mixing *

Robert Carranza Robert Carranza is an American Audio engineer, mixer and record producer. Selected discography *2024 – '' One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1'' – Marilyn Manson *2017 – ''Heaven Upside Down'' – Marilyn Manson *2016 – ''Dont Go S ...

– mixing * Joanne Higginbottom – assistant engineer * Brian Lucey – mastering

Charts

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Electropop songs Marilyn Manson (band) songs Songs written by Marilyn Manson Songs written by Tyler Bates Loma Vista Recordings singles American pop songs