2009–2010: Career beginnings Labrinth started his career by producing the track "Dead End" for recording artist
Master Shortie from the album
A.D.H.D. (2009). The track generated interest in McKenzie as a producer and songwriter. Guy Moot of
EMI Music Publishing offered the artist a publishing deal. From 2010 to 2011, Labrinth mentored the Urban Development Vocal Collective (UDVC) alongside his sister, ShezAr. He also produced multiple tracks for the collective, contributing towards a nine-track project titled
Urban Development. The vocalists also provided backing vocals for Labrinth's original tracks. McKenzie appeared as an uncredited guest artist on British rapper
Tinie Tempah's debut single, "
Pass Out", released on 28 February 2010. He had also produced and co-written the track. The single debuted at number-one on the
UK Singles Chart, number six on the
Irish Singles Chart, and number seventy in
Australia. Having spent two weeks at the summit in the United Kingdom, "Pass Out" was awarded Best British Single at the
2011 Brit Awards and Best Contemporary Song at the 2011
Ivor Novello Awards. It achieved platinum certification from the
British Phonographic Industry for surpassing sales of 600,000 copies. Several months later the two artists collaborated for a second time in the release of Tempah's second single, "
Frisky", also co-written and produced by McKenzie. The single debuted at number two in the United Kingdom, The track had chart success in
Scotland, where it became the duo's second consecutive number one single, also peaking at number three in
Ireland. The single, which was performed both at
Children in Need 2011 and
Children in Need Rocks Manchester on 17 November 2011 debuted at number twenty-four on the UK Singles Chart. Labrinth released his second single, "
Earthquake", on 23 October 2011 – featuring long-term collaborator
Tinie Tempah. The single debuted at number two on the UK chart with first week sales of 115,530 copies – the second highest selling number-two behind
X Factor winners
Little Mix and their cover of
Damien Rice's "
Cannonball". achieving gold certification from the
Australian Recording Industry Association and platinum certification from the
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Following a third single release, "
Last Time", which was released on 18 March 2012 as a four-track
digital EP alongside remixes from
Knife Party and
Gareth Emery, Labrinth released his debut album
Electronic Earth on 2 April 2012. On 23 May 2012, Labrinth performed at the
Cheltenham racecourse to celebrate the occasion of the
Olympic torch coming through Cheltenham. He also performed at several university shows including
University of Leeds’ Summer Ball,
Nottingham Trent University Graduation Ball, and
University of Surrey's End of Year Show. On 29 June, Labrinth performed at VG-lista top 20 in
Norway in front of a crowd consisting of 90,000 people. Labrinth also performed at GFest in Preston on 8 September 2012 to celebrate Preston Guild 2012. The song "
Beneath Your Beautiful", which features
Emeli Sandé was released as the album's sixth single and peaked at number one November 2012 on the UK singles chart, and was Labrinth's first entry into the Billboard Hot 100 at number 34. In July 2012, it was revealed that Labrinth would be working with
Rihanna, which resulted in him co-writing and co-producing her song "Lost In Paradise" from her album '
Unapologetic'. Labrinth also collaborated with
Ed Sheeran, producing his and
Devlin's single "Watchtower", which was released in August 2012. Labrinth also worked with Sheeran in 2014, and produced his single "Save Myself" from the March 2017 album
÷. On 25 December 2012, Labrinth released the
Atomic EP for free download via
SoundCloud. It features
Plan B,
Devlin,
Wretch 32,
Ed Sheeran, Maxsta,
Lady Leshurr and Etta Bond among others.
2013–2019: Collaborations and LSD Labrinth began working on his second studio album in 2013. That year he also appeared on two tracks for
Tinie Tempah's second studio album
Demonstration: the third single "
Lover Not a Fighter" and the album track "It's OK". In July 2013, Labrinth was picked as
Elvis Duran's
Artist of the Month and was featured on
NBC's
Today show hosted by
Kathy Lee Gifford and
Hoda Kotb, where he performed live his song "
Beneath Your Beautiful". In October 2014, Labrinth released his single "Jealous", which he wrote during a trip to
Nashville. The song peaked at number 7 on the
UK Singles Chart in December 2014. Released in August 2015, Labrinth features on the track "Losers", which he also co-produced, on
the Weeknd's album
Beauty Behind the Madness. His contribution to the album earned him his first
Grammy nomination for
Album of the Year at the
58th Annual Grammy Awards. Labrinth later co-produced "Stargirl Interlude" on the Weeknd's 2016 album '
Starboy'. Labrinth also did a duet on the track "
Fragile", the lead promotional single from
Kygo's debut studio album
Cloud Nine. In 2016, Labrinth worked alongside
Mike Posner on Posner's widely successful album
At Night, Alone. Labrinth is featured and co-wrote on the sixth single, "Silence". The album was officially released on 6 May 2016. "Silence" was written by both Posner and Labrinth. The song was produced by Posner and Terefe. He also produced and was featured in "
Make Me (Cry)",
Noah Cyrus' debut single, released on 14 November 2016. Labrinth also featured alongside Cyrus in the song's music video and performances on
The Tonight Show and
The Late Late Show. The single peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2017. Over the following 2 years Labrinth and Cyrus continued collaborating, with Labrinth lending writing and production duties to Cyrus' May 2017 single "I'm Stuck", September 2017 single "Again", and August 2018 single "Live Or Die". In December 2016, Labrinth performed a medley of "
Frozen" and "
Like A Prayer" at the annual
Billboard Women in Music event, where
Madonna, who had personally selected him to perform, was honored as Woman of the Year. In May 2017, Labrinth was featured on
Sia's single "
To Be Human" from the
Wonder Woman soundtrack. In September 2017,
Apple used Labrinth's song "Misbehaving" in their keynote to announce their
Apple Watch Series 3. On 3 May 2018, Labrinth was announced as a member of the supergroup
LSD along with Sia and music producer
Diplo. It was the first time the three artists have worked together on a single project. According to Diplo, LSD started when he was invited into the studio to write with Labrinth and Sia. Their first single, "Genius", was released via Columbia Records in the US and Syco Music in the UK the same day, along with a psychedelic cartoon visual and the announcement of a forthcoming album. LSD released their second single "Audio" the next week and their third single "Thunderclouds" in August, followed by a "Thunderclouds" music video featuring dancer and previous Sia collaborator
Maddie Ziegler. The latter was used as the promotional song for the
Samsung Galaxy Note 9, which helped propel it to the top of Billboard & Clio's Top TV Commercials chart for August and September 2018. It is also LSD's highest-charting single to date, peaking at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. In November 2018, the three received a
Grammy Award nomination for
Best Remixed Recording for their song "Audio (CID Remix Official Dance Remix)". Also in 2018, Labrinth co-produced and featured on
Nicki Minaj's track "Majesty" featuring
Eminem, which peaked at number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the release of their single "Mountains", LSD released their debut album
Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present... LSD on 12 April 2019. That month the group released a video for "No New Friends" featuring Maddie Ziegler and made their first live appearance performing the song on
Ellen.
2019–2022: Euphoria and Imagination & the Misfit Kid Following the release of his single "Miracle" in June 2019, Labrinth made his scoring debut when he was announced as the lead composer for season 1 of the
HBO drama series
Euphoria. Inspired by some of the music that Labrinth's manager
Adam Leber had shared with him, the show's creator
Sam Levinson approached Labrinth to contribute music for the series while he was working on his second solo album. Several of Labrinth's original songs are also featured throughout the series, including "Mount Everest" and "
All for Us" featuring vocals from the show's lead actress
Zendaya. The show's score was released on 4 October 2019 via
Milan Records and
Sony Masterworks. Characterized as "a mash-up of electronic, R&B, dance and hip-hop sounds", Labrinth's score was positively received and received praise for "perfectly complementing the journey of the main character." winning the latter as well as an
Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Soundtrack. Labrinth co-wrote and produced
Beyoncé's July 2019 single "
Spirit" from the
soundtrack of the
photorealistic remake of The Lion King and companion album
The Lion King: The Gift. The single charted on the
Billboard Hot 100, was nominated for
Grammy and
Golden Globe awards, and was shortlisted for the
Best Original Song Academy Award. That year Labrinth also collaborated with Kanye West, co-producing and lending vocals to "God Is" from his October 2019 album
Jesus Is King. On 31 October 2019, Labrinth announced his sophomore studio album titled
Imagination & the Misfit Kid with the single release "Where the Wild Things". The 15 track album, which features guest appearances from Zendaya and
Sia, was released on 22 November 2020. The single "Imagination" was used in
Apple's "Made in the UK" advert in July 2020. As part of Apple's 'Behind the Mac' series, the ad features UK creative talent working at MacBook laptops including Labrinth himself. On 9 October 2020, Labrinth released his single "No Ordinary", which was used in the
Xbox Series X/S launch trailer. Labrinth also wrote and produced two singles for
Sam Smith released that year including "Love Goes", which he is also featured on and comes from Smith's album of the same name, and an original Christmas song "The Lighthouse Keeper". Labrinth composed the score for
Netflix original film,
Malcolm & Marie, and was featured, alongside Sia, on
Major Lazer's "Titans", released in March 2021. In 2022, he returned to composing the score for
Euphoria, for the show's second season, and also made a cameo in episode four, performing the song "I'm Tired", which later featured on the
official score album, released in April alongside a music video for "Mount Everest".
2023–2026: Ends & Begins, The Kitchen, and Cosmic Opera: Acts I & II Labrinth's third solo studio album, titled
Ends & Begins, was originally scheduled for a release in October 2022, but was eventually released on 28 April 2023 by
Columbia Records. It was preceded by the singles "Lift Off", "Kill for Your Love", "Iridium", and "
Never Felt So Alone", although, following the album's delay, "Lift Off" and "Iridium" were removed from the tracklist. Labrinth performed at the
22nd Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2023, with Zendaya making a surprise appearance on his set. In 2024, the soundtrack for the Netflix film
The Kitchen was released, which featured Labrinth working with composer Alex Baranowski. Labrinth released his fourth album
Cosmic Opera: Act I on 30 January 2026 through Columbia Records. On 13 March 2026, Labrinth announced via an Instagram post that he was severing all ties with Columbia Records and
Euphoria, which at the time, he was currently contracted to compose the soundtrack alongside
Hans Zimmer for its third season. Almost a month later, he revealed in another post that he removed the music he composed for the upcoming season, commenting that he "spoke to HBO" about the decision and "as far as I know, we are cool". He also elaborated more on his exit, saying he left because "when I work for someone, their vision is paramount to me, but I don't let people treat me like shit." ==Discography==