"Cannibal" is the debut solo single by Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford, released on 14 July 2022 by Capitol Records. It is the lead single from his solo debut album Self-Titled, and was produced by Blake Mills.[1]
| "Cannibal" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Marcus Mumford | ||||
| from the album Self-Titled | ||||
| Released | 14 July 2022 | |||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Length | 4:01 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Marcus Mumford | |||
| Producer(s) | Blake Mills | |||
| Marcus Mumford singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| Cannibal on YouTube | ||||
Per Consequence's Abby Jones, the song is "a somber, rootsy tune that feels a bit like a pared-down version of Mumford & Sons' arena-sized folk rock—that is, until around the three-minute mark, when the song transforms from an acoustic ballad into a rousing barnburner", and has lyrics which "sees Mumford break away from a parasitic relationship" with lyrics including "You took the first slice of me and you ate it raw/ Ripped at it with your teeth and your lips like a cannibal/ You fucking animal" in the first verse and "Help me know how to begin again" in the song's climax.[1] DIY's Emma Swann notes "Cannibal" as one of the songs on the album where Mumford "strips it right back", bringing out "a warm quality to his songwriting that seeps through."[2] The Independent's Helen Brown notes a moment where the song's "suppressed, acoustic intensity ... explodes into a synth-backed crescendo", with "Mumford's big yearning yawp of a voice ... buried behind the instrumentation", "as though he's handing over the experience." Brown calls it an effective technique and "evocative of the hushed circle of chairs at a support group."[3] NME's Elizabeth Aubrey emphasises the song's "downcast fingerpicking", calling it "sonically sparse".[4]
In an interview with GQ's Zach Baron, Mumford confessed the lyrics were about his experience being sexually abused as a child, with the song containing lyrics explicitly about the matter such as the lines "I can still taste you and I hate it" and "That wasn't a choice in the mind of a child and you knew it".[5][6][7]
A music video for the song was released 18 July 2022, helmed by first time music video director Steven Spielberg. The video was shot in a high school gym in New York and filmed in one take entirely on Spielberg's phone. The crew also included Spielberg's wife Kate Capshaw as producer, art director and dolly grip; Mumford's wife Carey Mulligan as costumer and sound engineer; and Kristie Macosko Krieger as co-producer and behind-the-scenes videographer.[8][9][10]
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| Studio albums | Self-Titled (2022) |
| Singles | |
| Featured singles | |
| Other songs |
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| Related articles |
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