When it rains, it pours – at least when it comes to the amount of music that we’ve been blessed with from Skrillex this past year. And while we DO love the rain, we always love when it’s Sonny Moore (ha).
Skrillex left us his hit me where it hurts EP less than 2 months ago, but judging from old X posts, he’s been excited about this latest EP Kora for years. Even while working on HMWIH, he pined, “I’m thrilled to get this [final project for Atlantic Records] out and focus on [being an] independent artist. I’ve never felt more inspired and in lockstep with my intentions as an artist.”
And now that he’s free from the shackles of his Atlantic handcuffs (albeit ones that brought us the genius of Grammy-nominated Quest for Fire and F*ck U Skrillex), he’s been branching out and giving us more experimental material than ever before.
Kora was Skrillex’s surprise-drop, a concise and perfect encapsulation of just what direction the new era is heading in. In Kora’s barely 8-minute runtime, the diverse producer manages to deliver us 3 completely different sounds. “Yo Yan” is a Flume/SOPHIE-esque bass banger, with Aphex Twin-style synth plucks, some acoustic guitar, and even some rage distortion. “Someone Said”, is an ambient and experimental alternative to “Baby Royal” from FUS (and featuring the same artists), sampling the iconic “Sicko Mode” vocals. And Skrillex truly saved the best for last (in my opinion) on the final title track, “Kora.” The future bass/hyperpoppy venture samples the vocals from a 13-year old electro-brostep Skrillex song, “Lustbug”, dug so far out of the archives that it only exists as anonymous uploads on YouTube and Soundcloud.
Overall, Kora is clearly ushering in the new Skrillex era – one that demonstrates his personal and untethered passion. From emo First to Last to brostep Scary Monsters to trap Jack U to now experimental Kora, Skrillex has proven that the diversity in his taste and talent is monumental. And from his track record, this is most likely only the beginning for Skrillex in 2026.
Check out Kora, out on streaming platforms now, below: