UPDATE: “Isn’t Everyone,” a collaboration between Nine Inch Nails and HEALTH is out now. It sounds like Downward Spiral-era NIN, and Trent Reznor even invokes pigs again in the line, “The little piggies can’t help themselves.”
HEALTH also announced that the song will appear on their next album, DISCO4 :: PART II, presumably another collection of collaborations.
— HEALTH (@_HEALTH_) May 3, 2021
Whoa, this is exciting news. Nine Inch Nails has teamed up with HEALTH for a new song that will be released this Thursday. It may be called “Isn’t Everyone.”
What an incredible combination of artists. Nine Inch Nails is of course one of the biggest industrial bands of all time, not to mention one of my favorite artists. HEALTH has their own innovative sound that combines waves of crashing noise with delicate, synthpop vocals.
Journalist and documentarian David Farrier published an extensive interview with HEALTH’s Jake Duzsik and John Famiglietti, discussing how the collaboration came about. They’ve known Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross since HEALTH toured with NIN in 2008.
There’s a ton of interesting info in this interview, but these bits really stand out:
[Trent] called me to kind of talk about the song, and he went “Well, I really think the chorus should be like you and me singing together.” And I was like “I don’t wanna sing! It’s like stinkin’ up the room!” Just for me personally, I want to hear that voice in the song, not my voice!
Part of the reason we wanted it to come out so quickly, is that being an American in America, we were in the middle of Trumpocolypse and George Floyd and so there is some pretty poignant messaging relating to that specific experience. But in the abstract. But there is real attitude there. It feels timely.
HEALTH is no stranger to collaborating. Their most recent release, DISCO4: PART 1, features 11 collaborations with a number of other artists, including The Soft Moon and Youth Code.
The guys in NIN are well known for their own numerous collaborations, from producing early albums by Marilyn Manson to teaming up with David Bowie to forming side projects like How to Destroy Angels with Trent’s wife, Mariqueen.
Trent and Atticus just won another Academy Award for their film work in Pixar’s movie, Soul, which they scored with jazz musician Jon Batiste. At the Oscars, Trent told reporters that they were getting started on new NIN material immediately.
