Deadmau5
The Veldt
«The Veldt» is a song by Canadian electronic music producer Deadmau5, featuring vocals by Chris James. The song ranked number 48 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 50 best songs of 2012.
«The Veldt» was inspired by the 1950 short story of the same name by Ray Bradbury. The song was initially created during a 22-hour live streaming session in March 2012. The following day, Zimmerman found Chris James, who created his own vocal rendition of the song, via Twitter. Zimmerman was impressed with James’ vocals, particularly with the lyrical references to the Ray Bradbury story, and confirmed that the official release of the song would include James’ vocals. The song’s production was captured on a live streaming session via his official webs.
Track information
- Released 8 May 2012
- Recorded 17–18 March 2012
- Genre Progressive house, ambient house
- Label mau5trap
Ultra Records (US/Canada)
EMI (Rest of world) - Songwriter(s) Joel Zimmerman, Chris James
Background and composition
«The Veldt» was inspired by the 1950 short story of the same name by Ray Bradbury. The song was initially created during a 22-hour live streaming session in March 2012. The following day, Zimmerman found Chris James, who created his own vocal rendition of the song, via Twitter. Zimmerman was impressed with James’ vocals, particularly with the lyrical references to the Ray Bradbury story, and confirmed that the official release of the song would include James’ vocals. The song’s production was captured on a live streaming session via his official webs.
Music video
As with the song, the video is based on the short story «The Veldt» by Ray Bradbury. It shows two children entering «The Nursery», and running through a savannah landscape with lions and vultures eating bloody dead remains. They stop, and the boy begins to climb up a small mountain. He then suddenly finds his sister standing on the edge of a precipice. He then approaches her and, after pushing her off the edge, jumps off. They slide down the ledge and meet at the ground. The video ends with the two children holding hands as a lion walks off in the distance, leaving behind broken glasses and a trail of blood, presumably of their parents. The video is dedicated to Bradbury, who died weeks before the video was published. The video’s art style, which makes heavy use of dark silhouettes and puppet-like animation, bears a strong resemblance to the independent video game Limbo.
Unknown singer Chris James fell in love with the song as Deadmau5 developed the tune on live stream. He recorded his vocal take of the track and tweeted it to the Canadian electronic artist, who liked it to such an extent that he decided to use Chris’s vocals for the final release, which was released on May 7, 2012 on Deadmau5’s label, Mau5trap.
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
Deadmau5 explained the inspiration for the tongue-in-cheek album title. «I’ve been on this track record of not naming album titles with [actual] album titles, so it looked like a print error, and now it doesn’t look like a print error, because that’s what everyone’s calling it,» he admitted to MTV News. «It’s a good joke that went bad.» Deadmau5 explained the inspiration for the tongue-in-cheek album title. «I’ve been on this track record of not naming album titles with [actual] album titles, so it looked like a print error, and now it doesn’t look like a print error, because that’s what everyone’s calling it,» he admitted to MTV News. «It’s a good joke that went bad.»
