The internet's a funny old place, isn't it? Just when you think you've seen it all, somebody mashes up one of Radiohead's mid-career highlights with the latest single from Gen Z pop wunderkind PinkPantheress and NY drill newcomer Ice Spice.
"Weird Liar / Munch", the remix in question, was created by CHILLAXX, and brings together Radiohead's haunting "Weird Fishes" with vocals sampled from PinkPantheress and Ice Spice's recent collaboration "Boy's a liar Pt. 2" and Ice Spice's 2022 breakout hit "Munch (Feelin' U)". Not a combination we thought we'd hear today, it's fair to say.
The results are, as you'd expect, a little jarring at first. After a few listens, though, this wholly unexpected mash-up becomes something of a revelation. In the opening bars, PinkPantheress' vocal sits uneasily atop Thom and Jonny's cascading arpeggios, but once the chorus comes in and her vocal hook gels with their plaintive chords, the song lifts off.
Before you know it, Ice Spice is delivering lines like "thinkin' bout me cause he know that ass fat" over Jonny Greenwood's bittersweet patchwork of shifting triads, and our brains have fully rewired themselves to appreciate the track's genre-bending peculiarity.
The more we think about it, the more it makes sense: underneath its cutesy, radio-friendly sheen, "Boy's a liar" is a song about insecurity and self-doubt, which is well-trodden territory for Radiohead and their angst-ridden art rock. The vibes are, in the words of YouTube commenter lina, perfect for "when you're depressed but still wanna slay".
After "Weird Liar / Munch" went viral on Twitter yesterday, the producer posted the full version on YouTube, with a video that cuts together Radiohead's From The Basement live session with clips of PinkPantheress and Ice Spice's music videos.
Reactions on social media have been largely positive: commenter Joe Panck captured the general consensus - "This shouldn't fucking work. And this is incredible" - while Kasey Cross nailed the mash-up's singular appeal: "Trying to girlboss my way out of depression and it really feels like how this sounds".
"Weird Fishes" is one of Radiohead's most widely beloved songs and originally featured on their 2008 album In Rainbows. The record's influence has evidently endured to the present day: not only is it inspiring mash-ups like "Weird Liar", but it was recently recreated using sounds from Super Mario 64.
