Wild crossover klaxon: Spiritbox have remixed Megan Thee Stallion's Cobra, and yes, it's a banger

Spritbox and Megan Thee Stallion
(Image credit: Spiritbox: Jonathan Weiner | Mega Thee Stallion: Megan Thee Stallion/YouTube)

Last week hop hop star Megan Thee Stallion released her first single on her own label, Cobra, in which she addressed some recent misfortune: losing her parents and grandmother, breaking up with her partner, and the fallout from two court cases. It's a tale of bravery and survival.  

"Cobras exemplify courage and self-reliance," she wrote. "They stand tall and fierce in the face of challenges, teaching one to tap into their inner strength and rely on oneself to conquer their threats. Emulating the cobra helps one be more confident in the person they are within." 

Megan has now made Cobras even taller and fiercer than before, releasing an official "rock remix" from Canadian progressive metalcore quartet Spiritbox, and it's a mighty beast indeed. The vulnerability Megan shows on the original is now augmented by some despairing howls from Courtney LaPlante, and reinforced by crunching riffs from Mike Stringer. It truly is a banger. 

Posting on Instagram, LaPlante wrote, "Thank you Megan for allowing us the opportunity to collaborate on your already iconic new song Cobra. I am beyond grateful to you," while Stringer posted, "Thank you to Megan for trusting us to mash up both of our worlds. Nothing but respect, and gratitude. It's an absolute honour."
 

Reaction to the release has been almost universally positive. Writing on YouTube, nightlyfantasies writes, "After hearing the original version of Cobra, I was literally saying to myself 'I need Megan to make rock music now' and look what we have here! I love this and I hope Megan experiments with more rock music in the future. If Megan ever creates a rock album, I'd buy it for sure!"

Meanwhile, xJust2Deadly comments, "No word of a lie Spiritbox was my number 1 listened to artist this week and Megan was number 2. This is blowing my fucking mind. Insane."

"Spiritbox never fails to impress me," posts jordanf4402. "This is sick. Exactly what the metal community needs. I wanna see more genres crossovers."

Last week, Spiritbox shared a video for Ultraviolet, the first of three new videos from their newly-released EP The Fear Of Fear. They return to Europe in January as support to Architects. The 11-date tour kicks off at Zenith in Paris on January 24, and continues through to February 7, in Zurich.

Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.