On Thursday night, Labrinth posted five lines of all-caps text to Instagram with no caption, no context and no warning. The message was directed at his record label, Columbia Records, and at Euphoria,’ the HBO series he has helped define since its debut in 2019. He said he was done with the music industry entirely. He signed off with a single lowercase letter that, in the way only a British farewell can, made the whole thing land harder.
The post arrived exactly 30 days before Euphoria season 3 premieres on HBO and Max on April 12. Representatives for Labrinth, HBO and Columbia Records had not responded to requests for comment as of Friday morning.
Who Labrinth is and why this matters
Timothy Lee McKenzie, known professionally as Labrinth, is not a background contributor to Euphoria He is the sonic architecture of the show. His compositions include some of the most streamed and recognized music from the series, among them All for Us, Formula, Mount Everest and Never Felt So Alone, a collaboration with Billie Eilish that earned a Grammy nomination.
All for Us won the Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2020. That is the weight of what he built for the show, and that is the weight of what Thursday’s post implied he was walking away from.
When Euphoria creator Sam Levinson gave him creative latitude during the earlier seasons, Labrinth described the direction he received in straightforward terms. That freedom appeared to be central to what made the collaboration work. Something about that arrangement had clearly changed.
The Hans Zimmer factor
Last year, HBO announced that legendary film composer Hans Zimmer would join Labrinth in scoring Euphoria season 3. At the time, Labrinth released a statement welcoming the partnership and describing Zimmer as one of his heroes in film scoring. The announcement was framed as an addition, not a replacement.
But in a Hollywood Reporter interview published on March 11, Levinson spoke about the new season’s music and singled out Zimmer’s score as emotionally powerful and unlike anything the show had done before. Labrinth’s name did not appear in the widely circulated portion of that interview. Whether that omission was incidental or intentional, the public messaging had unmistakably shifted.
Six days before the post, Labrinth had been in Paris for Balenciaga’s Fall/Winter 2026 show, where Levinson presented footage from season 3 as part of the event. Whatever broke down between then and Thursday night remains unknown.
The reaction from fans and peers
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The comments on Labrinth’s post were not skeptical or confused. They were immediately, and almost universally, supportive. Fans wrote that he had made Euphoria what it was. Fellow musician Skylar Grey urged him not to stop creating. Kesha told him to protect his peace and reminded him he was loved and supported. That is not the response of an audience reading an artist’s frustration as a publicity move.
Fan speculation about the cause ranged from financial disputes to creative disagreements to something more personal. None of it is confirmed. But the speed and certainty with which people took his side suggests that the audience already understood something about the power imbalance he was pushing back against.
What happens now
Euphoria season 3 still premieres April 12. The eight-episode season includes a time jump that moves the characters beyond high school and is expected to serve as the story’s conclusion. Zendaya returns as Rue Bennett alongside Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, Alexa Demie and Colman Domingo, among others. New cast members include Rosalía, Marshawn Lynch and Toby Wallace.
What remains unresolved is the extent of Labrinth’s involvement in the finished season and whether Thursday’s post changes anything going forward. HBO has said nothing. Columbia has said nothing. Levinson has said nothing.
The silence is doing its own kind of work.
