General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20264 min read

Cannibalism!

"CANNIBALISM!" is a song by the American pop singer Slayyyter, released on September 12, 2025 as a single through RECORDS and Columbia Records¹. It runs 2 minutes and 47 seconds¹ and became the second single from her third studio album, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, which followed on March 27, 2026². The track pairs club-oriented electronic pop with distorted guitar, a sound Slayyyter has described as "iPod music" for the way it reflects what she listened to as a teenager³.

Key fact	Detail
Artist	Slayyyter (Catherine Grace Garner), American pop singer from St. Louis³
Release	September 12, 2025, digital single on RECORDS/Columbia Records¹
Length and tempo	2:47; 146 BPM in B-flat major¹^•⁴
Production	Austin Corona and Wyatt Bernard⁵
Album placement	Second single from WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA (released March 27, 2026), track 17 on the album²^•⁶
Music video	Self-directed by Slayyyter, released the same day³
Influences	The Cramps and Jack White³

Background

Slayyyter signed with RECORDS, in partnership with Columbia Records, after eight years of releasing music independently, following the 2023 album Starfucker, which critics praised but which did not produce the mainstream breakthrough she had hoped for³. In label meetings she told executives she wanted to make something "kind of gross and trashy and the opposite of what I think a pop star is to a lot of people," and found them receptive³. The lead single from the new project, "BEAT UP CHANEL$", arrived in August 2025, and "CANNIBALISM!" followed on September 12³. Some listings, including the music site Dork, date the release to September 11, 2025⁷.

Song and production

The song grew from a groovy guitar lick that reminded Slayyyter of The Cramps, the horror-punk band whose music she liked but had never expected to surface in her own output; her vocals carry a stutter and growl inspired in part by Jack White³. She said the track was written and assembled in about 45 minutes³. Production is credited to Austin Corona and Wyatt Bernard⁵, and the recording draws on a folder of real drum loops and basslines rather than fully synthetic instrumentation⁸. Slayyyter asked for the mix to be left deliberately unpolished so the track keeps a "real crunch" to it³.

Lyrically, the song uses cannibalism as a metaphor for overwhelming yearning, opening with the line "He kisses me, it feels like cannibalism"⁹^•¹⁰. Slayyyter later described it as being about having a crush and being consumed by the thought of it, sometimes more than by the person themselves¹¹.

Music video

Slayyyter directed the video herself, her latest in a run of self-directed clips for the album cycle³. It was shot in several settings: a seedy burlesque club dressing room where she wears a 2000s Moschino dress decorated with embroidered dolls while showgirls and drag performers vamp nearby; a junkyard, where she sings in a vintage mechanic's playsuit reworked with patches from the LA-based designer Brody; and a stage performance in a hand-beaded, Bob Mackie-style two-piece she made herself, worn with a swan headpiece inspired by Bob Fosse films³. One look pairs a corseted minidress made of garbage bags with Playboy bunny ears, a nod to her late mother's collection of bunny figurines³. The cast included performers Frankie Fictitious, David Friedman, and John C. Meyer¹².

Reception and album context

On the fan-rated aggregator Album of The Year, the single holds a user score of 89 based on 1,008 ratings, with no critic score entered¹³. Reviewers placed it in dance-punk, post-punk, and new-wave territory; Pitchfork described it as barreling "out the gate with a surf rock bassline that staggers and starts as it's derailed by peals of blaring guitar," with Slayyyter recounting a toxic love affair in gasping Fred Schneider-style intonation¹³^•¹⁴. NME called it a new-wave bop led by a lusty chorus that undulates between screamo-pop and the bravado of a tragic, on-screen heroine¹⁵.

Slayyyter has called "CANNIBALISM!" her favorite thing she has ever made, both the video and the song⁸. When WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA arrived in March 2026, the track appeared as track 17 on the album and ranked among her most-streamed songs on Spotify⁶^•¹⁶. The album itself debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Albums chart and gave Slayyyter her first-ever entry on the Billboard Hot 100¹⁷.

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Pop songs › Pop songs of the 2020s › 2024 and 2025 songs › 2025 pop songs

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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