Succession's Nicholas Braun made an electro-punk song about COVID-19 antibodies—and it rips
Succession’s Cousin Greg is one of the best characters on TV right now, and, if his interviews are any indication, the bumbling amiability that Nicholas Braun brings to the role seems to bleed over into his real life. Consider it something of a surprise, then, that the actor has spent his quarantine downtime recording a supremely goofy electro-punk song about hooking up in the age of coronavirus. It’s called “Antibodies,” and it fucking slays.
In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Braun said the song was born out of the anxiety he felt about going on a date in a socially distanced world. “[M]y brain just started turning like, what would make this okay?” he said. “Or what would allow me to go on a social distance walk with somebody? And maybe it’s the antibodies.”
“If you come within six feet, it’s mask on, mask on, mask on, mask on!” he sings, pairing the aggro aggression of nu-metal with the pop-punk sensibilities of Sum 41. “But if you’ve got antibodies, it’s pants off, pants off, pants off!” Braun, citing the punk potential of a word like “antibodies,” says he “knew it had to be in the Blink 182, Papa Roach, POD realm.” Who could disagree?
He even worked with one of Papa Roach’s producers, who he connected with after receiving a DM from someone at Atlantic Records. “We all have this aggression pent up in us right now, whether we like it or not, that makes us want to yell some shit and also be with a person,” he continued. “Whether this is a romantic thing or not, it’s just we want to be with people so let’s make the chorus big enough so that we can scream it, yell it, and go crazy to it.”
Braun says he hopes to make more music, saying he’d ideally pivot to R&B tunes in the vein of James Blake or Daniel Caesar. “I’ve always wanted to make music. It’s been a dream of my whole life. I mean, I’ve been singing as long as I can remember,” he says, adding the very Cousin Greg-like sentiment that he “loved being in choir in first grade.”
Braun’s been hyping the song on his Instagram for a while now, and a number of his friends and fans have shared their own take on the lyrics. One of them? Mad Men and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Kiernan Shipka.
You can stream the song via YouTube and Spotify above, or pick up the song via Apple Music here. In a gesture that would have Uncle Logan shaking his head, all proceeds will benefit Partners in Health and Cope, a pair of healthcare-focused charities. You can also text ANTIBODIES to 50155.
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