On Thursday night, the man most closely associated with Euphoria’s music posted a screenshot from his Notes app to Instagram and seemed to torch his relationship with his label, the show, and the industry in one move. No caption. No context. No press release. Just five lines of all-caps fury aimed at Columbia, Euphoria, and a business he says he’s finished with. “I’m done with this industry. F—k Columbia. Double f—k Euphoria. I’m out. Thank you and good night x.” Thirty days before Euphoria Season 3 premieres on HBO and HBO Max on April 12.
The “x” at the end, as only the British can, made it somehow worse.
Labrinth in new Instagram post ahead of ‘Euphoria’ Season 3:
“IM DONE WITH THIS INDUSTRY
F*CK COLUMBIA
DOUBLE F*CK EUPHORIA
IM OUT
THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT X” pic.twitter.com/JbIWjo4rd0— Pop Base (@PopBase) March 13, 2026
Who Labrinth Is, and Why This Hits Different
Labrinth, real name Timothy Lee McKenzie, is the British singer-songwriter and producer who has shaped Euphoria’s sound since the first season. This is not a peripheral contributor. Songs like “All for Us,” “Formula,” “Mount Everest,” and “Never Felt So Alone” helped define the emotional texture of the show, and “All for Us” won the 2020 Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. “Never Felt So Alone,” his Billie Eilish collaboration, also landed a Grammy nomination. He is, by any reasonable measure, central to how Euphoria feels.
In a 2022 interview, Labrinth described the freedom Sam Levinson gave him on the show in much simpler terms: “OK, Lab, I just need you to do Lab.” That was then.
The Detail Everyone Is Glossing Over
In a Hollywood Reporter interview published on March 11, the quote that traveled fastest was Levinson’s: “Hans Zimmer’s score is just extremely emotional and wild this season.” In the widely circulated excerpt, he singled out Zimmer, not Labrinth.
Last July, trade coverage said Zimmer would be joining Season 3 as a composer alongside Labrinth. So this was never presented as a replacement on paper. But in the public messaging around the new season, the spotlight had very clearly shifted.
Six days before the post, Levinson was in Paris for Balenciaga’s Fall/Winter 2026 show, a collaboration that incorporated Euphoria imagery and music tied to the series. Whatever went wrong, it happened against a very public rollout.
The Internet Reacts, and Takes Sides
The comments were filled with support, not confusion. People were not reading the post as a joke. Variety highlighted one fan writing, “You totally made Euphoria. Whatever it is, just know I’m on your side,” while singer Skylar Grey added, “Please don’t stop making music, the world needs you.”That is the kind of reaction you get when the audience already believes the artist is essential to the thing he is blowing up.
The fan theories are running hot. Money. Credits. Creative fallout. Something personal. None of that is confirmed, and none of it should be treated as fact. But the speed of the speculation tells you the same thing the post did. People do not think this came out of nowhere.
HBO and Columbia Have Said Nothing
As of Friday morning, Variety reported that representatives for Labrinth, HBO, and Columbia Records did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Daily Beast also noted that Levinson, Zimmer, and HBO had not publicly addressed the post. The silence is part of the story now.
What is confirmed is simpler. Season 3 still debuts April 12. What is not confirmed is the current state of Labrinth’s involvement behind the scenes, or whether anything changed after the post. That uncertainty is exactly why the blowup landed so hard.
The Question Nobody Can Answer Yet
From “OK, Lab, I just need you to do Lab” in 2022 to “Double f—k Euphoria” in 2026. From a Paris Fashion Week rollout tied to the show’s third season on March 7 to a Notes-app scorched-earth post on March 13. Something happened in that window. Levinson knows. Columbia knows. Labrinth knows.
The rest of us are watching Season 3 arrive on April 12 and wondering whether one of television’s most distinctive sonic partnerships just detonated in public a month before the premiere.
