“ENEMY” is slowthai’s first solo release of 2020, after he provided featured vocals on tracks from Gorillaz and Headie One & Fred again... On the song, slowthai addresses his status as an “enemy” within culture, rapping aggressively about gruesome topics such as shootings, and announcing via a robotic voice that he has been “cancelled.”

With these nods to the negative perception of him, the song responds to the public backlash that thai saw due to his outburst at the 2020 NME Awards. The fact that “NME” and “ENEMY” are pronounced the same way links the two events more obviously. Ironically, the award slowthai was on stage to collect was the “Hero of the Year” award. In this song, therefore, he rebrands himself; he is not a hero, but an enemy.

The track was first teased by thai on May 9, 2020 on his social media. The track was released the next day with an accompanying music video. Stylistically, the video is similar to the video for his March 2017 track “T N Biscuits,” which also features close-up shots of thai filmed through a green night vision lens.