– Gilad Mishiyev, Staff Writer
Two years after the last collaboration between electronic music bands Justice and Tame Impala, and thirteen years after the release of GTA V, the two return for the latest installment of the iconic video game franchise for another synth-heavy frenzy that is sure to get listeners and players alike off their seats.
Behind the Artist Choice
Justice have always made electronic music for the dance floor: distorted basslines, cathedral-sized chords and the sense that a party is about to get out of hand. Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker works at the opposite end of the room, with dreamy, hazy, psychedelic melodies that sound like they were recorded in a sunlit fog. On paper the pairing shouldn’t work as well as it does. In practice, the two have clear chemistry. Their track “Neverender” earned a Grammy for best dance/electronic recording in 2025, appearing on Justice’s 2024 album Hyperdrama.
Now Justice have a much bigger job. Rockstar has confirmed the duo composed the original score for Grand Theft Auto VI, the long-awaited game set in Vice City, the series’ fictional stand-in for Miami. It’s a world of neon, nightclubs and disco, where music drifts out of every car window and open doorway, and both artists’ recent work suits it. Justice’s catalog is built for the dance floor, and Parker has spent the past year leaning into house music on his latest album. Few combinations could fit this setting better.
Super Collaboration
The song itself is about love and trust: what it means to put your faith in another person, and whether you ever really can. That question is at the center of the game’s story, which follows a Bonnie-and-Clyde-style criminal couple finding their way through the underworld of Vice City.
Two more guests widen the song’s reach. SZA and Parker trade verses, and in the chorus their voices join in a single melody, which becomes the emotional high point. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard contribute the gritty guitar parts. Over Justice’s trademark synthesizers, the guitars give it a rock groove that’s easy to feel. The result is a track that moves like a dance record and hits like a rock song.
Rockstar also has history to live up to. The Grand Theft Auto games are remembered for their music as much as their thrill, and a single song in a trailer can define how a game is remembered. MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” is the kind of track that gets a series’ name attached to it forever. “Flower in a Hurricane” has the ambition and the sound to do the same for this generation. It feels like Vice City, like the story the game is trying to tell.
Vice City Here We Come
Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album arrives November 19, on the same day as the game! Meanwhile, Tame Impala remain on tour, and with a new Justice single to add to the set, there will be even more reason to catch him live.
