"Hush" is a song by the English band Muse, featuring the English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding. It was released as the sixth single from their tenth studio album, The Wow! Signal throughout Warner Records on 26 June 2026, concurrently with the album.
Background "Hush" features guest vocals from singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding, marking the first time Muse had a credited collaboration as a featuring on one of their studio albums. Goulding had previously expressed admiration for the band, writing "Dreamt I was in Muse" in a 2012 post on X (formerly Twitter).
The band's frontman Matt Bellamy credited fellow English singer-songwriter Chris Martin with influencing his decision to collaborate with another artist after Martin gave him the book The Collaborative Way as a Christmas gift, which Bellamy described as Martin's way of saying, "You need to learn to collaborate." In an interview with Andrew Trendell of NME, Bellamy explained that the collaboration came about by "absolutely sheer coincidence" as Goulding was recording next door. The collaboration was kept secret and was not publicly revelead until a few days before the album's release.
Composition and release "Hush" was produced by Muse and Dan Lancaster, with additional production from Aleks von Korff. The song was written by the three members of Muse, Lancaster, Theo Hutchcraft of Hurts, Nicholas James Gale (known professionally as Digital Farm Animals), and Richard Boardman. Released on 26 June 2026, it appears as the ninth track on The Wow! Signal.
Clash magazine described it as "remarkably effective, fusing starry europop with one of the trio's finest choruses". Financial Times, music critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, described it as "a hard-rock power ballad". According the single press release, the lyrics describes "a last desperate grasp for connection between two souls in the midst of an apocalyptic event." A sci-fi themed visualiser, directed by Harry Lindley, was released the same day as the album release.
Reception As reported by NME, the announcement of the collaboration was met with scepticism from the band's rock fanbase, largely due to Goulding's pop star status. Bellamy commented about the reactions, stating: "Muse fans will read online that we've done a song with Ellie Goulding and think it's going to be a pop song. But it's got one of the biggest, heaviest riffs we've done in a long time, so I thought it was quite fun to get Ellie's voice over that kind of heaviness."
After the song release, the reception turned generally positive with critics calling it a "standout surprise" on the album. Jennifer Lavis-Quinlin of The AU Review praised the "musical conversation between Goulding and Bellamy," dubbing it "a knockout". Mike DeWald of Riff Magazine praised the song's execution and the chemistry between the artists, stating that Goulding's textured vocals complement Bellamy's upper register beautifully, resulting in one of the album's standout tracks. DeWald concluded that Goulding "is a natural fit for rock music, but her classical influence mixes well with Muse's aesthetic". Sputnikmusic staff stated that while "it's not necessarily a pairing you'd expect", Goulding's "shimmering, dreamy vocals" are an "ideal complement" to Muse's "synth-wrapped space rock," which intertwine the album sequence, appearing as "a breath of fresh air".
Personnel Credits were adapted from Tidal.
Matt Bellamy — vocals, producer, songwriter Dominic Howard — drums, producer, songwriter Chris Wolstenholme — bass, producer, songwriter, backing vocals Ellie Goulding — vocals Dan Lancaster — producer, songwriter Theo Hutchcraft — songwriter Richard Boardman — songwriter Nicholas James Gale — songwriter Aleks von Korff — additional producer, recording engineer Chris Whitemeyer — studio assistant Rhys May — digital editor, assistant vocal recording engineer, assistant mixer Ed Farrell — assistant engineer Dan Hayden — assistant engineer
Charts + Chart performance Chart (2026) Peakposition Estonia Airplay (TopHit)165 New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ) 25 Release history + Release dates and formatsRegionDateFormat(s)LabelVarious26 June 2026Warner
See also List of songs recorded by Muse List of songs recorded by Ellie Goulding
References