Circus Maximus (song)
"Circus Maximus" is a song by American rapper Travis Scott from his fourth studio album Utopia (2023). It features Canadian singer the Weeknd and American rapper Swae Lee. The song was produced by Scott and Noah Goldstein, with additional production from Jahaan Sweet and Mike Dean. It also shares the same name as Scott's debut film, which was released the day before the song and album were released.

Background
"Circus Maximus" uses the same style of drums that were used on "Black Skinhead" by Kanye West. Scott also uses the same rapping style for that song: "A walkin' distraction / I'm naturally Black and / Unnaturally breathin' / Like a waist that is snatchin'". Mike Dean was also involved in the production of both songs, which might be a possible reason for the samples that Scott chose for Utopia.

Critical reception
The song received generally negative reviews. Complex's Jordan Rose saw the resemblance of the song to "Black Skinhead" but deemed it one of the worst things of Utopia as he felt that the album was influenced by Kanye West too much. Tom Breihan of Stereogum also acknowledged the influence but felt that "Kanye West was always interesting", but "Travis Scott is simply not". Shaad D'Souza of The Guardian opined that it "dampens the pummelling qualities of the older song, and although Scott does sound a great deal like West, he feels like a void at the centre of the song, lacking the supernova intensity required to anchor such a darkly toned, militant track".

Mackenzie Cummings-Grady of Billboard ranked it as the tenth best song from Utopia.

Charts

References

2023 songs
Travis Scott songs
The Weeknd songs
Swae Lee songs
Song recordings produced by Travis Scott
Song recordings produced by Jahaan Sweet
Song recordings produced by Mike Dean (record producer)
Songs written by Travis Scott
Songs written by the Weeknd
Songs written by Swae Lee
Songs written by Jahaan Sweet
Songs written by Mike Dean (record producer)