With the bite and grit of a woman scorned, Lady Gaga’s comeback single was released last week to much fanfare – mostly because Kevin Parker and Mark Ronson co-wrote and produced it. Though the song itself has received mixed feedback from critics and fans alike (a lot of people seem to be overlooking the fact that it is Gaga’s song and will be on her upcoming fifth album when they screech “less Gaga! More Kevin!” but I digress), it’s a clever career move for all involved. The Tame Impala mastermind recently told Triple J about his thought process when the offer first came up: “It was amazing, really really good. One of those life/career-defining times. It started out sort of like a career move. Like, ‘I’ll get in on that.’ But it quickly became something so personal and so meaningful for everyone involved. I’m just happy it’s all out in the open now. Now I can not tell secrets anymore.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB94lvJbETE
And he isn’t the only one. A pop collaboration of such a magnitude can breathe new life into a career, boost a newer artist into the spotlight, bring two (or more!) distinctive voices together, help one make the transition from boy/girl band into solo super stardom. Or, it can fail miserably and fizzle out. Here, we take a look ten other life/career defining (for better or for worse) pop collaborations of recent memory – from Gaga to Gwen, there have been a few.
Bang Bang – Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDdjwpPM3Y
A Lady Marmalade for the 2010s, Bang Bang had it all. The seasoned, jazzy vocals of Jessie J’s are bolstered by those of the current princess of pop, Ariana Grande. However perhaps the most important element of all, and something that could be considered a genre all it’s own, the track features what is known as Nicki’s Verse. Once again, Minaj steals the show, to the tune of a wildly energetic rhythm and immediately infectious earworm riff.
Lady Marmalade – Lil’ Kim, Christina Aguilera, Mya & Pink
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puKhmJEIw3I
You can’t mention Bang Bang without Lady Marmalade, the last great multi-female pop-rap collab. Originally released in 1974, it was always intended to be performed by a vocal ensemble. However, upon featuring on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, it this version will forever endure as The One when it comes to pop collabs. Having sat at no. 1 for five weeks after its release, you would have thought it was written with no one other than Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Pink and Lil’ Kim in mind.
The Boy is Mine – Brandy & Monica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va1Y6uAgNJY
So iconic was this Brandy and Monica collaboration that it’s recently been given the sample treatment along with Destiny’s Child. Nothing beats the original though: two fierce as fuck women in what at first seems to be a girl-hating anthem but turns out to be an exposé of a good for nothing, two timing cheater. Honestly, with the way their voices work together on The Boy Is Mine, it’s a wonder Monica and Brandy didn’t release an entire album together, Then again, too much of a good thing may have meant have taken away some of the shine.
Telephone – Lady Gaga & Beyoncé
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBsypHzF3U
Kevin Parker isn’t the only major artist who saw an opportunity in collaborating with Lady Gaga. This 2010 hookup resulted in one of the biggest, most important pop collaborations of both artist’s careers. Originally written by Gaga for one Britney Spears, the song was released as part of Gaga’s Grammy nominated album The Fame Monster the year before Bey dropped 4. It pushed Beyoncé into a new light, everything from her double time verse to the masterpiece of a music video were highly calculated moves that helped her build upon the Sasha Fierce attitude while bringing together two pop powerhouses who might have otherwise seemed to be on opposing sides of the genre.
My Boo – Usher & Alicia Keys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPgf2meEX1w
Originally left off the final track listing to the record, My Boo was leaked online along with three other previously unreleased tracks from Usher’s 2004 the album before being added to the expanded version of Confessions. Having previously collaborated with Alicia Keys on If I Ain’t Got You, producer Jermaine Dupri wanted to tap further into the musical relationship between two of the biggest names in r&b and pop at the time and to say it worked out well would be an understatement. It went on to be the fourth single from the album and was the highest debut of them all, coming in at number twenty nine upon its release.
Where Are Ü Now – Justin Bieber, Shrillex & Diplo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nntGTK2Fhb0
Justin Bieber, Pop’s comeback kid of 2015 knows a thing or two about collaborations. He’s worked with Queen Nicki and his 2015 album featured Big Sean, Halsey and Travi$ Scott to name but a few. Commercially however, one of the biggest standout pop collabs of the past year came from his partnering with Shrillex and Diplo for the second single from the duo’s debut album. The song blew up airwaves (including a brief moment where Justin Bieber was actually aired on triple J) before it went on to be included on Bieber’s Purpose. Officially marking his return, Where Are U Now almost singlehandedly reintroduced the world to the slick, new, adult Biebs that went on to cultivate an entire new generation of fans.
California Gurls – Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4
Snoop has had his fair share of collabs – we could have made a list with his alone. However, of recent memory, his appearing on Katy Perry‘s California Gurls sticks out as one of the most wtf collaborations conjured up by executives somewhere no doubt. Still, something about it worked because it earned Perry her second US no. 1 hit and Snoop his third as it went on to reach the top spot in ten other countries and received a Grammy nod.
Suit & Tie – Justin Timberlake & Jay Z
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsUsVbTj2AY
Marking the end of his musical hiatus, Suit & Tie was the first single off Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience – a critically acclaimed commercial juggernaut of an album that sparked a near two-year tour. The Jay Z-featuring Suit & Tie surpassed Timberlake’s own record for the most sales in its first week, with the slightly out of time beat and hazed-out drawl of a song sticking around as the hit of what seemed to be the entire year.
Dilemma – Nelly & Kelly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WYHDfJDPDc
Off Nelly’s album 2001 Nellyville and the lead single from Kelly Rowland’s debut solo album, Simply Deep, released later the same year, this track won the duo a Grammy award. While Rowland’s career hasn’t reached the heights of her fellow child of destiny, Beyoncé, this was the track that showed her to be much more than essentially a featured backup singer for Bey’s. While Beyoncé has her plethora of collaborations and Michelle sings the Lord’s praise in her new career as a gospel singer, neither can stake claim on Dilemma, practically the most enduring collaboration track of the early 2000s with a (now meme-worthy) video to go along with it. I.C.O.N.I.C.
Let Me Blow Ya Mind/and Rich Girl – Gwen Stefani & Eve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt88GMJmVk0
During her early-mid-2000s peak, Eve was nothing short of a collab-extraordinaire. But if there was one partnership that proved to be a cut above the rest, it was when she hopped on a track with No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani. Off Eve’s sophomore album, Let Me Blow Ya Mind gave us the first insight into what was truly a match made in pop heaven (or maybe it was hell, because that video was badass AF for the time, even if you did wonder what happened to Gwen’s car once Dre broke the duo out of jail). They followed it up three years later on Stefani’s debut solo album, the Dr Dre produced track Rich Girl. While it was fun and easy enough to go along with, the song (a last minute addition to Stefani’s Love. Angel. Music. Baby) didn’t come anywhere near reaching the bar set with let Me Blow Ya mind.
Image: Consequence of Sound
Fresh from the success of his APRA Award win for Song of the Year, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has kept the good news coming.
While the band are still touring their critically acclaimed third record Currents until September, Parker is already making new music.
“I’ve got my own recording studio in Perth, just down the road from where I live, so there are all sorts of things going on,” he told AAP at the awards show where his song Let It Happen scooped the big prize.
“I think after a long tour and after an album, your brain feels like it wants to relax. But at the same time making music for me is something that comes kind of naturally, just like a brain process,” he added.
Parker admitted the process was still in its early stages, and he’s unsure about where the new music will end up. “I don’t really know what it is until it’s finished. Like I don’t know if it’s for Tame Impala or if it’s something I’m going to write for someone else, because I’ve been wanting to do that a lot more.”
Hot on the heels of his music making and award wins, which includes a recent Brit Award for Best International Group, Parker has also been busy at work as a producer. He worked alongside fellow Perth locals Koi Child on their debut self-titled studio record, which was released last month.
“He’s amazing. Kevin did all of this as if it was nothing,” frontman Shannon Patterson revealed in a recent interview.
“He brought a lot of assurance to the table. There were a lot of times during the album where we weren’t really sure about certain sections and Kev would help us with stuff like that. He’d do a lot of cutting the fat…Most of the set-up was his. Especially his drum sound. It was fascinating for us to see how he set the drums up – his process of recording us,” Patterson said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFptt7Cargc
Image: Pitchfork
What’s a remix among bandmates? Tame Impala‘s mastermind Kevin Parker has showed he isn’t slowing down any time soon since releasing one of the best albums of the year last year in the form of Currents, and has now offered up a space-age remix of his bandmate, GUM (aka Jay Watson), and his track Anesthetized Lesson.
The track was the lead single off GUM’s own 2015 album, Glamorous Damage, and was one of the grooviest songs of the year, in this writer’s opinion at least. Seductive vocals, retro-futuristic synths and a bass that makes you weak at the knees, this track was indicative of GUM really hitting his stride as a solo artist, so it only makes sense that his pal Kev would step up for remix duties.
In a statement accompanying the track, Watson said, “While I was recording the album I was listening to a lot of dance music and while it was a big influence, my mixing of the album didn’t really reflect that.”
“When Kev offered to do a remix of Anesthetized Lesson, I jumped at the chance because I knew he could make it sound wild. He didn’t let me down!”
No he did not. With some muffled vocals and some heavy reverb, Parker has taken Anesthetized Lesson away from the heaving disco dancefloor and given it a kaleidoscopic, dreamy, end-of-night feel, dripping in psychedelia. The perfect song to wind down to after busting a move to that of GUM’s Glamorous Damage. Check out the song for yourself below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k_-Sj-5IAM
Image: Pitchfork
In his 2004 single Modern Marvel, Mos Def pondered what he would say to Marvin Gaye if the Motown virtuoso had lived to see the immeasurable influence he had on hip hop, funk, soul and, indeed, the music industry as a whole. The impact of Gaye’s music was such that, even in 2015, his posthumous presence is felt as strongly as ever. Mark Ronson‘s fourth studio album, Uptown Special, is testament to this.
‘We’ll see y’all uptown,’ chirps Bruno Mars at the end of Feel Right, alluding to his imminent presence on the album’s bombastic lead single, Uptown Funk. Mars is not the only familiar name lending vocals to Uptown Special. New Orleans rapper Mystikal, Andrew Wyatt (of Swedish electropop outfit Miike Snow) and Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker are among those adding depth, charisma and not insignificant talent to an album that sees Ronson return to the scene of his adolescence. Born in London, Ronson grew up amid the diverse musical influences of New York in the early ’90s. He made his name as a club DJ whose eclectic selections included funk, soul, hip hop and rock, all of which are integral elements of Uptown Special.
The album’s low-key intro (which features Stevie Wonder), contradictorily titled Uptown’s First Finale, belies the soaring peaks of Ronson’s latest record. The fuzzed out Summer’s Breaking is followed by the fierce and expletive-laden Feel Right, which, after the placidity of the first two tracks, is akin to Mystikal kicking your door down and exposing himself. But in a really funky way.
Uptown Funk needs no introduction, having rapidly elevated Ronson and Mars to the top of the charts. Or, more accurately, having ensured Mars remains at the top of the charts while encouraging YouTube’s vociferous and ill-informed music community to ask questions like:
Mercifully, the rest of Uptown Special avoids baffling people by featuring pop stars.
Where the album really works is in the collaborations with Kevin Parker, whose intricate guitar work and distinctive, ethereal vocals are woven beautifully into Ronson’s mixes. Daffodils expertly balances the clutch of funk and psychedelica before accelerating in the direction of gritty electronic rock. Leaving Los Feliz is the feel good song of my summer. It struts and swirls, glides and soars, all the while providing space for Parker to flourish, while never once feeling empty.
If Uptown Special were a dog, it would undoubtedly be a mutt; so diverse and disparate are its musical genetics. Indeed, Bruno Mars and Kevin Parker exist worlds apart. Somehow, though, Mark Ronson has reconciled their artistic differences and utilised their respective talents to produce an album that, while not always cohesive, illustrates the inimitable skill and ambition of a man who should be lauded as the finest producer of our generation. I hope Marvin Gaye would agree.
Man after my own heart, Mark Ronson has quashed any speculation as to what he’s been up to with the release of two undeniably funky tracks, featuring industry heavyweights on vocal duties for extra cred.
Recruiting Bruno Mars for Uptown Funk, and Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker for Daffodils, Ronson has hit the ground running ahead of his expected album release in January. Upon listening to the tracks, there’s no denying the super-producer is onto something SERIOUSLY good here. Having truly embraced his love of America’s South, and spending some time in Memphis creating and recording, he’s now ready to show us what he’s got. After the huge commercial success of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl‘s 2010 release Record Collection (which also featured some pretty reputable collaborations; Boy George, Ghostface Killah, D’Angelo, MNDR), his 2015 release, Uptown Special is reaching critical levels of hype!
You can listen to the new tracks below, and join me in praying to every idol I can think of that he returns to Australian shores immediately.