FEATURE:
Ft. X, Y, Z
Are There Too Many Collaborations?
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I was reading an article…
IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless
on the NME website last week and I came across an article that really struck me. The Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen voiced her disapproval of collaborations in the modern time. I have written about collaborations before, so I was interested in what she had to offer:
“The Pretty Reckless‘ Taylor Momsen has shared her dislike for collaborations in the modern era, calling them overdone.
Momsen’s band released their new album ‘Death By Rock And Roll’ last month.
“I didn’t go into this record with the intention of featuring anyone. I never do, that’s not how I think, that’s not how I write songs,” Momsen told Loudwire Nights of her plans going into the new album.
“Collaborations, I think, especially now in today’s paradigm, can be very overdone. They can be used more so as like a marketing tool more than like, an actual artistic collaboration. And that’s something that I don’t personally love, by any means.”
“For me, the songs come first. That’s the core of it, that’s the whole thing,” she added. “The song dictates where it should go and who should be a part of it, and who can elevate the song to the highest level possible”.
I do think that there are a lot of collaborations today. Every week, I do a playlist of all the new songs out that week. I discover so many tracks that feature other artists (take a look at last week’s New Music Friday UK on Spotify to see how many collaborations there were!). I am not against collaborations because, to be honest, there are artists I would like to see together. If a big artist like Dua Lipa or Sleaford Mods can bring great names into the fold to add something special to one of their tracks, then I feel that is okay.
A lot of the best colorations feature artists who have a unique voice and really enrich a track. I think that, if you have more than one collaborator, then it can get a bit crowded. Once was the time when Rap and Hip-Hop were synonymous with songs boasting a lot of names. Now, I think artists are trying to boost their Spotify figures and there is a bit of marketing behind collaborations – in the sense that it can be beneficial for an artist to collaborate with someone else if it boosts their profile and streaming figures. I love a good duet. When you have two voices that share more or less an equal space. I am trying to cast my mind back to recent collaborations that have stayed in my mind. There were some pretty good collaborations last year. I really liked Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion teaming up for WAP. That is a powerful and popular song that benefits from having two really strong artists working together on a song that is important to them, rather than just collaborating to get streaming numbers up or court attention. Although a little crowded, the Dua Lipa, The Blessed Madonna, Missy Elliott and Madonna Levitating (Remix) boasted some big names that were not wasted. Sleaford Mods and Billy Nomates collaborated on Mods’ new album, Spare Ribs (on the track, Mork n Mindy). I like the new Sharon van Etten covers album and the Paul McCartney covers album. This is a way of a range of artists collaborating on an album without there being too much overspill.
As I said, a great collaboration can do wonders to a song and stay in the head. Whether it is a huge artist like David Bowie on Arcade Fire’s Reflektor or something more akin to a duet, I am not saying we should scrap collaborations. I think that Pop especially is synonymous with collaborations the past few years. In June last year, the BBC published an article that explained why there are so many collaborations:
“The trend looks set to continue in 2020: More than half of this week's top 40 singles (52.5%) are credited to multiple artists.
So why are musicians teaming up so often? There are several reasons.
First of all, the way that artists are credited has changed. When Michael Jackson roped in Eddie Van Halen to play the guitar solo on Beat It, his name didn't appear on the front sleeve or the disc itself. By the time he released Give In To Me in 1991, Slash not only had his photo on the cover, but he received a "featuring" credit on the charts.
That practice has only accelerated as hip-hop, traditionally the most collaborative branch of music, has become the world's most-listened to genre.
Separately, artists have become adept at "gaming" playlists on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music by creating multiple versions of the same song featuring star guests.
One of last year's biggest hits, Old Town Road by Little Nas X, had six remixes that helped it span genre-based playlists like country (with Billy Ray Cyrus on guest vocals), K-pop (featuring RM from the boyband BTS) and dance music (in collaboration with Diplo).
The side-effect is that collaborations can bring new audiences to an existing song. That's why Doja Cat's smash hit Say So has recently been re-recorded with a guest verse from Nicki Minaj; and Megan Thee Stallion's Savage now comes with added Beyoncé”.
There are some positives to collaborations but, more often than not, there are songs needlessly stuffed with artists or it is just an excuse for popular artists to combine without any real musical reason. Whilst collaborations can be memorable, I don’t think many from the past year or two have stuck in my mind. Maybe it is the material or the unfocused way artists are paired. Songs that have three or four collaborators are especially frustrating! This brings me back to my point regarding dream collaborations. It would be great to hear Dua Lipa and Kylie Minogue join forces; perhaps Fiona Apple and St. Vincent could come up with some special. I would love to hear Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo fuse on song. It would be cool to hear modern stars like Phoebe Bridgers and Julia Jacklin do something. I do genuinely feel that artists can write songs intended just for them and then realise that it would benefit from a particular voice. That can lead to some natural and pleasing collaborations. Today, too often, songs are pointlessly crammed with voices and artists providing a couple of lines or so. It would be good to see genres like Pop cut back on collaborations and, in genes like Rap where there are still quite a few, to be a bit of a limit. When the resultant song is stronger for having collaborators, then that is fine. That is not the case in the majority of tracks. I miss the old days when you had classic duets. Maybe it is a phenomenon that has died out or is hard to execute in the modern age. Rather than having a track with a few collaborators not adding anything, I feel that duets are more powerful and can make a bigger impact. In spite of there being some worthy collaborations, I think that Taylor Momsen is right. They are really everywhere and…
QUITE overdone.