I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Paul McCartney has caused quite a stir recently with his collaborations with both Rihanna and Kanye West. Who saw that coming? Certainly not those of Kanye fans who had no idea who Sir Paul was…
Some people really, really overreacted and started sending these poor souls death threats just because they didn’t know who the Beatles were; being only thirteen years old, from the US, and fans of Kanye West and not 60s/70s rock ‘n’ roll bands from Liverpool, maybe?
Despite these two collaborations being pretty out there and unexpected, they actually work quite well. In my opinion, anyway, I’ll leave you to form your own opinions on that.
But over the years there have been many, many surprising collaborations that both have, and have not worked. Here are a few of my favourites:
Linkin Park and Jay Z – Numb/Encore
Sometimes, you throw two musical genres that seem to be worlds apart together, and you make something magical. This song is a perfect example. Linkin Park’s mix of Nu Metal and Electronic Rock music just blends so will with the rapping genius of Jay Z, this is nothing less than a modern classic.
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett – The Lady is a Tramp
I don’t really know why anyone is surprised by anything Gaga does these days, but this was a bit of a strange one. It’s a bit too surreal for me to be able to enjoy it, but no one can deny these are two legends of the music world.
Nelly and Tim McGraw – Over and Over
Speaking of surreal, anyone remember this one? Back in 2004, Nelly threw a curve ball into the image we all had of him as the bad boy rapper (who else has a wound that needs a permanent plaster on their cheek than a real hardcore badman?) when he decided to try his hand at singing on this sweet number with none other than the country singer Tim McGraw. Weird, but weirdly brilliant.
B.o.B. and Hayley Williams – Airplanes
Cool guy rapper plus Pop-Rock queen equals fabulously catchy pop song, apparently.
Eminem and Elton John – Stan
Yes, well-known homophobe Eminem had well-known gay icon Elton John join him to perform this song at the Grammys back in 2006. Anyone wanna riddle me that?
Sources
http://www.mtv.co.uk/the-ride/news/6-unusual-musical-collaborations-we-never-could-have-expected
Edited by Amelia Bauer-Madden