Press works in funny ways, especially for an artist as in-demand as Diplo.
Deep into his August feature for GQ Style, the Major Lazer head honcho revealed that Rihanna turned down a couple of his song pitches — in particular his 2015 mega-smash, "Lean On” — and dismissed one track as sounding like “a reggae song at an airport.”
As you saw all over your timelines earlier this month, the blogosphere went nuts, prompting Rihanna to semi-apologize for the studio diss.
Diplo recently spoke to iHeartRadio about his hopes of teaming up with the Barbadian pop star, the ever-changing music landscape, and how the progressive Brazilian gay scene led to the creation of recent single, "Sua Cara” with the budding Anitta and drag superstar Pabllo Vittar.
"Sua Cara" is my jam even though I don't know a lot of what the ladies are saying. You have these two huge Brazilian stars. Anitta's doing her thing and this premiere Brazilian drag queen, Pabllo Vittar. How did you come across both of them?
Anitta ... I met her at a party, a Jeremy Scott party, and was just like, "This girl's beautiful." I just got her number, honestly, and we just kept in touch. I had no idea she was a star. I didn't know who she was. I just thought she was cool and she loved hip-hop and I didn't know she was a pop star. We just said, "Hey, maybe we'll do a song one day." When she came to LA, we started that song and I finished it.
And Pabllo, I've known her for three years because she covered "Lean On." [That] was the first thing she did and she covered "Revolution" - one of my songs. I always helped her with the production. I was like, "This girl is amazing. She's beautiful, but she can sing." I feel like, when it comes to drag queens, even in America, we don't have that many that are pop stars, you know? I feel like Brazil, the gay scene there is just so advanced, like, musically, culturally. It's just a different vibe. I was like, "How can we help explode this girl? How can we make this awesome music with her?" So, we did that. I put her on the song with Anitta. Anitta was totally excited. She was like, "This is a great way for me to build up with that scene as well. This is an amazing artist for me to put on." That makes Anitta a trendsetter. I think it's insane how much Pabllo blew up after this whole situation. She's on her way up anyway, but that help with Anitta and the song I think [in] Brazil, it was like two superheroes coming together.
How do you feel about the transition from a focus on albums to singles?
I mean, I would love to be back in a world with albums. I'm a DJ and a producer and a collector of music and I love albums and I love the way they made me feel growing up. I was like, "This is an album." Listening to Nine Inch Nails, listening to Eminem, listening to The Beatles or Marilyn Manson or whatever it was; this album reflects a moment. This is like a year of my life. It's a great moment but, as somebody who works in 2017, it's all about singles. Major Lazer's always been someone to put their weight behind singles.
Even with this EP ... even though it's an EP with six songs, every one of them is a single. We have the Brazilian single. We have the African single, with "Particula." We have the American single, "Know No Better," which is also in Europe, and then we have "Buscando Huellas" with J. Balvin. We got lucky with this EP. Every song on their is something happening in music right now. Major Lazer has always been looking for that. Finding ways to stay ahead of the game. We have to work every song, every single.
You received a lot of press for your GQ Style interview when you talked about collaborators; particularly Rihanna. She made a post afterwards, which was like a subtle nod to be like, "I see you." Have you heard from her after that or beyond that?
No, I can't believe that reached her. It's such a funny story. I don't even think she remembers that time in the studio, but it was a funny story and I thought the quote was very funny. The demo we played her was actually very silly. At the moment, I thought it might be something. You never know when you're with Rihanna. You have the chance to play one or three songs to get her attention, and I have like 100 songs. But it's funny. You always gotta to be on your toes and work harder and she made me feel that way and I love her to death. We talked a little bit because she's writing a lot of new music right now for her next project and, hopefully, we can connect. I know that we both have the same affinity for dancehall and reggae and things like that. I know she knows she's a fan of our music. But the funny thing is it was a joke I made on myself and it became a story that Rihanna hates my music, or whatever, but it was really just a funny story.
And the headlines, literally, took it out of context.
Yeah, it was very out of context and the crazy thing is that ... Good and bad news is that it made me look kind of silly but I don't care. It's kind of my personality. At the same time, people could read the story, which is about music in Africa. Maybe [because] it's a GQ story, maybe no one would be able to read it but, if it got anymore attention to that story, that's dope because the trip to Africa was one of the best things I've done in my life; to create the music there and be part of the scene there.
To that point, you've done so much this year. You have the "Give Me Future" documentary, you have this EP. What are you most proud of in this last year?
This EP, the way that things are shaping up, it's like all these little songs having their own little life. But Give Me Future [and] playing in Havana, which was last April, was the highlight of my life. Just being part of the scene, man, where like Marshall is playing with us. Then there's another stage where, like, A$AP Ferg and Rich the Kid ... these guys I know I'm working with ... I feel like our graduating class is here and we're doing all this music together.
Original article by James Dinh at iHeartRadio