Surprising Duos

Sometimes, opposites attract and can come together to be beautiful. Music is no exception to this as sometimes we hear different people collaborate and sound amazing together. You wouldn’t think to mix certain genres of music together, but, when you do, the result can be surprisingly good. A great example of a weird combination that turned out to be good was the song “Collision Course” by Jay-Z and Linkin Park. Who knew that hip hop and alternative could complement each other so well!

A great example of a unique collaboration is a song that many know by Kid Cudi. The song is called Pursuit of Happiness and it features MGMT. Kid Cudi’s genre is hip-hop/rap while MGMT is alternative /rock. This song came to be when Cudi reached out to MGMT as he was a fan of their music. He said that MGMT inspired him to write lyrics that were “out of the box” and he was honored to be collaborating with them. This song ended up being nominated for an MTV Movie Award in 2012 in the movie Project X, and in 2010 it was a VMA nominee for a music video award. This song went very far and challenged Cudi to give his lyrics a new meaning. Cudi and MGMT grew a lot as musicians by branching out to work with someone outside of their genres. This song shows how hard work and getting outside your comfort zone can bring amazing results. 

Another example of a time two unique artists came together to make music is when Paul McCartney and Kanye West made “FourFiveSeconds”. In 2015 Kanye and McCartney teamed up together to write and produce this track which also featured famous singer Rihanna. FourFiveSeconds was a commercial hit, reaching No. 4 on the U.S Billboard top 100 charts. The track also was a huge hit in Europe, topping the charts in many countries including France, Germany, U.K, and others. FourFiveSeconds also had a music video put out, totaling 472 million views. The duo of Kanye and McCartney proved to be a great success. A year prior Kanye dropped a track called “Only One” that used McCartney’s production as well. Only One has 45 million views on youtube. So what makes this duo so successful? In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Kanye had this to say about working with the legend, “I had the amazing opportunity to work with Paul McCartney and, you know, we just went in and vibed out”. Simply, the good vibes and energy are what made this duo work. To prove the respect they have for one another, McCartney said in a 2019 interview with Billboard, “I Love Kanye”, “People say he’s eccentric, which you’d have to agree with, but he’s a monster, yeah… He inspires me.” The true respect that they have for one another is also another reason they are successful together.

In conclusion, sometimes weird things can come together for whatever reason and turn out to surprise you in the end. Whether it’s mixing weird ingredients together or making a rock and country collaboration, it could end up being something really enjoyable. Some amazing songs blossomed from a country artist secretly loving rock and living out his dreams to collaborate with them. Kanye and Paul McCartney or Kid Cudi and MGMT, there’s someone out there who really appreciates these interesting and experimental duets.