If you pay any attention to what 'the kids these days' are into, you'll notice one thing before you even give it a listen. Seemingly every song on every album has like a million features and artists on it. You're not an artist worth your salt unless you can invite legends and up-and-comers alike to show up on your records (just look up something like the credits to Travis Scott's ASTROWORLD or pictured Dreamville's ‘Revenge of the Dreamers III’ which is being called a 'watershed moment' in our culture).
Justin Bieber jumping on Despacito took the track from the Latin markets into worldwide domination and now he's attempting to do the same to Billie Eillish's Bad Guy. This is of course in an attempt to take this breakout artist of the year to the esteemed number 1 position – one that's been held by Lil Nas X's Old Town Road, after Billy Ray Cyrus jumped on the track for weeks (it's now the biggest track in 60 years).
The purpose is often to add a 'new vibe' to a song, to open the songs up to new markets. It's also a way to signal 'street cred' as the more swag artist you can attract to your record, the better obviously. This trend feels right at home in the hip-hop world, rooted in 'rap battles' where the very structure of the music lends itself very well to these types of collaborations. And as we see rap/hip-hop become more visible genres, this part of the culture is bleeding over to the general pop-sphere.
...and speaking of pop, Ed Sheeran's No 6 Collaborations Project just dropped – and the album backside (pictured) almost looks like an exercise in name dropping. And while the artist list is very heavily angled towards Sheeran's more urban roots (believe it or not) and is right in line with hip-hop culture, the source of the inspiration may surprise you.
Genius, a website that features song-lyrics and analysis of them, reported in May that Sheeran's idea was originally to recreate a collaboration in the style of Lady Marmelade, an early 00s track featuring Christina Aguilera, P!NK, Lil'Kim, Mýa and Missy Elliott which dominated the charts and the music television channels at the time.
But it is actually not so surprising. That song was huge, and when it came out Ed Sheeran was 10 years old. We don't think Mr Sheeran is exempt from the 'reminiscence bump' a name for the phenomenon that we remember so much of our younger adult lives more vividly than other years.
Granted, the reference period is normally 12-22, but we think lowering that to 10 for someone like Sheeran (as a music talent extraordinaire) is perhaps not a too far of a stretch. This time-period imprints on us in a way that has an impact on us for the rest of our lives.
As we explained here: "the memories that contribute to this process become uncommonly important throughout the rest of your life. They didn’t just contribute to the development of your self-image; they became part of your self-image—an integral part of your sense of self."
Just because you're one of the highest paid celebrities in the world doesn't exempt you from that.
Just in case you hadn't heard – we've been rolling out Bucketgigs out to the interwebs which is based on this very notion. It's for anyone who is not Ed Sheeran and can't have their idols jump on the tracks with them (like Eminem and 50 Cent on the same track, sheez!!) -- and prefers to just see them on stage during a live show.
Just visit bucketgigs.com, enter your birth-year and see what live shows we think will be of interest to you, near you.
Unfortunately, the throwback-early-naughties featuring the original 'Lady Marmalade' squad and the Eminem/50 Cent combo live show has not been announced yet – but that doesn't mean it's not possible to catch a few of Sheeran's collaborators live on tour this summer.
Khalid and Cardi B are currently on tour.
Chance the Rapper is performing at Lovebox in London this weekend as is H.E.R.
PnB Rock is on tour, Travis Scott has a handful of shows coming up in Europe,
Ella Mai is opening for Ariana Grande on the UK leg of Sweetner World Tour,
Meek Mill and Chris Stapleton are on a proper US tour each,
A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is on a festival run and finally Bruno Mars has a Vegas residency run.
Sheeran himself is closing off the ÷ tour in custom built stadiums (not a joke) in his local Suffolk.
