Blur’s Damon Albarn Said Kanye West’s Collaboration With Paul McCartney Was ‘Abusive’
Paul McCartney and Kanye West worked together on “FourFiveSeconds” in 2015, much to the dismay of Damon Albarn. The Blur and Gorillaz artist said he warned McCartney against the collaboration, but McCartney didn’t listen. He shared why he thought the song was self-serving for West.
Paul McCartney spoke about what it was like to work with Kanye West
According to McCartney, when he and West met up to work together, he spent time playing guitar while a seemingly distracted West looked at his iPad.
“I was tootling around on guitar, and Kanye spent a lot of time just looking at pictures of Kim on his computer,” he said, per Variety. “I’m thinking, are we ever gonna get around to writing?!”
He later realized that this was West’s method of writing a song.
“But it turns out he was writing. That’s his muse,” McCartney said. “He was listening to this riff I was doing and obviously he knew in his mind that he could use that, so he took it, sped it up and then somehow he got Rihanna to sing on it. She’s a big favorite of mine anyway, so that just came without me lifting a finger.”
Damon Albarn said he warned Paul McCartney about working with Kanye West
Before this creative session, Albarn warned McCartney about working with West.
“Before he decided to work with Kanye West, I sent a text message to McCartney saying, ‘Beware’, but he ignored it, he does what he wants, it’s Paul McCartney,” Albarn told the French magazine Le Nouvel Obs. “Kanye West is one of those people who feeds off of others.”
He believed that West wanted McCartney on the song for his name, not his artistry.
“I have a problem with this abusive collaboration: we’re talking about Paul McCartney, he’s so precious,” Albarn said. “We do not hear him in the song. Kanye West thinks only of Kanye West, uses a name to make headlines, to say ‘McCartney is in my song.’”
The former Beatle later responded to these comments
McCartney later said that he never would have listened to what Albarn told him. It’s not in his nature.
“He might have [texted me]. I don’t remember”, he told GQ. “But I wouldn’t listen to him. I don’t listen to people.”
McCartney said he liked to make unexpected decisions.
“I love the respect someone like Damon is attributing to me, but I’m not that fussed,” he said. “If I want to go somewhere else from where I normally go or where I’m expected to go, I’ll go. And if I enjoy it, that’s enough for me.”
He added that some people’s reactions to the collaboration were enough to make it all worth it.
“The great thing is, all sorts of hysterical things come out of it,” he said. “The great thing is, all sorts of hysterical things come out of it. I mean, there’s a lot of people who think Kanye discovered me. And that’s not a joke.”
