Is The World Ready For A Kanye West / Lorde Collaboration?

Lorde‘s adulation of fellow entertainer and carrier of a pseudo-biblical stage name, Kanye “Yeezus” West, has been well documented, given the many onstage tributes she’s dedicated to him, but according to reports, the two might be taking their relationship into the studio.

As Kanye heads back home off the back of the drama-filled Australian leg of his Yeezus tour, he is reportedly gearing up to trek back into the studio accompanied by the New Zealand pop phenomenon, according to The New York Post‘s “music industry sources”.

It’s worth noting that The Post does not name any of those sources and says that while representatives for Lorde and Kanye have been contacted, they haven’t commented on the report. Still, a collaboration of this kind would definitely produce interesting results.

Just this week, during a concert in Philadelphia, Lorde added a cover of Kanye‘s Flashing Lights from 2007’s Graduation to her live repertoire. It’s not the first time the Kiwi has covered Kanye on stage either. Since breaking out on the global scale, she’s done several versions of Yeezus’ Hold My Liquor while on tour, and has frequently cited West as a key influence.

Earlier this year, in an interview with The Guardian, Lorde declared West to be “like my school principal, if the school is pop”. For his part, Kanye too has reportedly declared himself a Lorde fan in person.

While there’s been no semblance of a confirmation of a collaboration, if one were to go ahead, the outcome is sure to be interesting. Besides their professed mutual admiration of each other, the two share more in common than crafting chart-topping hits and they both have a propensity to move fluidly through various genres. Lest we forget Kanye’s love for Foreigner.

US hip hop artist Ro Ransom recently declared Lorde to be “more of a rapper than most rappers” and thus his favourite one. In an article for Pigeons and Planes, Ransom cited her her socially conscious and vivid lyricism, her critic of the media, her beef with other artists (hello Tyler, The Creator) and her “hard ass AKA” as justification for his claim.

Ransom dismisses earlier claims by some that Lorde’s Royals featured an anti-hip hop and racist sentiments. “Royals is not about telling rappers their content is wrong—Royals is about a girl of humble beginnings, from New Zealand, who couldn’t relate to the lifestyle she was exposed to in popular music,” he writes.

“Songs getting taken out of context, and painted to mean something controversial that they really don’t? Sounds like Makaveli, Eminem, Lil Wayne to me. No, Lorde is not 2Pac, but she’s saying something that pushes the needle. Her words cause dialogue.”

Whether we’ll hear Kanye drop a verse on a Lorde tune — or vice versa — is still up for question, but we’re crossing our fingers. No matter your opinion on the pair, you can’t deny that the whole world will be listening.

Watch: Lorde: Flashing Lights (Kanye West Cover) & Bravado

http://youtu.be/LgSeG1QDL4s

Photos: Kanye West – Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena 09/09/14



Photos by Andrew Briscoe

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