Diplo reveals Major Lazer hit ‘Lean On’ was turned down by Nicki Minaj and Rihanna
Diplo has revealed that the Major Lazer hit ‘Lean On’ was turned down by both Nicki Minaj and Rihanna.
The single is taken from Major Lazer’s recent third album ‘Peace Is The Mission’ and features DJ Snake plus vocals from Danish singer MØ.
In a new interview with Time, the Major Lazer member and producer explains how the song was originally written with MØ as a slow reggae track. The track was then passed on to Nicki Minaj and Rihanna, who both turned it down.
Following the song’s success, Diplo called their decision “a blessing in disguise.” “MØ sounds better than anybody was going to sound on that record,” he continued. “All we want to do is make the records feel like classics, even though they’re feeling progressive and strange to a normal ear.”
‘Lean On’ was recently covered by The Maccabees in the BBC Radio 1 live lounge. Watch the performance here.
Meanwhile, Diplo and Skrillex have confirmed that they are working on new music with members of Arcade Fire.
Skrillex and Diplo, aka Jack Ü, got in the studio with Win Butler and Régine Chassagne while on tour in Canada last month (July).
At the time, lead singer Butler spoke out to clarify that the studio time was nothing more than him and his wife showing friends around their recording space.
However, in a new interview on US TV, Diplo admitted that the musicians recorded an album’s worth of music together and that he is currently editing the audio recorded during the brief session.
“We [Skrillex and I] were recently on tour together in Canada,” Diplo told Charlie Rose while appearing on his PBS chat show. “We went to Montreal, and we had a day with Arcade Fire. A friend of mine was there, and we just said ‘Hey, let’s go meet up with you guys’. We went to his garage and just literally played for 20 minutes, just everybody on an instrument. I got the files from them, and now I edit it down these loops in little pieces.”
