Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij didn't really know what to expect when it came to collaborating with Kid Cudi and Bethany
Cosentino of surf/pop outfit Best Coast. But the star was taken aback by how chill it was to make their song "All Summer," their breezy contribution to Converse's "3 Artists 1 Song" series.
"I was nervous, so I had a couple ideas. I had some production ideas and some lyrics ideas and some melodies," Batmanglij told MTV News on Tuesday at New York's Music Hall of Williamsburg, where Cudi and Cosentino joined him to perform the song, which can be downloaded for free at Converse.com. "Bethany and I just started ... vibing off each other. It actually was kind of scary how easy it was."
When Cudi came into the recording process, Batmanglij and Cosentino had already had their initial vibe session, but the Cleveland rapper decided to shake things up a bit and put his stamp on the collaboration.
"I was surprised when Cudi was like, 'I wanna rap over that.' I was like, 'You wanna rap over that part? That's not the part [for you],' " Batmanglij laughed. Eventually, Batmanglij let the "Day 'N' Nite" MC approach the track his way, admitting that the final result worked out. "He was so right," the VW multi-instrumentalist said.
Combining the beachy rock of Best Coast, the hazy hip-hop of Kid Cudi and the sunny, tribal-pop of Vampire Weekend to create the ultimate summer jam is a tall order. And the trio knew it.
"[There were] moments where it could have gone all bad ... just all of us just being creative people," Cudi observed. "But I think since the energy was good ... we all found a way and we hit a couple brick walls but we found ways around it."
Batmanglij thinks those bumps in the road actually brought some character to the record. "I think that's what kinda makes the song a good summer song because there was frustration and there was tension," he said. "Hopefully, that's a little bit captured in the song. Summer's, like, f---ed up; it has its ups and downs."
But don't think the trio won't get back in the studio together. Cudi said he'd love to work with the musicians again and Bethany already has an idea for the next collaboration: "The sequel to this song is called 'Next Summer.' "
Is "All Summer" the perfect song for the season? Tell us what you think in the comments!
This report is from MTV News.
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