How do pop star collaborations come about?
Is it one business manager contacting another business manager? Is it after the stars have a few drinks at a glitzy showbiz party? Is it through a blood pact made with the devil? All three are entirely likely, and one perhaps more likely than the others.
In recent interviews, Pink told a story about how she collaborated with Eminem on the track ‘Revenge’ from her new album Beautiful Trauma, and it all began in an extremely relatable manner: a drunken email.
We’ve all sent drunk messages before, but rarely are they to ask a fellow pop star to appear on a song, so in that sense it’s fairly unique.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Pink said:Â “I sneak-attacked him. Max [Martin] and I started making ‘Revenge’, and I wrote this rap. We were drinking a lot of wine, and then I went home and I thought more wine would be a good idea.
“I emailed [Eminem]. This is why they call it liquid courage. And I said, ‘You know I love you. I like that you work with a lot of the same people, like Rihanna. She’s hotter than me, but I’m funnier. So I’m going for a rap Grammy, and I’d like to take you along with me.’ It was this long email, and he wrote back right away and just said, ‘Okay’.”
Damn, that’s cold, Em. He didn’t even offer a cursory exclamation mark or smiley face that so many of us use to soften our emails. Nope, just ‘Okay’.
Obviously that’s quite a stony answer to receive, so Pink got back in touch: “I emailed him again. I was like, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever heard! I want to tackle you and rub your face in the dirt!’ He just wrote back and was, like, ‘Okay’.”
It can’t have been that bad though, since he did feature on the song, and it’s a pretty strong verse, which makes up for the single-word reply, really. Gotta conserve those words.
