El-P Quotes

Artie is a singer, and I'm a writer and player and a singer. We didn't work together on a creative level and prepare the songs. I did that.

I like collaboration because, first of all, I'm good at writing lyrics. I don't know how to make beats. I don't play instruments. I'm not a good singer. So even when you see a solo album of mine, it's still a collaboration.

I'm definitely not pushing to find who can I write with or produce with, but of course I'm open to something if it comes up.

I'd love to work with some of the people I've remixed for - Ed Sheeran or Chris Martin or The Weeknd. But it's not just big names like these guys that I want to collaborate with.

I've learned a lot from Dave Stewart; he's a serial collaborator. He's co-written songs with more people than anybody I know - like the most incredible people too.

I get on really well with Jake Gosling, who is a great producer, and I have written a song with Fraser T Smith.

Having Dierks Bentley on a song is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to experience. For one, him agreeing to do a song with me but two, getting to share that moment in the studio.

In the 1990s music was a beautiful collaborative process between the composer, lyricist and director. They would exchange ideas and magic used to happen.

My first album after 'American Idol' I did with Desmond - we paid for it together, and we literally were together working on it every day for a year and half, just writing. We wrote in New York, Nashville, L.A., Sweden - we wrote with some other amazing songwriters like Diane Warren, too.

The only person I've worked with on my album was Kanye. And between the stuff that I've done and the stuff that he's assisted on and produced for me for this album, I don't even need anything else.

That's the cool thing, when I get to work with people I love. The biggest has probably been Kris Kristofferson on 'Bloodworth.'

That was when Neil discovered Jack Nietzsche. They went off and pretty much came up with that by themselves, but I thought it was a great song, and I was more than happy to do my harmony parts on it.

I spend a lot of time working by myself developing songs, but I really need some other counterpart to help me pull it all together, because you go nuts working if I had to finish an entire project all within my own head.

The first record we put out on Fueled by Ramon, 'The Papercut Chronicles,' we had no idea what the term 'producer' meant. It was just us writing songs, and we are trying to go back to that - singing in a room and vibing off each other.

I enjoy the collaboration. I always envied people in bands who got to have that interaction. I've done so many albums where I've been in the studio for 14 hours a day for six months just trying to come up with things on my own. It's a nice change helping other people with their music and not being all about what I'm trying to do myself.

I really had a great time working with 'Modest Mouse,' just because of the people. I loved writing songs with Isaac Brock, and Jeremiah Green is probably my favorite musician that I've worked with.

There's been a lot of talk about Jack White wanting to work with me, and I've always admired him, and of course, he lives in Nashville, too.

My first song, 'Just Becuz,' was co-written by the awesome Baby Bash.

With 'Light,' I collaborated with a lot of different producers and musicians I respected, and we all wrote and worked on material which I then took to an old-school producer, David Kahne, and we put it all together. The lyrics came first - they were written before the music.

I had my own musical ideas that Mick helped me with as well.

I've always wanted to collaborate with Shawn Mendes, he's an amazing artist, but the thing with Shawn is that I won't collaborate... me just sending some beats. It has to be in the studio where we'd both be there recording together.

'Sing Street' was the first time I'd worked so collaboratively.

I have some tracks and songs written for future collaboration, and I'm happy to work with artists who have the right voice and taste.

If you got a vibe with a producer I think you should go full-fledged instead of being satisfied with two songs.

Gunna was the second person I ever made a song with.