"The hothouse environment of a collaborative circle can make the ideas and achievements of the participants develop faster than if the participants were all pursuing the identical goals without sharing. Our ability to simultaneously pursue our own goals while being mindful and supportive of other people’s goals is fundamental to human life—so fundamental, in fact, that we actually have trouble turning it off."
I love Lady Gaga. The girl is nuts, there’s no denying that, but she’s dedicated to her work and her fans. She writes her own music, and that’s something to be said in this age of music. She’s controversial, but that’s part of her appeal. Everyone is always wondering, “What will Gaga do next?”, well at least I am anyway. That’s why I was so excited when “Telephone” came out. Talk about collaboration. Beyonce, and Gaga, can you say, “Powerhouse duo”? But, putting Beyonce on the track wasn’t the initial plan. Lady Gaga originally wrote “Telephone” for Britney Spears, and not Gaga and Britney, just Britney. Britney rejected the song (thank the music gods), but Gaga wasn’t going to let the song die in music heaven. In my head I imagine Gaga thought, “I have this bitchin’ song, screw Britney, I’m going to sing it, and to put icing on the cake Imma call my girl Beyonce”, or something like that. The song dominated the charts, and the duo got praise for the video (ironically, they had collaborated on Beyonce’s “Video Phone” previously, guess they really like phones?).
The point is that collaboration is key, two heads are better than one, two voices better than one, or in the case of Carlos Santana, one voice and one guitar are better together. Santana is a God. I drove by his house once. I have pictures if you ever want to see it. Everyone loves his single classics, Oye Como Va is my favorite. He’s experienced great success throughout his career, snagging Grammy’s since 1988. Despite his great success before the 21st century, he didn’t dominate until Grammy’s until 2000. Every year there’s an artist who sweeps the Grammy’s and 2000 was Carlos Santana’s year. Wonder why? Collaboration. His album Supernatural won nine Grammy’s. He teamed up with Rob Thomas, Eagle Eye Cherry, Wyclef, Lauryn Hill, and Eric Clapton just to name a few. The album was such a success that he stuck with the same formula for his next album, pairing up with Michelle Branch, Seal, and Chad Kroger.
Producer, Timbaland followed the model for basically every song he’s ever been on. He’s literally made a career out of collaboration. I just looked through my iTunes and the only song I could find that Timbaland did solo was called “Ease off the Liquor”, I doubt you’ve ever heard of it, and I’ve listened to it twice, and I don’t remember either time. There’s a reason no one’s heard of this song. I’m not trying to discredit Timbaland by any means, but collaboration is key.
I wonder if Shirky would call music collaborations intrinsic or extrinsic. As a fan I would like to think these artists had intrinsic intentions, they didn’t do it for the money, they collaborated because they enjoyed it. But as I sit and dream about how awesome it would be to hang out with Lady Gaga and Beyonce, I’m a little sad to think that maybe Santana, Timbaland, and any other collaborative artist simply chose the musician they collaborated with for commercial reasons. They were looking for a sure hit, a moneymaker, a chart topper, and they knew exactly who to team up with. The cynic in me can’t help, but be disappointed.
But wait, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. The greatest musical collaboration of all time, “We Are The World”. The song, written in 1985, and every famous name from the 80’s is on the track. And the best part? The song was written to raise money for African relief. Then, in 2010 when Haiti was devastated by an earthquake stars came together again for a great cause. Yes, the reward of raising money for charity was extrinsic, but when the artists came together for reasons other than to make a buck, I’m sure part of their motivations were the chance to work with each other, which is purely intrinsic.
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