Today’s prime popstars know the best way to get ahead and make fans. Don’t increase the beef. Instead, bury the hatchet and make sweet, sweet music together.
With the obvious exception of Kendrick vs Drake, that’s been the mantra for many big names in the past few years as we’ve seen Mars and Gaga, XCX and Eilish, Cabello and Sheeran, John and Spears and many more double team on a hit and make it twice as nice.
And Travis Scott is a master of the art, having gotten cosy with Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, SZA, Drake, John Legend, The 1975, Future, The Weeknd, Whiz Khalifa and more across many of his previous hits.
Thus when Scott and Carpenter went toe to toe with rival albums last year, Scott broke zero stress. Indeed, the star has now graciously admitted defeat concerning Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet besting his Days Before Rodeo 10th-anniversary project by just 1,000 album units, (Carpenter netting 362,000 versus Scott’s 361,000) to take the top slot at the end of last year.
“Charts, shmarts, man. Who measures that? Her album’s cool. Days Before Rodeo is 10 years old. It all works,” says Scott in a new Billboard interview, to demonstrate just how many effs he gives about such matters.
Besides, his album did subsequently see pole position… It just didn’t quite rise there as quickly as Carpenter’s…
And, now as if to further prove there is zero sweat on the rapper’s brow, he has even extended the hand of collab friendship to the sky-high popstar, citing both her AND Taylor Swift (natch) as prime targets for future possible get-togethers.
“This might be crazy, but I would love to get Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter on a hook.” And the reasons why such titans are on his target? “I have some ill ideas,” he explains.
But in line before that? When pressed on who he’d like to work with next, Scott cites an unlikely pairing first and foremost, picking out rock/pop/soul and psychedelia band Khruangbin as his prime target.
And it’s safe to say that the band’s fans aren’t fans of the idea… Prompting – via Khruangbin’s Reddit – quite the pile-on of opinion.
“Don’t speak this into existence please. I’m sure the band has more sense than to indulge this piece of s___. Right?” hopes one user.
“F___ Travis Scott, as a Houston band they better tell him to f___ right off after Astroworld. His glorification of violence at his shows is the absolutely opposite vibe of Khruangbin's music,” explains another.
“No no no no no. Please. GOD. NOOO,” neatly sums up a third.
As to who WILL be working with Scott next, who can tell?. But it’s clear that this is one superstar who intends to fling his orbit of influence as far and as wide as possible.
