Tame Impala, the one-man psychedelic music band of Australian instrumentalist Kevin Parker is one of the most highly coveted collaborators in the past few years, with the 38-year-old Sydney native having teamed up with such big name stars as The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Daft Punk and even Mick Jagger.
One such collaboration for Tame Impala is Parker’s recent one with pop sensation Dua Lipa of “Levitating” and “Dance the Night” fame for her Radical Optimism album. Although some collaborative efforts between popular artists can sometimes be challenging due to clashing egos and disagreements, Parker described his experience of working with Dua Lipa as something that clicked from the very first studio session.
“The energy Dua creates in her creative space is one of no ego,” Parker said in an interview with The Guardian. “We all noticed there were no huge personalities in the room trying to dominate the process. When you speak to other writers, they’ve all got nightmare experiences of people who were too big for the room.”
Parker went on to explain his initial misconceptions when writing music for other people, incorrectly assuming that “it doesn’t matter what you write, because you’re not the one saying it.”
Parker explained, “I quickly learned that’s not the case. You still do care about it deeply, but it’s nice to share the burden of making stuff.”
Lipa recently had Parker join her on-stage during a performance at the Glastonbury Festival, where he performed his 2015 hit “The Less I Know The Better.” Parker said his initial reaction to Lipa asking him to join her on-stage was one of surprise: “I remember just being like, ‘Really? Are you sure you want to play my little song during your set of absolute bangers?'”
Parker added that it was an absolute pleasure to join Dua Lipa during her performance at the Glastonbury Festival because it’s something she’s dreamt of doing since she was a kid.
“The nicest thing about it was that it was Dua headlining Glastonbury, which is something she has wanted to do since she was a kid,” Parker said. “I felt like I had a seat in someone’s dream that they were living – I was just happy to be a part of it.”
What do you think of how Tame Impala describes working with Dua Lipa? Let us know in the comments.
