Mac DeMarco isn’t a fan of the “feature culture” in music production: “It’s kind of gross”
“The scenario that collaboration usually comes about now, it’s like, ‘yo pull up on the studio, let’s work!’ I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’”
Credit: Kieram McNally
Mac DeMarco has had his say on the prevailing trend of music collaborations, labelling the current excessive “feature culture” as “kind of gross”.
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In a new interview with MusicTech, the One Wayne G creator discusses collaborations and why he and Kenny Beats get on so well on a musical level.
“The whole ‘feature culture’ that we’re living in nowadays is kind of gross to me,” DeMarco says in the interview. He’s referencing the growing increase in artists collaborating on each other’s records – each of DJ Khaled’s 24 Billboard-charted songs has featured other artists, for example.
“It’s like, people put out records that are just all features. I don’t know; I’m happy to record with my friends, but for me to actually artistically write that kind of material can be tough. Especially in the scenario that collaboration usually comes about now, it’s like, ‘yo pull up on the studio, let’s work!’ I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’”
There is one collaboration DeMarco is happy to shout about though, and that’s with producer Kenny Beats. The Canadian added vocals and guitar to Kenny Beats’ 2022 track, Family Tree and is credited as a producer and engineer on MusicTech’s Album Of The Year in 2022, Kenny’s LOUIE.
“I love Kenny. He’s one of my good friends. I absolutely love this man.” He says.
“I have a nice collaborative experience with Kenny actually – he’s deeply interesting to me. The ground that he covers, musically… Like, he’s always interested in something new, and the genre doesn’t really matter to him, he’s down for whatever. He’s an interesting guy. I’m glad that he’s in my zone.”
“I think the collaboration works in some worlds, like in the beatmaking world and in other different [areas] of music, and it’s great. This is the way that I am but then I’ll be in a studio and a rapper will come through and just be able to, like, fucking unload onto the microphone I’m like, ‘How the fuck do you do that?’ It’s crazy.”
In related news, MusicTech spoke to Benny Sings recently too, who collaborated with Kenny Beats for his album, Young Hearts.
Check out Mac DeMarco, mammoth 199-track album, One Wayne G, via Bandcamp.
