Courtney Love names Lana Del Rey as dream collaborator after recently saying she “should really take seven years off”
Courtney Love has named Lana Del Rey as her dream collaborator – despite recently saying that the singer should “take seven years off”.
During a new interview with The Standard, the soloist and former Hole frontwoman was asked who she would like to work with in the future.
It came after Love recently featured on 070 Shake’s cover of Tim Buckley’s ‘Song To The Siren’.
“I don’t do ‘collabs’ – man, I hate that word!” she replied. “However, I have co-written songs with some people on this [new solo] album. [R.E.M.‘s Michael] Stipe mentioned our collaboration to The New York Times, so I can say it’s gorgeous.
“I fell down weeping hearing his voice – it’s better than ever! I thought I knew the outcome, but I’m still the grasshopper while Michael is the sensei. There are others I can’t mention; I didn’t intend for any collaborations.”
She continued, seemingly making a nod to Del Rey’s 2019 album specifically: “I’d love to co-write a song with Lana Del Rey – I’d like to be ‘Paul’ and go hard on choruses while going back to ‘Norman’ and go hard on choruses, or whatever.”
Referring to Del Rey’s recent marriage, Love said: “She’s currently on her honeymoon; I’m very happy for her.
“But every time some kid asks me to ‘collab’ with Lana – I mean come on! Can you stop saying ‘collab’ to someone who straddles Gen X and Boomer? We don’t do that! Call it ‘writing a song together’, not ‘featuring’. It makes me lose my temper and makes it the last thing I want to do.”
The singer-songwriter went on to say that she “loves” Lorde as well.
“I would love to work with Kendrick Lamar; I have a mad crush on him,” Love told the publication. “I also love UK femme drill artists, but it has to sound organic – not forced. Additionally, I’m a fan of Stormzy and Doja Cat.
Elsewhere in the interview, Love revealed that she had worked with Echo & The Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant on her forthcoming album – which will mark her first full-length project since her 2002 debut, ‘America’s Sweetheart’.
She also claimed that she wanted one of PJ Harvey‘s “great iconic Stones guitar riffs” on the new record. “We have a relationship; I’ve endorsed her over the decades, but she chose not to respond to me,” she said.
Earlier this year, Love revealed that she had grown tired of Del Rey’s music of late. “I haven’t liked Lana since she covered a John Denver song [in late 2023], and I think she should really take seven years off,” Love explained.
“Up until ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ I thought she was great. When I was recording my new album, I had to stop listening to her as she was influencing me too much.”
In 2022, Love said her late husband Kurt Cobain and Del Rey were the only “true musical geniuses” she had ever known. “She’s got the integrity that Kurt had. The only two people I know that I can say [that about],” she said.
“By the way, Stipe? Bono? Yes, these are people that I know and love. Billie Joe, sure. But Lana? She’s got a magic thing. And she’s not even fucked up!”
She also called the ‘Video Games’ artist – with whom she toured in support of the latter’s 2014 album, ‘Ultraviolet’ – “an actual true, great friend”. Love had previously labelled herself and Del Rey as “the queens of rage and anguish”.
Following the pair’s run of joint live dates, Del Rey said that she and Love “have some things in common that might not be visible from the outside”. She added: “She’s totally entrancing, a born performer.”
The two singer-songwriters then discussed their love of each other’s music during an interview in 2017. “You’re one of my favourite writers,” Del Rey told Love, who replied: “You’re one of mine, so, checkmate.”
In other news, Lana Del Rey has announced a new album titled ‘The Right Person Will Stay’. Additionally, she has confirmed a run of UK and Ireland stadium shows for next summer in support of the forthcoming record.
Meanwhile, Billy Corgan has revealed that he has entered the auction to win Love‘s handwritten lyrics to the Hole song ‘Violet’. The track has long been thought to have been penned about the Smashing Pumpkins frontman.
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Tom Skinner
NME
