Oneohtrix Point Never reveals he demoed new music with Usher
“It wasn’t virtuosity, it was something more interesting than that in a way.”
Oneohtrix Point Never embarked on a collaboration with Usher that the pair ultimately abandoned, the producer has told Dazed in a new interview. Daniel Lopatin said that working with the R&B singer helped guide him to the place where he created new solo album Age Of.
Lopatin revealed that he met Usher after the singer came to see ANOHNI on tour. He worked on her 2016 album HOPELESSNESS and was introduced to the singer after a live show. "He asked to speak with me like, “Hey, why don’t you demo some stuff with me?” So I got into this whole thing of listening to peak Jermaine Dupri-era stuff and thinking about just how incredible Usher’s voice was. But at the same time, when I was demoing for him, I wanted to imagine him augmenting my topline, so I had to embarrassingly create that topline. And then once I did, I kind of loved how bad – well, not bad – but how ‘me’ it was. It wasn’t virtuosity, it was something more interesting than that in a way. It was an important thing for me to do because I wanted to get back into doing stuff for myself.
Although the recording sessions led nowehere, "it didn’t matter because it was kind of an awakening for me," Lopatin added.
Age Of, which features James Blake, Kelsey Lu, and Prurient, is out on June 1 via Warp.