Steve Angello, a producer best known for his time in Swedish House Mafia, talked about his latest album Wild Youth with MTV U.K. this week and revealed his connection to Scooter Braun. This interview inspired us to look at the best EDM/pop collaborations.
Braun took on Angello, putting the producer closer to Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Usher. While the first part of Wild Youth is already out, Angello doesn’t have any plans – at least for the time being – to collaborate with one of Braun’s pop stars.
"No, I mean, he knows I would never do that,” he told MTV U.K. about Bieber specifically. “I don’t think he would ever ask me. At the same time they appreciate the work that we put into it and they understand the craft of it, where this is a life story, this is something that I’ve been trying to tell people for my whole life and now I’ve finally got to the time where I can tell it so for them it’s equally interesting with just having something with a lot of substance than just pushing one radio record."
But Bieber and Grande aren’t strangers to EDM collaborations. Grande’s had Zedd produce one of her tracks, while the Biebs worked with Zedd three years ago and recently appeared with Jack Ü, Skrillex and Diplo’s side project. These efforts sometimes range from tossed off or forgettable projects – how many of you have heard of Zedd’s tracks for Lady Gaga, like “G.U.Y.” and “Donatella”? – while others seem definitive of their time, such as David Guetta’s work with the Black Eyed Peas.
Because of this symbiosis, with pop stars bringing up EDM producers to a mainstream level and house DJs helping revive a floundering pop star’s career, we list the 10 strongest and most memorable collaborations in recent memory.