Benny Blanco has spoken to NME about the process of releasing music with Juice WRLD and 6 Dogs after the two artists passed away.
The producer released his new album ‘Friends Keep Secrets 2’ last month, a reimagining of his 2018 debut album ‘Friends Keep Secrets’, and the new version features the two late artists.
In a new NME interview, Blanco discussed the bittersweet feeling of releasing the music from artists who are no longer with us. “You know, it’s crazy,” he said. “I was looking at my album. Almost half of my album is done by people who aren’t with us anymore. And it’s… fuck, man.
“Both of those dudes [Juice WRLD and 6 Dogs]; it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re in the studio’. We’re making music, and then we went out to dinner. We talked about anxieties – I’ve been to their houses. It wasn’t transactional.
“So [their deaths] hit me hard. We had some great music, and I want it to be the way they would want to hear it and make it as good as I possibly can.”
He added: “With Juice and ‘Graduation’, he was still alive when we finished it. And the other one [‘Real Shit’] was the first song we ever made. So it’s from all that time ago. Man, I just want the world to hear this song.
“It’s so special to me, and I know it’d be really special to his fans. It’s a song that’s different for him, you know. It was at the very beginning of his career, before a lot of stuff had happened. I hope everyone else can hear it and like it.”
Of Juice WRLD and 6 Dogs’ legacy, Blanco added: “Both of them are just so deep. They’re not just rapping to rap. They’re saying things that spoke to the youth and they spoke to a generation.
“They’ve helped them process their own feelings better and still help them go through life. These songs were the soundtrack of people’s lives, you know. So I’m just happy that I could be a part of it.”
Reviewing Blanco’s new album, which also features Justin Bieber, NME said: “Replicating the synergy of ‘Friends Keep Secrets’ with another star-studded cast, ‘Friends Keep Secrets 2′ is another success that puts Blanco’s collaborators’ emotional storytelling at the forefront.”
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