KIDinaKORNERAlex Da Kid has worked with everyone from Imagine Dragons to Rihanna to U2's Bono, and he's finally struck out on his own with his first single, "Not Easy." The track was still a collaborative effort for the producer, born Alexander Grant, as it features X Ambassadors, Elle King and rapper Wiz Khalifa.
"Not Easy" is a reunion for Grant and X Ambassadors, since he co-produced the band's debut album, VHS.
"We have a great chemistry," Grant tells ABC Radio. "So it was very collaborative with them."
Grant's most unique collaborator on "Not Easy," however, was IBM's Watson BEAT program, which is described as a "cognitive technology that understands music and lets artists change the sound of a song based on the mood they want to express." Using Watson, Grant was able to explore what kinds of songs attract listeners.
"The results that Watson came back with were basically human beings react to darker songs," Grant explains. "I think 'anger' and 'disgust' were some of the highest testing things that people liked in the music, which I'm surprised by."
"I love that stuff, 'cause I think pain is a little bit more interesting," he continues. "But I didn't know everyone else felt that way!"
Grant plans to collect more songs for an EP, and he's always looking for more artists with whom to collaborate. Specifically, he wants to bring together musicians in unexpected ways.
"It could be interesting do, like, Kings of Leon and Wu-Tang [Clan], or something like that, that could be cool," Grant says. "Just something that, like, where you don't think initially there's a common thread, but really there is. I love breaking down those barriers and just having people from all different walks of life kind of being artistic and creative in one place."
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