So I first saw the rumor on Reddit yesterday that two songs were coming this Friday the 20th - “chinatown” featuring Bruce Springsteen, and “45”. Then yesterday we get the hotline with the clips from a song that features a lyric about Chinatown and someone who sounds a lot like Bruce Springsteen. So that really gives a lot of credence to the original source, so I think the double single news (with the other song “45”) is definitely believable. Next Friday can’t come soon enough!
I of course hear Springsteen influence all over the place in Bleachers. Doesn't mean that I think they'll go well together on the same track.
Listen to them and imagine Bruce singing it. He's also a pretty evident influence on Japandroids and I don't think a Bruce/Japandroids collaboration would mesh well together either.
It will be a cool collab regardless of how it sounds. I welcome the chance to hear a prolific musician and producer such as Jack work with a legendary musician such as Bruce. Even if their voices don’t go well together (which I also would disagree with), it’s still something neat.
typically, when artists collab on a song, it isn’t for one or the other’s presence on the song to be jarring
Yeah I don't understand how that changes anything I've said. Obviously they're going to try and make it fit as best as they can (and it'll probably be good, too, otherwise he wouldn't put it on the album), I just don't think of their respective styles, aesthetics, and sounds as ones that would fit well together. Bruce almost never does that kind of collaboration (the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are guys whose sound is incredibly similar to his and were basically his friends and contemporaries -- Little Stevie, Southside Johnny, Gary US Bonds) and while Bleachers music is clearly Jack's version of Springsteen, it's also very different on a superficial level.
"I just don't think of their respective styles, aesthetics, and sounds as ones that would fit well together." I mean look at Taylor and Bon Iver. Their styles/aesthetics/sounds are pretty different yet were able to make a fantastic song together.
I truly can’t imagine being a fan of Jack and Bruce but then not having faith that two artists of their caliber will deliver something good together.
I'm confused. If you think it will be good then wouldn't thinking their styles won't mesh well together invalidate your first statement?
Seems like y'all are being willfully obtuse. I never said Springsteen wasn't an influence on Bleachers and I never said I think the song will be bad. I said I don't see their styles meshing well together.
There are plenty of matches that sound like they'd be mismatches, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't still want to hear it, and it certainly doesn't preclude it from being a good song. Like you said, Taylor and Bon Iver. I think it will probably end up being good because they're both good artists and because if it wasn't, they wouldn't do it.
You can hear probably at least 50% of the song between the two clips you can hear on the hotline number, including some of Bruce's part