Features in music can often be like the dude who shows up to a party with his acoustic guitar. You’re thinking, like, “Why is he even here?” while awkwardly waiting for him to finish his mediocre Oasis cover, and you imagine an alternate universe where that person’s presence didn’t exist. It’s the same thing with bad features, especially in pop music. Now, don’t get me wrong - there are a ton of recent features that are incredible. There could not have been a better person chosen for Zedd’s ‘Stay The Night’ than Paramore’s Hayley Williams, and rapper Big Sean spitting on a verse on Fall Out Boy’s ‘The Mighty Fall’ made it unbelievably awesome.
Ariana Grande at the Billboard Music Awards [Photo: Getty Images, credit: Ethan Miller]
However, there are some collaborations that may sound good in theory, but just leave you scratching your head - the ones that never had a chance at turning into something respectable, but still for some reason happened anyway. Ariana Grande’s recent hit, ‘Problem,’ falls into the “should have been good” category with its cameo from newcomer Iggy Azalea. Though their sounds mesh well, something about Azalea’s verse is just really irritating. Grande can hold her own - she doesn’t need a guest on her song no matter who it is. Of course, that didn’t stop the track from being a massive success, but it does raise the question how it would have sounded without Iggy on it. Interestingly enough, a version without her feature surfaced this week, and to no surprise, it’s significantly better with just Grande by her lonesome. Believe it or not, the guest-less versions of singles exist more often than you’d think, and most of the time, they’re much better by themselves.
Continue reading: Ariana Grande Released 'Problem' Without Iggy Azalea, And It Got Much Better