Jon Batiste; Taylor Swift.Photo:getty (2)
getty (2)
Jon Batiste is no stranger to the art of collaboration. The musician has garnered an Academy Award and five Grammys, and worked with esteemed legends young and old, likeStevie Wonder,Prince,Willie Nelson,Lenny Kravitz,Ed SheeranandLana Del Rey.
“I just like to sit and talk with folks about the process,” he tells PEOPLE about hunting for exciting talent to work alongside. “It doesn’t necessarily have to result in a hit single; it can be on the fly or it can be a conversation.”
Batiste, 36, points out that he loves being able to discover new artists and sounds as he travels the world, but that he still finds inspiration from some of the globe’s biggest names.
“I just went to theTaylor Swiftconcert and it would be fun to do something with Taylor,” he reveals. “She was nice enough to invite us and give us tickets to one ofher MetLife Stadium showsover Memorial Day weekend. I’d love to work with any of the living legends, you know, any folks that I can learn something from — even if we don’t put it out.”
The goal was to “make the song of the summer” and Batiste is “really grateful to have the opportunity to spread some incredible vibes” with the campaign. “World music and pop music have become more synonymous with each other in the last five-to-10 years,” he says. “You’ve seen such an incredible international influence in pop music and I really wanted to write a song that felt like it captured this global synthesis that’s happening.”
The roster of global talent are also featured in the colorful music video, which Batiste says features “so many great energies coming together.” He notes that the campaign will allow fans to discover new music wherever they are in the world, and hopes it only further erases the stigma around the term ‘world music.’
“The way that the music industry has sort of marginalized certain cultures and world music sort of represents ‘the other,'” he explains. “I thought this was a really great thing to bring all of these different voices and different cultures together and put them on the main stage in this way. Everybody in their own right is formidable, but when you see them next to each other, there’s just something really, really special about that.”
Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste.Matt Sayles/A.M.P.A.S.
Batistewon the album of the year trophyat the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in 2022 and then took time away from the industry to focus on his wife Suleika Jaouad as she overcameher second battle with leukemia.
“I had an incredible ride, but as that ride in my career was happening, there were some things in my personal life with my wife, and we really shut away from the world prior to getting into the creative forces again,” he says about prioritizing his marriage. “It was amazing that I was having all these people knocking on my door, these opportunities coming to me, and I was shut away from the world and put them on hold for about six months.”
“We were in band camp back when we were 13, 14, and there was a song that I wrote for her back then, so there’s a great thread of inspiration in our relationship,” he raves. “But this last year, there’s just been so much music that’s poured out of me from the experience of living through incredible highs and incredible lows.”
Now, the formerThe Late Show with Stephen Colbertbandleader is ready to get back to work and is excited to have new material for fans.
“I feel like I’ve been in an incubator and there’s all these incredible projects that are going to come out over the next year that are a result of opportunities and collaborations since that album of the year win,” he explains, adding that his biggest learning lesson during that time has been to value the life he’s built at home.
“I like being at home, in the literal sense and then the figurative sense when it feels like we’ve built such a home together,” he says. “That’s the beauty of having that sort of connection with another person in your life. You have somewhere to call home and someone to call home.”
source: people.com
