Will Beyoncé's next album feature slamming bass and electro riffs? For her follow-up to I Am ... Sasha Fierce, the R&B singer has reportedly completed a session with Sleigh Bells, whose 2010 debut was one of the year's loudest, messiest and most acclaimed indie albums.
Sleigh Bells first mentioned the collaboration on Twitter, in a bewildering post that has since been deleted: "yeah damn beyonce on it was intense track may not get finished (?) but we finished the rum off at least #idroppedsomethingg." Which sounds like the just sort of thing you'd say after collaborating with one of the biggest pop stars in the world. Yesterday, producer Diplo chimed in, saying he has been working with Beyoncé in New York with London's DJ Switch and Sleigh Bells' Derek Miller. "Me and Switch was in [the] studio in NYC tryin' to make tracks with Derek and Beyoncé last week after we played [Beyoncé's] team [the Sleigh Bells] album," he wrote on his blog. "Dunno if we gonna manage to finish, but [it] was good times."
Although Diplo, Switch and Sleigh Bells have collaborated before, they are more closely associated with MIA. All three artists produced songs on her last album, and Sleigh Bells are signed to a label owned by the Paper Planes singer. It seems MIA won't mind if Beyoncé borrows some of her tricks; in 2007, she described the Crazy in Love singer as "super". "[She's] harder, faster, stronger," MIA said. "In our lifetime, Beyoncé will be a classic, like how people talk about Aretha Franklin."
Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z, has also spoken of his new love of indie rock, saying it is more rebellious than hip-hop.. In 2009, Beyoncé indicated she would like to work with "different types of artists" on her next album, including psych-pop band Of Montreal.
Beyoncé's last LP, the 2008 double-set I Am ... Sasha Fierce, has sold more than 6m albums worldwide.
