Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend has a songwriting credit and a co-producing credit on “Hold Up,” a song from Lemonade, Beyonce’s latest visual album. This may not sound as surprising with albums these days being laden with credits for a cavalcade of people. In fact, Father John Misty and Diplo are both listed as contributors to “Hold Up,” as well. However, it’s the story of how Koenig got his credit is what makes it interesting.
“Hold Up” features aspects of both Soulja Boy’s party anthem “Turn My Swag On” and Yeah Yeah Yeah’s iconic love ballad “Maps.” Way back in 2011, Koenig tweeted a seemingly fleeting little riff on “Maps,” writing “hold up…they don’t love you like I love u,” which is a lyric in “Hold Up.” This led to speculation that Koenig got his writing credit simply for this tweet. However, that’s only sort of, kind of true.
In 2014, Koenig was working on a song with Diplo that used the line from his tweet as the hook. At this point, the idea of it becoming part of a Beyonce song started to germinate. “i figured it was going to be a vampire weekend song but was easily convinced that it could be better/go to a new place as a beyonce song,” Koenig wrote on Twitter. As he put it, in summation, “songs become tweets, tweets become songs – it’s the way of the world.” Indeed it is, at least in these modern times of ours.
it's not that complicated – but some ppl are confused so here's the short version: pic.twitter.com/Ma7P4HEngP
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 25, 2016
songs become tweets, tweets become songs – it's the way of the world
— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) April 25, 2016
So there you have it. That’s how a silly tweet from Ezra Koenig five years ago ended up on a Beyonce album. In the end, one thing is for sure; this dude does not like to use capital letters when he writes, but who can blame u.
(Via Pitchfork)
