Akon opens up about working with Lady Gaga in the early days
He joined Hits Radio Breakfast ahead of his tour
On Thursday 23rd April, 'Lonely' singer Akon joined Hits Radio Breakfast ahead of his co-headline tour with NE-YO taking place later this month. A day ahead of Akon's new album 'Beautiful Day' and single 'Ringtone' arriving, the singer also chatted about his new music and discovering Lady Gaga.
Akon's new album, released on 24th April, has been described as a 'genre-blending project', and was led by the huge his single 'Akon's Beautiful Day' released in 2024, with his latest song 'Ringtone' set to arrive on the album's release date, so Fleur East and James Barr had a bit of fun playing Akon some old Nokia ringtones.
Akon working with Lady Gaga
It was way back in 2008 that Lady Gaga released her debut hit 'Just Dance', which featured Akon. The song was co-written by Lady Gaga, Akon and RedOne, and went on to become a huge hit around the world, going to Number 1 in the UK and US.
However, Akon admitted that in the early days Lady Gaga didn't always produce the bangers. When Hits Radio's James Barr asked Akon if he ever called Lady Gaga's early music "horrible", Akon admitted: "Oh yeah, in the beginning. Oh, absolutely!"
The singer went on to reveal: "We'll laugh about it though. The same way I just laughed about it just now."
Akon went on to reveal his thoughts at the time about the young Lady Gaga, were that she was "fearless", he went on to explain: "(It was) like she wasn't afraid to do anything. You know what I mean?"
"And that's what really turned me on about it. I was like, OK, we're going to do something that no artist is going to do. And if it works, everyone's going to try to do it. But if it flops, it'll flop so hard, nobody won't even know we tried."
NE-YO & Akon - 'Nights Like This Tour'
We are just days away from the beginning of NE-YO and Akon's 'Nights Like This Tour' and we wanted to know all about it. When Fleur East asked him what could fans expect from the tour, he told her: "Never expect anything, just be prepared for everything."
When asked: "How do you prepare for everything?"
He responded: "Just be open to the experience," going on to admit he isn't entirely sure what he's doing yet! Akon went on to say: "Well, that's the thing. You're kind of right. NE-YO's all prepared. He got his all... he got everything lined up, his dancers, his wardrobe... I'm like, OK, what am I going to do today?"
Ringtones
As Akon's new song is called 'Ringtone', Fleur asked the singer what ringtone he had back in the day, and his answer was surprising. He admitted he would always pick one of his own songs as a ringtone, even revealing that some of his early music was made for the ringtone market.
"I literally made songs specifically for ringtones," he revealed, going on to explain: "Around my first album, once 'Mr Lonely' went crazy and 'Locked Up' was crazy on ringtones, at that moment I realised, OK, this is the biz I need to be in."
He continued: "Back in the day I used to have a hard time getting played on radio because my music was just so nostalgic from a different perspective of what it was. No one knew what genre really was, so it was hard for formats to kind of figure out which, where to add it, right? Is it hip hop? Is it R&B? Is it reggae?
"So then I said: 'OK cool, if I can't get that much play on the radio at least I can get played on devices. So I started making songs just for phones."
Listen to the full interview with Akon
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