Benny Blanco wrote and produced the 2012 hit “Diamond” with Stargate and Sia. Co-authors had very different ideas about the future of this song and who should record it.
In his recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Benny Blanco admitted that while two-thirds of their creative crew saw Rihanna as the best potential artist for the track, he had different ideas. He would like to see on the track Kanye West, Lana Del Rey or Eminem. Blanco went as far as giving beats to Paul Rosenberg:
Stargate’s like, “Yo, we’re giving this song to Rihanna. It’s going to go”. And I was like, “I don’t know, man. Should we keep the beat for Kanye? I don’t know about it”.
I remember, at the same time, I had given a beat CD like a month earlier to Paul Rosenberg to give to Eminem. And apparently, Eminem had done a song to it, too. And I didn’t even know. And I’m sitting there… Dude, so when it happened, Paul was like, “Man, Em had that beat on hold”. I was like, “What?!” I didn’t even know.
Indeed, bad communication is an issue everywhere, including the relationship between artists, managers and producers. However, Benny Blanco has no regrets and came to admit that the decision his creative partners made was the right one:
I’m sitting there, and then I finally am like, “You know what, Stargate? I let go”. I said, “You guys know better. Let’s do it”. [Rihanna] cut the song. The second she cut the song, they were completely right. I was like, “This is the best song I’ve ever done”.
The song is classic, for sure. But can you imagine what Eminem recorded over those beats?
