MC: Our young readers who are pop aficionados want me to ask: What was your role with Lana Del Rey on Born To Die?
Bhasker: She did the album with Emile Haynie, and I did a couple things with him. On “Diet Mountain Dew” I maybe chipped in a couple of chords. I assisted Emile but he laid the real foundation. She had the songs already, and the way it should be delivered.
MC: Lana Del Rey seems to be a very polarizing artist about whom others have strong opinions.
Bhasker: I was just hanging out with her in New York. Sometimes, with some artists, it’s just being a friend. Not even doing so much musical stuff, but I think she is so talented that I wanted to encourage her to have the confidence in herself. When you hit stardom and people are catching on it’s like, “You have a hit, we have to do an album, and you’re going to be a big star.” It’s like an incredible amount of pressure that artists have to go through. There is so much riding on it: record companies, managers and fans.
MC: Some critics have been less than kind.
Bhasker: She took this incredible amount of slack in the press, really unfair, mean grilling by critics who would embrace Lorde as the second coming of something. She wouldn’t exist without Lana. I think Lana’s vocals are more three dimensional, but she gets criticized unfairly. I would tell an artist, “Don’t listen. Believe in what you’re doing.” When you’re trying to create something it’s a very tender place to be; putting your idea out there takes a lot of courage. With Lana I try to give her encouragement and courage to keep going and doing what no one expects.
MC: We know that your history with Bruno Mars goes way back to his beginnings as a solo artist and continues with Unorthodox Jukebox. “Young Girls,” which you co-wrote and co-produced, sounds like the second coming of Phil Spector.
Bhasker: It’s a good melody and Bruno’s voice is so great at delivering all of that stuff. He’s really mastered putting the right melody. He can sing anything and make it sound good, but he’s become such a great songwriter. That’s what makes him really stand out. That’s one of the things I love about Cam too; she writes and sings. It’s almost an unfair advantage. The same thing with Nate Ruess and Lana Del Rey. You can have co-writers, but if you write the material and you deliver it then you believe it. People can see through a fake emotion pretty easily.
MC: Do you hear a striking vulnerability in Bruno’s vocal performances?
Bhasker: That’s the combination: strength and vulnerability. I think people hear struggle and hope for the singer to prevail. “He can’t possibly hit that high note.” Rihanna can sound like the super bad bitch, but she’s got that vulnerability and sadness mixed with triumph.
MC: Nate Ruess embodies the same traits; the resignation that we hear with his performance singing the vocal hooks on the song you co-wrote and co-produced for Eminem, “Headlights.”
Bhasker: (Sings) “And if the plane goes down, or if the crew can’t wake me up/Well, just know that I’m alright/I was not afraid to die” A bone-chilling lyric that makes you want to cry.
MC: Looking intently at your entire body of work, what emerges is that one of the most striking points of connection is your use of drum tracks. They seem almost dispassionate, used with an orchestral approach.
Bhasker: It’s metronomic sometimes. This allows the music to shine out a little more. That’s my strength, having a musical idea carry it. It’s also characteristic of older records before there was sub bass. If you listen to hip-hop breaks, in a lot of hip-hop the drums are quite small in the mix. You just hear a little pop of the snare.
