Brian Wilson’s New Album To Feature Lana Del Rey & Kacey Musgraves, Possibly Frank Ocean
“It’s very different than anything I’ve ever done,” Brian Wilson, of the Beach Boys, has said of his next album. But as he proved today, fans couldn’t have predicted the list of featured artists, which includes Lana Del Rey, Kacey Musgraves, Zooey Deschanel and possibly Frank Ocean. “I had no idea we could pull this off!” Wilson said to Rolling Stone, according to his official website.
This news is surprising, especially since back in October, Wilson described his latest effort as “very mellow kind of stuff, mellow harmony, not very much rock ‘n’ roll yet.” He was working with longtime cohorts, including former Beach Boys collaborators. “There’s a style about the melody and chords that I think he wants to recapture some of the Pet Sounds flavor,” guitarist Jeff Beck said, referring to the iconic 1966 Beach Boys album.
What he told RS, though, was a different story – one that had fans crying foul.
Musgraves will appear in a “sassy” (naturally) song called “Sharing a New Day,” while Deschanel adds to “space-age bossa nova”track “On the Island.” Del Rey contributes to the album’s “haunting” conclusion “Last Song” while, if all goes according to plan, Ocean will appear on “Special Love.” News of Wilson’s overall direction led to backlash from fans, which immediately led Wilson to respond.
“To my fans: it kind of bums me out to see some of the negativity here about the album I’ve been working so hard on,” he said on Facebook. “In my life in music, I’ve been told too many times not to fuck with the formula, but as an artist it’s my job to do that – and I think I’ve earned that right.”
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