WTF Of The Week: Wilson Phillips Sing The Backing Vocals On Rihanna’s “FourFiveSeconds”

Robbie Daw | March 31, 2015 3:49 pm
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One of pop’s more interesting Holy shit — no fucking way! revelations happened today when Billboard posted an interview with Carnie Wilson. It turns out the elite grouping of Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney were joined by yet another trio on current Top 10 hit “FourFiveSeconds”: Carnie’s band, Wilson Phillips.

Wilson explained to the publication that Kanye West reached out to Wilson Phillips’ manager awhile ago, and invited the trio into the studio — where he previewed “FourFiveSeconds” for the group, as well as “Only One” and Madonna’s “Illuminati.”

“He was really shy and he would just smile and he’s real soft-spoken, then all of a sudden when he started playing all these songs, he was dancing around the room,” she said. “It was just like how Michael Jackson used to be. When he would press play, it was like, out came the artist and the creativity was just really there.”

As for “FourFiveSeconds,” Carnie added, “We didn’t know if we were singing on a section of the song — originally it was supposed to be just the bridge. He gave us sole freedom to just do what we do. We just went in there and let loose.”

Interesting stuff, but Stereogum actually went back today and uncovered the tweet we all should have been paying attention to nearly two months ago:

Wilson Phillips, of course, churned out a batch of hits in the early ’90s, including the Hot 100-topping singles “Hold On” (which we recently highlighted here), “Release Me” and “You’re In Love” — songs that apparently made quite an impression on Kanye.

“He said, ‘When I think of authenticity and I think of angelic, I think of you,'” Carnie told Billboard.

Get an eyeful of even more pop music coverage, from artist interviews to exclusive performances, on Idolator’s YouTube channel.