Aussie duets hit a bum note for Guy
Guy Sebastian has labelled many Australian artists "rude" after revealing he still struggles to get local singers to collaborate with him on his music.
"I always struggle to get Aussies on stuff if I'm just being honest," he said. "I've asked heaps of Aussies to do duets and it's always just a pain in the bum and I just don't bother any more."
True to his nice-guy nature, Sebastian refused to name the artists.
"They're not bad, they just don't like me or they don't want to be involved in the project; each to their own," he said.
The singer said he'd always had this problem when trying to get Australians artists to sing with him.
"I've been either turned down or had rude replies, so it's just sort of left a bad taste in my mouth," he said. "I have tried, trust me, I've tried."
He revealed that he asked three Australian female singers to feature on his 2009 song, Art of Love, and was turned down by each of them. "One very rudely turned me down and I just thought 'Why'," he said.
But it worked out well for Sebastian who recorded the duet with American R&B star Jordin Sparks instead.
"I didn't have a lot of confidence I guess, I didn't even go to Jordin because I thought 'I'll have more luck getting an Australian singer'," he said.
Sparks had just had her massive hit, No Air, with Chris Brown.
"I thought 'Jordin will be busy', but she just heard the song and liked it . . . and she nailed it," he said.
Sebastian remains philosophical, saying all those things happened for a reason and he got the best singer for the song.
He said it was a different story when he asked artists overseas to work with him. Just last year, he worked with Lupe Fiasco on the single Battle Scars.
"Literally, Lupe Fiasco took one email 'Dude do you like this song'," Sebastian said.
It didn't take long for the American rapper to reply with: "Yeah man I like the song, I'm in Australia next week, let's record it."
The song debuted at No.1 in the Australian ARIA singles charts.
Sebastian said he made an effort to support fellow Australian pop stars and called on them to be more collaborative.
