who features on earfquake?
Last week (May 17), Tyler, The Creator, released his sixth album, ‘IGOR’. Featuring new single ‘EARFQUAKE’, the rapper-turned-singer’s latest project is projected to sell somewhere in the region of 145,000-170,000 album equivalent units by the end of the week, which would make it the number one record on the Billboard chart.
‘EARFQUAKE’, which features vocals from Charlie Wilson and ad-libs from Playboi Carti, has become quite the fan favourite, with Tyler’s blonde wig and blue suit combination, as displayed in the song’s video, also proving to be iconic amongst fans.
According to Hypebeast, things could have been so different for the song had Tyler had his way initially.
During a performance at a small Apple Music-broadcasted show in L.A. last night, Tyler revealed to the crowd that he’d originally written ‘EARFQUAKE’ with Justin Bieber in mind. He also claimed that he had offered the song to Rihanna. Both pop stars are apparently said to have rejected it, according to the ODD Future rapper.
During the same show, Tyler also reportedly talked about recording ‘RUNNING OUT OF TIME’ in a session with A$AP Ferg and travelling to Italy with Frank Ocean.
EARFQUAKE is the second song from Tyler, the Creator's fifth studio album Igor (2019).[1][2][3] It is also the album's only single, being released to radios on June 4, 2019.[4] It is a pop-oriented ballad about urging one's significant other not to leave as their relationship hits some hurdles.[5]
"EARFQUAKE" features a verse from Playboi Carti, as well as backing vocals from Charlie Wilson and Jessy Wilson.[6] A music video for the song dropped on the album's release day, May 17.[7]
The song immediately became one of the most popular tracks by Tyler both on the album and overall, still appearing as his most-popular song on Apple Music in 2022.[8] It was also certified platinum on August 5, 2019, becoming his second song to reach that feat after "See You Again" off Flower Boy (2017). The song was certified 4x Platinum on June 7, 2022.[9]
Tyler told his crowd at the album's surprise LA show that the song was written for Justin Bieber and later pitched for Rihanna, but both turned down the track.[10]
The song is said to have leaked on some filesharing sites as early as May 7, ten days before release.[5] Regardless, the song debuted and peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week ending on June 1, 2019.[11]
Tyler tweeted out the song's official lyrics on June 21. Carti's lyrics are simply represented by the phrase, "CARTI LYRICS CANNOT BE TRANSCRIBED," which drew some humorous responses by fans.[12] Not much later, Tyler said his favorite part on the song was the harmonies that were performed by Jessy Wilson at 2:13.[13]
When performing the song on the Igor Tour, he often opened with a lowkey piano intro that builds into the song's beginning. He also performed the song, along with "NEW MAGIC WAND" in a single medley at the 2020 Grammy Awards. "EARFQUAKE" was relegated to a quick harmony performed by Boyz II Men, Charlie Wilson, and T around a fire before T performed the other track in an energetic manner.[14]
The video takes place on the set for a TV show named The Half an Hour with Pearl Edwards. The show's host (played by Tracee Ellis Ross) awkwardly introduces the audience to the guest performer before requesting the performer not do anything with fire or smoke since she is allergic to smoke.[7]
Tyler goes on to perform the song. He sways his hips and dances as fans dramatically blow his hair and the studio makes use of dramatic closeup shots. During Carti's verse, he is shown playing a piano while smoking a cigarette. He flicks the cigarette off camera and within a matter of seconds, the set is engulfed in flames.[7]
Tyler's face is briefly shown partly disfigured as he collapses to the ground. Firefighters lift him and carry him to safety. The last cut in the video shows a firefighter (also played by Tyler) rapping the song's outro before the camera collapses. He also grabs something that fell on the ground before the video cuts to black.[7]
“I made it in 2017. I wrote it for Bieber. He didn’t take it,” Tyler told the crowd. “So I hit Rihanna’s people up like, ‘Hey, I got this song. I would love for her to sing the hook. I think it’ll be big.’ I just want to write pop songs, honestly. I didn’t hear back from them, so I left my [reference] vocals in.”
Although Tyler hasn’t landed a big pop collaboration yet, he has worked with singers like Solange (“My Skin My Logo”) and Kali Uchis (“After the Storm”). He also linked up with Miley Cyrus for a Pharrell Williams-produced track titled “The Way I Feel” which was intended for Miley’s 2013 album, Bangerz, but didn’t make the final tracklist.
This isn’t the first time Tyler admitted to originally writing one of his songs for another artist. In September 2017, Tyler said he was saving his Flower Boy track, “See You Again,” for ZAYN:
Thanks in part to a standout verse from Playboi Carti, “EARFQUAKE” is by far the most popular IGOR track, with well over 700,000 total Genius pageviews. It’s also the most-streamed song from the album on Spotify with more than 22 million streams, and the Tracee Elis Ross-starring music video has racked up 8 million YouTube views and counting.
According to early projections, “EARFQUAKE” could land Tyler his first Top 10 entry on the Billboard Hot 100.
Watch the full concert below:
