Swizz Beatz Chronicles Jay-Z, Bono Relief Track ‘Stranded’
After Swizz Beatz sparked the initial buzz about Jay-Z and Bono's new Haiti relief track, 'Stranded,' via short Twitter messages last weekend, the producer divulged the full details of the collaboration this week. Swizzy told Rolling Stone that text messages to both Jay-Z and Bono prompted the first interest in working on a benefit track. After failed conference calls and several hours of back-and-forth phone play, both parties agreed to begin work on the song, but they were forced to do so from different locations across the globe.
Swizzy, who also produced the new song, said that U2 frontman was able to compose the song's hook during a phone call between the two. "The idea of the song is 'We're not gonna leave you stranded' and that's what the chorus is," Swizz said. "So me and Bono started going back and forth with ideas, and he was like, 'You know this word stranded keeps standing out to me' and I asked him to sing it, and he put me on hold 'cause he's recording the ideas on a Dictaphone -- so he did it there and then on the phone."
After Bono and Jay-Z's parts were nailed down, Swizz said that Rihanna seemed like a natural addition to the track. "I knew that Jay would be able to tell a story, and that Bono would be able to sing and bring it home," he said. "The last component that I added was Rihanna, and she's kinda like the angel that's on the track, softening it up and giving it that caring feeling, because this hook is so powerful." U2 guitarist, the Edge, expressed his excitement over the track via Twitter, telling fans that he and Bono were able to write, record and deliver the song to Swizz in one night.
Jay-Z, Bono and Rihanna will perform 'Stranded' live from London during MTV's 'Hope For Haiti' telethon on tonight (Jan. 22.) AOL, in addition to fellow online streaming Web sites YouTube and MTV.com, will feed the telethon live. The two-hour special airs commercial free Jan. 22 at 8PM, on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, HBO, MTV, VH1 and several other channels. The single will be released on iTunes in the days following the telethon.