Beck is re-recording some of his old hits.
Beck is fascinated by the idea of reworking his old songs so is creating new versions of tracks including ‘Loser’ and ‘Where It’s At’ for an unspecified new project.
He said: “I think it’s a bit arbitrary that you make a record and that’s the only version that exists.”
Beck admitted looking back at his past work inspires his new music.
Speaking during a keynote Q & A at the South By Southwest Festival, he said: “You look back at your work and you see things you want to fix. That’s what drives the next album,” he said. “You constantly try to not evolve but crystallise.”
Beck worked with Pharrell Williams on his 2019 record ‘Hyperspace’ but he spoke of his regret at meeting his collaborator too late to be involved with his smash hit ‘Happy’.
He said: “I’d been wanting to do a record with him for like 20 years.
“I’d run into Pharrell in elevators and we’d always say we wanted to work together. So I finally called him in about 2012 or 13. And the first day I walked in to work with him, he said, ‘Sit down, I just wrote a song.’”
At the time, Beck was tired of writing “heavy and weird” music so was looking to work on something uplifting and “happy”.
He continued: “I had young kids at the time and was playing pop music, I just wanted something that had a lot of light to it. Pharrell said, ‘Perfect.’ So he sits me down and plays this song ‘Happy’ and I thought, ‘I guess you already did that.’
“I showed up about three days too late. In another life that could’ve been my song.”
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