Ria Lawrence (MID-DAY; May 28, 2016)

History is witness to what happens when two greats from different backgrounds come together and create music. Case in point: Ravi Shankar and George Harrison, Sunidhi Chauhan and Enrique Iglesias, Sonu Nigam and Kylie Minogue, and who can forget, Akshay Kumar and Snoop Dogg in Singh is Kinng. Needless to say, the results are heady with two powerhouses bringing their own magic to the table.

And AR Rahman is no stranger to international collaborations. He has worked with The Pussycat Dolls and living legend Mick Jagger from The Rolling Stones earlier. But, from the current generation of international artistes, who would he want to work with? In a candid interview for a show called Music Diaries, Rahman opened up about his favourites in the music industry. He shared that working with singer-songwriter Beyoncé tops his wish list and also coolly said he is not too keen on working with Justin Bieber, who was named Top Male Artist at the recent Billboard Music Awards. “I have hung out with Beyoncé and Jimmy Ewing. We were supposed to do an album,” Rahman said, before quickly adding, “Not Justin Bieber. Let’s leave him alone for now!”

When asked to choose if he prefers to listen to hip-hop or heavy metal, Rahman said, “I’d rather keep quiet. Because my life has been in music so much, sometimes I don’t really like to listen to anything. Silence actually brings your inner voice out more than getting cluttered with so many other songs.”