Courtney Love Is Working on a New Album—and Wants to Work With Kendrick Lamar

Courtney Love has a lot to say. The grunge godmother recently sat down for an interview with The Standard and spoke about a number of things, like the new album she’s working on, who she’d like to collaborate with (spoiler: Kendrick Lamar…?), and why she thinks fellow ’90s alt-rock icon PJ Harvey is “fucking rude.”

During the conversation, Love was asked about her collaboration with 070 Shake from earlier this year and when prompted to offer some other names of artists she’d like to work with, the Hle frontwoman replied, “I don’t do ‘collabs’ – man, I hate that word!”

“However, I have co-written songs with some people on this album,” Love continued. “[REM’s Michael] Stipe mentioned our collaboration to The New York Times, so I can say it’s gorgeous. I fell down weeping hearing his voice – it’s better than ever! I thought I knew the outcome, but I’m still the grasshopper while Michael is the sensei. There are others I can’t mention; I didn’t intend for any collaborations.”

She also mentioned working with Echo & the Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant, saying that he is her “favorite guitarist on earth, from favorite band,” then adding, “He’s on this album and elevating songs beyond description.”

While she says she isn’t big on collaborations, Love mentioned trying to work with PJ Harvey to no avail. “I did ask PJ Harvey to come back – I wanted just one of her great iconic Stones guitar riffs,” Love said. “We have a relationship; I’ve endorsed her over the decades, but she chose not to respond to me.”

Love then shared that she reached out to Harvey, recalling, “I wrote her about how fucking rude that was. Her manager tried to smooth things over, but it’s not okay – she hasn’t played rock music in 100 years! Her first five albums are great; after that, she ventured into art space (though I do love “The Last Living Rose,” which feels like a John Donne poem with… WTF? A tuba?).”

Love then confessed that she’d love to work with Kendrick Lamar, who she says she has “a mad crush on,” and Lana Del Rey. “But every time some kid asks me to ‘collab’ with Lana,” she continued, “I mean come on! Can you stop saying ‘collab’ to someone who straddles Gen X and boomer? We don’t do that! Call it ‘writing a song together,’ not ‘featuring.’ It makes me lose my temper and makes it the last thing I want to do.”

Finally, Love said that she’s a big fan of Lorde, Stormzy, Doja Cat, Sofia Isella, La Familia, Lil Simz, Ivoire Doll, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, and Ice Cube, as well as having a lot of respect and appreciation for Taylor Swift. “While I may not love Swift musically, her lyrics when she’s angry resonate with me,” she admitted, “I find it middlebrow and boring to overanalyze them.”