You probably shouldn’t hold out hope for a collaboration between Taylor Swift and Quincy Jones anytime soon.
Legendary music producer Jones, whose credits include Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and the theme song from “Sanford and Son,” took aim at “Reputation” singer Swift in a wide-ranging GQ interview published Monday.
While Jones expressed admiration for artists such as Bruno Mars, Ludacris and Common, when the subject of Swift came up, GQ said, Jones “made a face, somewhere between disapproval and disdain.”
Asked why he thought Swift’s music fell short, Jones replied, “We need more songs, man. F—ing songs, not hooks.”
Reminded that Swift is regarded as “the great songwriter of our age,” Jones offered, “Whatever crumbles your cookie.”
“Knowing what you’re doing. You know what I mean?” Jones continued, when asked what’s missing from Swift’s work. “Since I was a little kid, I’ve always heard the people that don’t wanna do the work. It takes work, man. The only place you find success before work is the dictionary, and that’s alphabetical.”
Jones did allow, however, that if he were producing an album for Swift, he would “figure something out.”
“Man, the song is the s–t — that’s what people don’t realize,” Jones said. “A great song can make the worst singer in the world a star. A bad song can’t be saved by the three best singers in the world. I learned that 50 years ago.”
Read Jones’ full interview here.