Featuring
Encyclopedia
Featuring, often abbreviated to ft., feat. or f/ is a term used in the music industry to credit a musician
who is not the main artist for their performance on a song or, on occasion, an album. The number of songs with a featured artist has increased considerably in the 2000s, although artists being featured can be traced back to the start of singles charts, with the first use of the term in the UK Singles Chart
in July 1954 by "The Four Aces
featuring Al Alberts
" with "Three Coins In The Fountain
" at 5th place. However, Alberts was a member (and thus a "feature" in the usual sense of the term) of The Four Aces, not an outside performer. In today's usage a featured performer is not the main performer or a member of the main performing group, which is different from the everyday meaning of the word.
Featured artists are most common in rap and dance music
, with rap albums usually containing a large number of different artists on various songs. Dance producers
frequently use different vocalists on each of their songs, often crediting them as featured. Featured artists are typically more common on artist's singles than album tracks, although many albums also included featured artists on non-single tracks.
Usually the artists who feature on songs perform a small part, such as a verse of the song, or on occasion simply play an instrument
. On occasion, however, the featured artist performs the chorus
. This is most common in rap music, where the main artist (the rapper) will perform the rap verses, with a vocalist performing the actual singing
on the track. Mainstream examples of this include "Go Hard
" by DJ Khaled featuring Kanye West
and T-Pain
and "Heard 'Em Say
" by Kanye West featuring Adam Levine
of Maroon 5
.
The act of being featured on a single occasionally causes controversy or confusion, in that for some artists being "featured" is considered derogatory. There are also often strange cases of an artist being featured, often when they don't contribute to the track significantly at all. One example of this is Mario Winans
' 2004 release "I Don't Wanna Know
", which featured Enya
, even though she didn't perform on the track at all. Enya's being featured was in fact attributed to the song using a sample from her 1987 instrumental "Boadicea" (The Celts
). Occasionally, a featured artist might actually get more time singing or rapping than the main artist. This is prominent in Timbaland
's "Give It to Me
", in which featured performers Nelly Furtado
and Justin Timberlake
sing more part of the song than Timbaland himself.
When singles are released in multiple territories, the artist credit is often changed to reflect the artist's popularity in that area. For example, the 2006 single "I Belong to You" was credited to "Anastacia
ft. Eros Ramazzotti
" in the United States of America, but to "Anastacia and Eros Ramazzotti" in Central Europe
, to reflect Ramazzotti's popularity in the Central European area.
Featured artists are also on occasion referred to by other terms, seemingly used to increase their importance. Common examples are "Fly On The Wings Of Love", by XTM
and DJ Chucky Presents Annia, "In Private" by Pet Shop Boys
with Elton John
, "DOPAMINE" by m-flo
Loves Emyli
& Diggy Mo', and "Miami 2 Ibiza" by Swedish House Mafia
vs. Tinie Tempah
.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
who is not the main artist for their performance on a song or, on occasion, an album. The number of songs with a featured artist has increased considerably in the 2000s, although artists being featured can be traced back to the start of singles charts, with the first use of the term in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in July 1954 by "The Four Aces
The Four Aces
The Four Aces is an American male traditional pop music quartet, popular since the 1950s. Over the last half-century, the group amassed many gold records. Its million-selling signature tunes include "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", "Three Coins in the Fountain", "Stranger in Paradise", "Tell Me...
featuring Al Alberts
Al Alberts
Al Alberts was a popular singer and composer. -Biography:Born Al Albertini in Chester, Pennsylvania, he went to South Philadelphia High School, whose alumni included many others who would become famous in show business, such as Joey Bishop, Buddy Greco, Al Martino, Mario Lanza, Chubby Checker,...
" with "Three Coins In The Fountain
Three Coins in the Fountain (song)
"Three Coins in the Fountain" is a popular song which received the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1954.The melody was written by Jule Styne, the lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It was written for the romance film, Three Coins in the Fountain and refers to the act of throwing a coin into the Trevi...
" at 5th place. However, Alberts was a member (and thus a "feature" in the usual sense of the term) of The Four Aces, not an outside performer. In today's usage a featured performer is not the main performer or a member of the main performing group, which is different from the everyday meaning of the word.
Featured artists are most common in rap and dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
, with rap albums usually containing a large number of different artists on various songs. Dance producers
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
frequently use different vocalists on each of their songs, often crediting them as featured. Featured artists are typically more common on artist's singles than album tracks, although many albums also included featured artists on non-single tracks.
Usually the artists who feature on songs perform a small part, such as a verse of the song, or on occasion simply play an instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
. On occasion, however, the featured artist performs the chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
. This is most common in rap music, where the main artist (the rapper) will perform the rap verses, with a vocalist performing the actual singing
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
on the track. Mainstream examples of this include "Go Hard
Go Hard
"Go Hard" is the second single from DJ Khaled's third studio album, We Global.The track features American hip hop artist Kanye West and R&B singer T-Pain. They both used the auto-tune effect. The song is produced by The Runners and it samples the 1984 single "Angel" by Madonna...
" by DJ Khaled featuring Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
and T-Pain
T-Pain
Faheem Rasheed Najm , better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor, currently signed to Young Money Entertainment. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany,...
and "Heard 'Em Say
Heard 'Em Say
"Heard 'Em Say" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West. It was released on November 8, 2005 as the third single for his second studio album, Late Registration. The song features Maroon 5 lead vocalist Adam Levine, who sings its chorus and bridge. Co-produced by Jon Brion, the song contains...
" by Kanye West featuring Adam Levine
Adam Levine
Adam Noah Levine is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the front man and guitarist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. He is also a coach on the American talent show The Voice.-Early life:...
of Maroon 5
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers and released one album...
.
The act of being featured on a single occasionally causes controversy or confusion, in that for some artists being "featured" is considered derogatory. There are also often strange cases of an artist being featured, often when they don't contribute to the track significantly at all. One example of this is Mario Winans
Mario Winans
Mario Winans is an American R&B singer, songwriter, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Born Mario Brown, he is the son of gospel recording artist Vickie Winans and her first husband, Bishop Ronald Brown. He is also the stepson of his mother's second husband, gospel singer, Pastor Marvin...
' 2004 release "I Don't Wanna Know
I Don't Wanna Know (Mario Winans song)
"I Don't Wanna Know" is a 2004 song by Mario Winans, featuring a rap by P. Diddy and sampling from Enya's song "Boadicea". It reached #1 in the United Kingdom and in Netherlands, also it reached #2 in the United States, and remains Winans' only major success to date...
", which featured Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
, even though she didn't perform on the track at all. Enya's being featured was in fact attributed to the song using a sample from her 1987 instrumental "Boadicea" (The Celts
The Celts (album)
The Celts is an album by Irish musician Enya, released in 1992. It is a remastered re-release of her 1987 debut album Enya.In addition to having enhanced sound, this new release also contains a different version of the song "Portrait"; extended from 1:23 to 3:11, this version first appeared in 1988...
). Occasionally, a featured artist might actually get more time singing or rapping than the main artist. This is prominent in Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
's "Give It to Me
Give It to Me (Timbaland song)
"Give It to Me" is a song recorded by Timbaland, with featured artists Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, for Timbaland's second solo album, Shock Value . It was released as the album's first single...
", in which featured performers Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...
and Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
sing more part of the song than Timbaland himself.
When singles are released in multiple territories, the artist credit is often changed to reflect the artist's popularity in that area. For example, the 2006 single "I Belong to You" was credited to "Anastacia
Anastacia
Anastacia is an American singer-songwriter. Anastacia has been highly successful in Europe, Asia, South Africa and South America, but has had only minor success in her native United States...
ft. Eros Ramazzotti
Eros Ramazzotti
Eros Luciano Walter Ramazzotti , known simply as Eros Ramazzotti, is an Italian singer and songwriter. Ramazzotti is enormously popular in Italy, and is well known in most non-English-speaking European countries and in the Spanish-speaking world, as he has released most of his albums in both...
" in the United States of America, but to "Anastacia and Eros Ramazzotti" in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, to reflect Ramazzotti's popularity in the Central European area.
Featured artists are also on occasion referred to by other terms, seemingly used to increase their importance. Common examples are "Fly On The Wings Of Love", by XTM
XTM
XTM are a Catalan dance music act consisting of brothers Xasqui and Toni Ten. They are best known for their 2003 Eurodance cover version of the song Fly on the Wings of Love, which was originally the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000, performed by the Danish duet Olsen Brothers.XTM's...
and DJ Chucky Presents Annia, "In Private" by Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
with Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, "DOPAMINE" by m-flo
M-flo
is a Japanese hip hop group consisting of producer and DJ Taku Takahashi and emcee Verbal.Former member Lisa left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career, and the remaining members then started the M-Flo Loves... project working different vocalists for each song over three albums, including the...
Loves Emyli
Emyli
is a Japanese pop singer. Her debut album Flower of Life was released from BMG Japan label in 2003. Since the release of her first album, she has performed with popular acts such as M-Flo and Shinhwa...
& Diggy Mo', and "Miami 2 Ibiza" by Swedish House Mafia
Swedish House Mafia
Swedish House Mafia is a Swedish House Music group consisting of the three disc jockeys and producers; Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008....
vs. Tinie Tempah
Tinie Tempah
Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu , better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He made his first mixtape in 2007 with 28 songs, freestyles and remixes, the album features Mz Bratt, Chipmunk and G-Unit...
.