10 massive pop collaborations we need to hear right now

Here at Radio 1, there's no shortage of dream duos. Just take a look at our weekend schedule: we have the exquisite pairings of both Dev and Alice and Matt and Mollie offering up fun, games and amazing tunes.

The Radio 1 playlist has been full of terrific twosomes so far in 2018 too, with many huge name collabs dominating things - from Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj proving to be a fierce pop force on Bed, to A$AP Rocky and Skepta bridging the Atlantic gap for Praise The Lord (Da Shine). We've even seen Drake holding something of a Michael Jackson seance on Scorpion highlight Don't Matter To Me, and Beyoncé and JAY-Z once again proving to be the coolest couple in music on their surprise album, Everything Is Love.

Sure, collaborations are nothing new, but in a pop era where tribalism has all but disappeared thanks to streaming, there are no longer barriers between artists from vastly different worlds. Literally anything goes now, and it’s great! New Chainsmokers single? Bang Chris Martin on it! Ed Sheeran and Atlanta trap impresario Future on the same song? Why not?!

It has caused our imagination to run riot, and got us wondering what massive collaborations could come next. Here are the ones we really need to hear right now. C’mon, pop stars, what are you guys waiting for?

"Rudeboy, you’re never too big for Adele," grime kingpin Michael Omari - better known as Stormzy - reminded the world on 2016’s Big For Your Boots, recounting being "in the O2 singing my lungs out" at one of the superstar's tour dates.

The feeling was mutual: Adele was spotted at Stormz’s recent Brixton Academy headline date rapping to every word, and invited the MC to play her Titanic-themed 30th birthday party earlier this year.

The next step, surely, is a duet. Stormzy proved he can find flows for slower, more somber songs on Jorja Smith’s Let Me Down. Adele, meanwhile, after three acclaimed albums could shake things up for record number four with a Stormzy feature. Hopefully they sample My Heart Will Go On...

Could this one already be in the works? A recent Instagram post showed the pair together in LA, leading to much speculation among fans. It’s mind-blowing to think about a potential Dua Lipa and Ariana Grande collab. Could it happen?

It would definitely work - both are defiant stars with strong-willed personalities, massive hits and the kind of lung-busting vocals that cause windows to quake. Together they could write more New Rules into the 2018 pop rulebook.

It’s only a matter of time before we witness an Ed Sheeran and George Ezra team-up, surely? They bonded when Sheeran was a guest on Ezra's podcast – collaborating is the next logical step for two acoustic troubadours already much-loved for their pop heroics.

Ed's a serial collaborator: Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Rudimental, Wiley... the list goes on. George would be a worthy addition to that list, the results a tantalising sum of their combined songwriting sparkle.

Two Latin-pop powerhouses, responsible for two of the biggest albums of the last 12 months, bringing their fiesta-starting styles together on a track? To paraphrase Cardi B’s latest smash, we'd like it like that.

Camila Cabello is used to chopping it up with hip-hop royalty: Young Thug brought his trademark honeyed trap to Havana. The combination of the former Fifth Harmony member’s towering vocal hooks and classic Cardi ad-libs would sizzle, providing another win for Latin-pop.

They’ve talked up the possibility for some time – when’s it actually going to happen? It’s a collaboration that would make perfect sense: Niall Horan and Shawn Mendes are both gentle giants of pop, whose whisper-soft vocal charms are outsized only by their amiable personalities, who had fast rises to fame and are most comfortable operating over subtle strums of acoustic guitar.

What a joint release would lack in element of surprise, it’d more than make up for in giant choruses, we’re willing to bet.

Brit supernova Jorja Smith's recent debut album was smooth and sophisticated, opting for subtlety rather than boisterous bangers. If she does aim for the latter next, then she need look no further than Calvin Harris for a fruitful collaborator.

Funk Wav Bounces Vol 1, Harris' starry 2016 collab-filled album, confirmed the Scottish beatmaker as a production maestro who makes these kinds of smashes in his sleep.

After all, a Calvin team-up worked for one of her idols: Frank Ocean followed up an album of nuanced, amorphous R&B (Blonde) with a Calvin collab, the all-conquering Slide, which reminded everyone of his pop nous as his solo work grew more experimental. If it’s good enough for Frank...

East has truly met West this year, with the rise in popularity of Asian pop masters like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (who has been called Japan's Lady Gaga) and Seoul mega-group BTS proving that we're now living in a post-Despacito world where language is no barrier for music fans.

A collaboration between these two titans would further escalate that takeover, providing fast-paced, adrenaline-hit thrills and cityscape-sized melodies along the way. Maybe Kyary fan Charli XCX could get involved too. The more, the merrier!

McBusted 2.0, anyone? That worked out alright for another generation of pop-punk-inspired guitar rascals, who’ve enjoyed revived careers, stadium tours and further chart success since teaming up.

Joining forces in a similar way could prove similarly beneficial for The Vamps and 5 Seconds of Summer. Though neither’s career needs a shot in the arm right now, the prospect remains an intriguing (and no doubt raucous) one. But what could their supergroup name be? The Vamps of Summer? Not quite as catchy...

Sure, they both have solo material to concentrate on, but that doesn’t stop us dreaming of a coming-together between these two hip-hop polymaths, who’ve previously talked up the possibility of a joint mixtape.

Could a Chance The Rapper and Childish Gambino team-up be 2018's Watch The Throne moment? Well, these two definitely have the profile to follow in Jay-Z and Kanye’s footsteps: Donald Glover’s Atlanta TV show, star turn in a Star Wars spin-off and recent single This Is America have elevated him to the status of one of pop culture’s most vibrant forces, while Chance’s profile hasn’t stopped rising since 2015 mixtape Coloring Book. Don't just take our word for it though, take a look back at his 2016 Live Lounge performance.

Expect the duo to bring out the best in each other on a collaboration: veil-lifting rhymes about the black experience in America, window-quaking bass, and incendiary political truth-telling.

Franco-pop shape-makerChristine and the Queens would be a perfect person to link up with SZA. A recent Live Lounge session saw her cover the Doves In The Wind singer’s Maroon 5 collaboration, What Lovers Do, with impressive results.

Any collision of Christine’s upbeat, whipsmart pop sensibilities and the RnB hero’s tumbling vocals, full of emotion and honesty, would see sparks fly.

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