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Taylor Swift: I Want to Work With Her, She's "Dope," Says will.i.am

Exclusive! The Black Eyed Peas frontman talks about teaming up with the country pop superstar

By Marc Malkin Jul 11, 2013 6:22 PMTags
will.i.am, Taylor SwiftKevin Mazur/Getty Images

Music impresario will.i.am seems to have worked with everyone.

Most recently, he collaborated with Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears.

But there's at least one major hitmaker he has yet to hit the studio with—Taylor Swift!

Perhaps that will be changing sooner than later.

"Taylor Swift is dope," will.i.am told me earlier this week before performing at a music festival in Norway. "I'd like to work with Taylor Swift. I like the girl. We could do something really fantasy-like. That would be cool."

We certainly agree.

The Black Eyed Peas frontman is the subject of E!'s new bio series, Pop Innovators, premiering Sunday at 8 p.m.

will.i.am first realized he was creative when he was doing "arts and crafts as a kid" in school.

"I was always that one kid who everyone said, 'Look what William did,' and everyone gathered around," he remembered. "The teacher was always like, 'Wow, that's wonderful William,' and put it on the board for everyone to see it. That's where the confidence came from."

He was still in high school when his music career took off. "I got my first record deal when I was in the 11th grade," will.i.am said.

Not bad for a teenager. "I bought a car for my mom and I bought a car for me," he said. "I bought a yellow Sierra. I was ballin'."

Next up is developing a multi-media agency to nurture other artists across all creative disciplines including music, design, advertising, and marketing.

"I want to walk into a building and say, 'That's my building,'" will.i.am said. "It'll be arts and crafts on steroids."

Fergie is just one of will.i.am's superstar friends who appears on Pop Innovators. "Will is like a student of life," she said. " And it's just amazing to watch him watching the world. He's like a sponge. And he's an innovator because he's constantly running on that edge of what's going to happen next."

Right now, will.i.am is working with Leah McFall, a contestant he met on last season's U.K. version of The Voice. "She didn't win, but she should have won," he said, adding, "She is the most spectacular singer I've ever heard in a very, very, very, very long time. That's not an over exaggeration."