In the arts, historically, there are many styles of duo. Recently, I spoke with Rico Nasty about her latest album, a collaboration with Kenneth Blume (Kenny Beats). Asked about their communication style and why it works, she scoffed — according to Rico, their success is not in spite of, but rather because of, the sheer amount of disagreement and push and pull between their dichotomous ideas. But with Tenenbaum and Lewin, common ground has been fruitful, and easier to find. “For the most part, we have the same opinions creatively on everything. It's very rare where I’ll feel very strongly about something, and she won't like it or the other way around. That's rare. But it happens, and then usually we'll be like, ‘Okay, you're right.’ Because sometimes you get caught up in something and you get tunnel vision on a specific idea you're working on, and then you need someone else's perspective to be like, ‘It's not actually working.’"
They’ve perfected the recipe between themselves, and the proof lies in their discography, a tight and eclectic catalog. But this year, its limits were tested. Their proverbial kitchen expanded to include more cooks, sous chefs, and the like when Magdalena Bay embarked on their first film. It was a challenge in finding a new sort of balance. Tenenbaum explains, “The way we write and make our music, it's kind of like whatever we think of we can do. There [are] no limits. There's no limit. When you're making any video, any music video, especially when [it's] so long and potentially expensive, there are so many limitations that you're up against that it's like you could address creatively and whatever. It all works out. But it is more of a logistical-meets-creative, collaborative kind of thing.
