Jenny Lewis and Serengeti have released their latest collaborative track, “IDIOT”. Watch the accompanying music video, which was edited by Lewis herself, below.
Featuring a slinking bassline and backing vocals from Lewis, “IDIOT” finds Serengeti mixing seductive rhymes alongside boxing references. “Trinidad, Trinidad,” he raps, likely name-dropping former professional boxer Félix Trinidad. “Double jab / Left to the body like the pads.”
Lewis and the Chicago rapper first met in Germany in 2018, when they bonded over Tom Selleck, Indiana Jones, and their mutual love for boxing. After returning back to the US, Serengeti reached out to Lewis and asked to collaborate. In a note accompanying December’s “Unblu”, the duo revealed Lewis made the tracks on her iPhone, including “beats, bass, drums, digital tanpura & topline.”
“IDIOT” is one of five tracks the unlikely collaborators recorded together, and follows the release of “Unblu” and “Vroom Vroom”.
Over the weekend, Lewis reunited with Rilo Kiley bandmate Blake Sennett for a performance of “Let Me Back In” as part of Linda Perry’s Rock-N-Relief livestream event. Last year, the band reissued their self-titled debut album, and Lewis’ other former band The Postal Service shared the first-ever digital release of their live album, Everything Will Change.
In October, Serengeti released a different rap and indie rock collaboration, With Greg from Deerhoof, containing audio from his coincidental 2018 joint Berlin session with Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier. Serengeti also had a reunion of his own last year with frequent collaborator Open Mike Eagle. They released a joint EP, Quarantine Recordings, under the group name Cavanaugh.
