Following Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s epic producer showdown on Instagram Live earlier this week, the two returned to social media to highlight powerful songwriters in the music industry – The-Dream and Sean Garrett.
In a post uploaded to Instagram, Swizz Beatz informed fans that a new battle was set to take place on Saturday (March 28). “Me and my brother @timbaland decided to show respect to the songwriters tonight. This one is going to be Crazyyyyy hits only … Who do you have winning,” he wrote as his Instagram caption.
During the intense battle, both The-Dream and Garrett proved that their pen games are not to be messed with. Both songwriters played hit tracks from artists such as Mario, Justin Bieber, The Pussycat Dolls, Ciara, Jay Electronica, Rihanna and Beyoncé.
Fans went back and forth in the comments section the entire night. However, they went into a frenzy after hearing an unheard reference track of JAY-Z’s “Holy Grail.” In this version, The-Dream sang the chorus instead of Justin Timberlake, who made the final cut on JAY’s Magna Carta Holy Grail album.
“Sean Garrett and The-Dream BOTH have epic a** catalogues! There’s no competition between the two – they’re both great and have written some of the most defining songs in Pop/R&B over the past 20 years!” one user wrote following the epic battle. Another added, “The-Dream vs Sean Garrett was legendary. We heard most of the influential records of the past 15-20 years.”
Back in 2016, The-Dream opened up about his approach regarding his songwriting process. “I study the songs that were great songs before,” he explained during an interview. “OK, all these songs have a great subject matter. All these songs, even without melody, is a great conversation. All these songs have something that my songs need to have every time. There are songs I just write about sex, and it’s just about sex, so it doesn’t matter.”
Garrett also shared a similar sentiment about his creative process that same year. “The goal is to have a hit record on that artist with that scenario and that’s the goal you focus on,” he reasoned. “Music has always been about inspiring people. Either you are stopping people from hating or encouraging them to love more. It’s about sparking an emotion.”
Check out the reactions on social media to the epic battle below.