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Two weeks after his 21st birthday, Lil Peep was found in the back his tour bus, dead from an overdose. The music world was shocked by the news while an outpouring tributes followed. Now, a year and a half after the artist’s untimely death, Lil Peep tops the pop charts with his ILoveMakonnen and Fall Out Boy-assisted single, “I’ve Been Waiting.”
ILoveMakonnen caught up with the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast to chat about his late friend, saying that the pair would talk about one day breaking through pop radio. “I’ve Been Waiting” climbed its way to the #15 spot on the Pop Songs airplay chart, and Makonnen said that he and Peep specifically crafted the track to be a pop hit.
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“This is what we sort always dreamed , and would have wanted, you know what I’m saying?” Makonnen explained. “When we made the music, I was telling him all this stuff like, ‘We could be on pop radio!’ And he was just smiling and laughing…He was believing it, but just like, ‘Come on, look at where we’re at right now.’ It’s just definitely happened (now). It’s like the dream is coming true what we intended to do with it, even though a lot people didn’t see it at the time.”
Peep and Makonnen had dreams releasing a collaborative album in early 2018, but Peep’s death put a halt on those plans. However, Makonnen now says he may still drop the record in the future because he hopes that it will keep his memory alive. “Our intention in making our whole album together was to sort put us in what we call ‘pop star land.’ That was really the intention behind all our music. We wanted to have (the music) crossover to pop, but still be original from Lil Peep and Makonnen.”