will.i.am believes that the UK "leads the world" when it comes to music.
The Black Eyed Peas star revealed that he paid for the 'Scream And Shout' music video, which features Britney Spears, out of his own pocket because he wanted his British fans to see it as soon as possible.
"I paid for the video myself," he told the Evening Standard. "The UK was like, 'We want something now, hurry up, it's hot'.
"It used to be America, but right now the UK leads the world. The American [record] company was hesitant because 'This Is Love' didn't really work in America.
"I don't do OPM [other people's money]. It takes too long. These ideas that I've had, if I'm thinking them then somebody else is about to do it. Right now you have got to go fast on things."
The UK release of 'Scream And Shout' was recently brought forward due to popular demand. It will be available to download in the UK on December 9.
What about all the flop artists? Marina and the Diamonds, Rita Ora, Jessie J (to a lesser extent) etc
And there's more American artists to get big in the UK than the other way around.
They're the followers! Europe more widely is where the US takes its lead. They're all a product of Guetta/Calvin/RedOne.
Adele was the spark that lit the 2012/2013 flame, Guetta/RedOne did it last time, though I'll give you the RnB mid 2000s because I'm on a phone and can't find receipts.
The only certain thing is that the U.S. is always the last country to catch on music trends, nor produces new ones that are not just mixtures of past ones.