Friends Like These: 347aidan and renforshort

347aidan and renforshort are perfectly opposing forces on their October single ‘IDONTWANNATALKTOYOU!’. Playing a broken couple ruminating on their fading relationship, renforshort is the sweet voice of hope opposite 347aidan’s raspy teenage disillusionment.

18-year-old Aidan insists he couldn’t have chosen a better first feature than his fellow Canada native Lauren ‘ren’ Isenberg. “Having someone just as cool as me on the other side of the song is, like, double the coolness,” he says in their Friends Like These video chat for NME. “And now you’ve set the bar all the way up to the roof for collaboration. So anyone that I collaborate with, I’m just gonna hold them to the ren bar.”

19-year-old renforshort says she felt the pressure of collaborating with an artist who experienced a viral moment with his 2020 release ‘Dancing In My Room’, which was similar to the buzzy response which greeted her breakout track ‘mind games’. “Aidan was like, ‘I want you to be on my song’, and I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s a lot of pressure for me,’” she recalls. “[It was] such an easy collaboration. We just ended up getting in the studio, I did my verse and got some real-life feedback, which was sick. It was sick.”

“Except I was actually sick,” 347aidan adds. “Yeah!” ren responds. “Aidan was really violently ill.”

It’s really no surprise that the two artists clicked, considering it took 347aidan four attempts to record his introduction for this chat because renforshort made him laugh every time. The teen’s bashful charm is consistent with a singer who is still finding his feet as a full-time artist – he still hasn’t had the chance to do a live show yet (and that includes karaoke).

But renforshort offers some words of encouragement for Aidan here before he takes to the stage this month for his debut live performance. “It’s like the best drug ever,” she says. “It rushes endorphins through your body for hours and hours, and you can’t sleep – you’re just the happiest you’ve ever been.

“I will come on tour with you and be the person that goes, ‘You have to remember what you’re doing this for. This is the best night of your life.’”

347aidan and renforshort also discuss their love for Mac Miller and Bon Iver, address their biggest misconceptions and tease what they’re currently working on. Watch the full video above.