John Oates may have ruled the charts alongside his Daryl Hall 30 years ago, but this rockstar says teaming up with younger artists has been one of his most exciting chapters yet.
Hall & Oates created some of the biggest hits in the 1970s and 1980s, including “She’s Gone,” “Out of Touch” and “Private Eyes,” as well as their studio albums released during this time such as Voices (1980), Private Eyes (1981), H2O (1982), Big Bam Boom (1984) and Ooh Yeah! (1988), all achieved platinum or better sales.
In recent years, though, Oates and Hall had a falling out, which led to lawsuits and a restraining order, but the pair settled their differences via arbitration last month. The conflict began in November 2023 when Oates attempted to sell his share of the jointly owned business, Whole Oats Enterprises, without Hall’s consent. The last time they performed together was in October 2022 in Laughlin, Nevada.
On Wednesday, the 77-year-old musician sat down with Stereogumfor the publication’s “We’ve Got a File On You” series, where they interview artists and share the stories. The interview was conducted via Zoom, where Oates was sitting at his home in Aspen, Colorado, and discussed his new album Oates, what it was like performing as an anteater on The Masked Singer in 2023 and the stories behind his most popular songs with Hall.
One of the questions asked was if Oates had any younger artists that he wanted to collaborate with or a musician that he was impressed by. He admitted that he loved working with Spencer Sutherland, and they have a song together titled “Modern Heartbreak,” which came out in May, and are also working on other songs.
“When I work with younger artists, I bring a level of expertise and experience that they don’t have, but they bring a new perspective and a new way of looking at things, and an energy that perhaps I don’t have. And that’s a really powerful combination, and it’s been proven to work really well for me.”
In recent years, Oates has collaborated with a number of younger artists and bands, including the pop-soul group Lawrence and Devon Gilfillian, who are featured in his latest record. He has also worked with musicians such as John Michel and A.J. Croce outside of the album.
“When I collaborate, I go out of my way to work with younger artists, because I’ve had very little success with working with artists of my own genre. I’ve done some work with older artists, artists who are closer to my age. It’s funny, the shared experience of people your own age tends to be almost like treading water, in a weird way,” Oates admitted. “There’s no spark to take it somewhere else. It’s almost like we’re both pulling from the same well of inspiration, and that ends up being kind of static.”
The “Sara Smile” singer also mentioned that he wrote a single with newer artist JT Loux, which is set to be part of Loux’s sophomore album out in 2026.
“I guess I’m an anti-agist, or maybe I’m an agist,” Oates joked. “That’s a terrible thing to say. But I don’t think of myself as old. Of course, no old people do. But that’s the way it goes.”
After the duo Hall & Oates had a fallout, Oates started to shift his focus to a solo career. His self-titled album, Oates, which combines the genres of soul, R&B, bossa nova and pop, is out now on all streaming platforms.
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This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 4, 2025, where it first appeared in the Celebs section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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