The Chainsmokers Say VMA Performance 'Sounded Like Sh-t'

The Chainsmmokers enjoy some beers in a pool for the latest cover of Billboard magazine.

Here’s what the duo – Drew Taggart and Alex Pall – had to share with the mag:

On giving themselves props: “Only Justin Bieber and Drake can hold a candle to what we’ve done. Now we’re influencing the industry, putting out songs everyone copies.”

On name-dropping artists who didn’t want to collaborate with them: “They were like, ‘Yo! We should do a track together,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, really?’ I can’t blame somebody for saying no early on, but it depends on how you said no and how you came back to us. If you own it, like, ‘I didn’t see the vision, but it’s clear now and it’s super sick,’ I get that. It feels good when those people are like…thirsty.”

On their VMA performance: “It sounded like sh-t. We were told my voice was going to be mixed well, but there was no reverb and it was way louder than the track for the broadcast. I was set up to fail. Nearly every other person lip-synced it, and we knew because we had them in our ears. So now I know why you lip-sync.”

For more on The Chainsmokers, visit Billboard.com.

FYI: Alex is wearing Ksubi jeans on the cover.