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In an interview, when Paul McCartney talked about his memory with Michael Jackson:

It was actually upstairs, here. In this office. Michael originally rang me, and said ‘do you want to make some hits?’ I didn’t know who it was, I didn’t recognise his voice at first, but I dug into it, and then I said ‘yeah, sure.’ He came along, we agreed to meet in here, at the piano upstairs. We just sat around with a guitar, at the piano, and we just sort of went ‘what shall we do?’. We just started, and it came very easily. I was quite excited to write with him, he was excited to write with me, so we were just popping off each other. We just did it, it was a very short session, and we were in the same room.

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To pop [off someone] (informal) always positive (transitive and intransitive) = to exchange innovative ideas very quickly especially in a way in which each member of the conversation/action is inspired by the other(s)

Very similar to bounce [ideas] off someone/each other but more lively.

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OED: 3.e. pop v. intransitive. To occur in a lively or exciting manner; to bustle with activity or agitation; to be filled or alive with.

1998 Independent 19 May i. 18/6 You only have to walk through Soho to feel that something is popping.

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  • Perfect. Would you minding telling me where can I find this definition ? I cannot even google anything close to this definition
    – Rex T
    Commented Jul 2, 2022 at 19:08
  • No, I can't find it either. It is very informal/colloquial and now not particularly common. I seem to remember it best from the late 90s/early 2000s and mainly from contexts such as you have given.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Jul 2, 2022 at 22:58

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