WILLAM TAKES A #HOLEPIC
Willam Belli, who’s best known for being one third of parody pop outfit DWV (and being the first contestant from RuPaul’s Drag Race to be disqualified from the competition), continues her track record of offensively brilliant pop parodies with a take on The Chainsmokers’ hit ‘#Selfie’. Once again Belli plays with gay culture, aiming ‘Hole Pic’’s lyrics at the stereotypical image exchange that goes on via man-meating-apps such as Grindr, Tinder, Manhunt and Scruff. Following tradition, the video clip itself is also a totally hysterical piece in its own right and worth more than a load through the browser of your choice. But beware: as you may have already guessed by its suggestive title, Hole Pic is strictly ‘Not Safe For Work’.
ALASKA THUNDERFVCK THINKS YOUR MAKEUP IS TERRIBLE
RuPaul’s Drag Race is not only taking over the world of television, it’s now grown a mind of its own in the music business! Season 5 finalist Alaska Thunderfvck released her debut single Ru Girl last year to a smattering of applause, but it’s the bloody hilarious next release which has us clutching at our pearls with excitement. The catchier-than-VD ‘Your Makeup is Terrible’ is Alaska at her simultaneously funniest, most annoying and most brilliant, with an undeniable EDM-styled bassline that would give most of the genre’s ‘flavours of the month’ a run for their money.
Splinters was lucky enough to catch Alaska live last fortnight at St Kilda’s Greyhound Hotel where she performed the new single and confirmed to us after the show it would be appearing on iTunes “very soon”, before calling us her “sweet grasshopper”. We can’t wait for it to become the viral, pop sensation it’s clearly designed to be…
ARE WE ABOUT TO GET A MADGE-DROP?
Queen of Pop and current Queen of Instagram, Madonna is tipped to “pull a Beyoncé” by dropping her reportedly ‘finished’ album very soon. Those closest to the star have taken to social media in the past fortnight, claiming to have heard the completed album in full, with Girl Gone Wild video director Mert Alas even going as far as to include unheard lyrics from the record into his social media post.
The album, which Madonna has allegedly been working on since late last year, has a vast array of producers and songwriters linked to it, many of whom have been ‘outed’ along the way via Madonna’s very own Instagram account. Posting an impressive series of photographs to the social media platform she seems most enamoured with, Madonna poses with Splinters favourites such as Natalia Kills, former Gaga songwriter, producer and A&R man Cherry Cherry Boom Boom (aka Martin Kierszenbaum), folk-EDM king Avicii, Toby Gad (who produced the incredible ‘Untouched’ for our very own The Veronicas, amongst other titles by Fergie and John Legend), and even hip hop hit-maker Symbolyc One, whose list of collaborators includes everyone from Beyoncé to Kanye West’s recent affair Yeezus, even adding his production flair to Eminem’s best-selling 2013 record, The Marshall Mathers L.P. Volume 2.
So what trend is Madonna going to be either following or creating with this new record? Clearly she is no longer focused on a straight-up EDM/Dance music affair like MDNA was, a tell-tale sign being the list of producers involved. The interesting thing about this list of collaborators is the fact that the genres they are ‘known for’ all differ from the next.
After the mild success of 2012’s MDNA and the lukewarm-to-frozen reaction the record received from critics, it certainly looks as though Madge has a lot riding on this next effort. MDNA was accused by many (including her former producer William Orbit) of being a rushed affair: for the first time in her career, Mo was embarking on the creation of a record solely to go on tour, whereas in the past she had gone on tour to support an album she had worked long and hard on. MDNA was the first time the tour came ‘first’, in a sense, with the half-hatched record thrown together as a promotional effort purely to accommodate its eventual reign as the Highest Grossing Tour of All Time.
That being said, in a world where we dispose of our pop stars quicker than you can say ‘reductive’, Madonna ’14 is the Queen of Pop’s chance to prove that she is a lot more than just a fantastic, live ‘heritage’ act. This is the time to prove she still has that Midas touch we’ve all grown to adore across three impressive decades, and judging by all of the social media footprints Madonna has been casually tracking through the internet, Splinters think this could end up being a rightful return to form.
Once we hear more, so will you.
Writen by Adem Ali
