RAJA GEMINI
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 3 winner Raja Gemini was in Melbourne last fortnight for her national tour, and we were lucky enough to have had a little chat to her about her new single, ‘Zubi Zubi Zubi’. Roughly translating into ‘Dance Dance Dance’, the production is already one of the most exciting of the year and sounds like a Number 1 hit. Raja exclusively told us that the video was being constructed “right now” and would be released onto the interwebs “very soon”. Explaining to us that her musical endeavours come out of her own pocket, Raja admitted the video for ‘Zubi Zubi Zubi’ – a song which was originally released in 2013 – was a long time coming. But the important thing is THAT IT’S COMING!
‘Zubi Zubi Zubi’ is available now on iTunes along with Raja’s other excellent singles – ‘Diamond Crowned Queen’ and ‘Sublime’.
MADONNA x AVICII
Oh dear. What could very well be one of the most anticipated fears of 2014, Madonna has indeed announced that Avicii is one of the names involved with the recording of her new album – the follow-up to 2012’s less-than-brilliant MDNA. Posting a plethora of pictures on Instagram over the last fortnight, Madonna has admitted there are a “lot of great songs”. We’re just hoping they’re not ALL with Avicii.
Dance-master Avicii is a great producer and, for what he does, does it phenomenally. For those of you who can remember Scooter from the late ’90s and early ’00s, Avicii follows a very similar formula with his music and almost serves as the Scooter for a new generation. With his hits ‘Wake Me Up’ and ‘Hey Brother’, he has carved a name for himself as a well-respected force in the EDM world.
But what does this mean for Madonna’s new album? Well, for a start it means that, once again, Madonna is following trends rather than creating them. This is the third album in a row where she will, potentially, not be covering any new ground. The Madonna of yesteryear – the one that would actively take sounds from the underground and bring them into the mainstream pop market – seems to no longer exist. Her management, and those working with and around her, are to blame for this. She has people working for her who have no interest in hearing what the fans want, much less putting any of it into action.
Former Madonna production wizard Shep Pettibone is rumoured to have some involvement with the new record, assuring most fans that it won’t be all EDM-flavoured nonsense. In 2014, EDM seems to be a dying breed, and we wonder whether Madonna will be able to add any kind of relevance to it. The genre got a flogging on her previous album MDNA and although that record featured some absolute dynamite, that tiresome EDM sound outstayed its welcome on some tracks.
In between posting selfies on Instagram, cleaning her house and quoting Beyoncé lyrics on social media, we really hope Madonna is thinking long and hard about this album. We don’t want another ‘Superstar’ thanks Madge (GOD FORBID), because we – particularly those of us who have supported you with our hard-earned money since the beginning – certainly deserve a lot better than that.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT NEW KYLIE ALBUM?
Kylie Minogue’s new album, Kiss Me Once, hit shelves last week and we are proud to present a track-by-track review for you all on it … you just have to wait ’til next issue! On first few listens it’s easy to tell this may end up becoming the most polarising Kylie album to date; with that said though, there are a handful of solid-gold pop moments to be found and Sia’s role as executive producer is one to be celebrated.
GAGA’S ARTPOP BALL AN ARTFLOP?
In news that saddens us greatly at Splinters, it seems Lady Gaga’s ArtRave Ball Tour isn’t selling as well as expected in Australia. Whilst most General Admission tickets across Australia have actually sold out, it has come to light that many of the seated tickets (including a number of highly-priced ‘package’ tickets) are still available. However, in Perth, ALL of the tickets (bar the meet and greet) are still available to purchase!
After playing four Melbourne shows for her 2012 ‘Born This Way Ball’, these statistics come as somewhat of a surprise. However, Gaga’s album ARTPOP was released in November of 2013 and since then we have only had the one video clip – for ‘Applause’. The rumoured ‘Do What U Want’ video is destined to never see the light of day, whilst we hang around waiting for the rumoured video for rumoured next single, (rumour rumour rumour!) ‘G.U.Y.’. It’s starting to become exhausting following along.
Many little monsters were hoping to snap up tickets to multiple shows in their city but, judging by these ticket sales, Gaga will be lucky to sell out one show in each capital city. Yikes.
Perhaps it’s time to release a video and announce a new single – and pronto. Perhaps that is something that should have been dealt with long before Aussie dates were even announced. Here’s another one who seems to have all the wrong people working for her.
Written by Adem Ali