Big-budget videos, a Superbowl Half-time performance, and a giant snowball of hype. All of the aforementioned preceded the release of Madonna‘s latest album ‘MDNA’. And yet the LP has gone on to become one of the star’s worst performing yet.
Indeed, after shifting an impressive 359,000 copies in its first week on sale in the US (a figure boosted by a tour ticket/album combo), the following seven days would see the set make history for all the wrong reasons – after sales dropped a whopping 86%. Since then, the ‘Give Me All Your Luvin” led collection hasn’t fared any better – disappearing from the upper, middle, and bottom echelons of the charts in many a country.
Naturally, then, the blame game begins and it seems first up on the podium is the album’s primary producer William Orbit. The 55 year old Pop maestro, who couldn’t stop professing the greatness of the LP before its arrival, has been rather vocal about why he thinks the album flopped into the fiery pits.
Check out his “interesting” rationale after the jump…
They say all publicity is good publicity, however we’re not sure that rings true for a certain Justin Bieber.
For, the teen pin-up was caught in quite the ruckus earlier today with a paparazzi while en route home from a date with girlfriend Selena Gomez. This coming merely weeks before his third album ‘Believe’ hits stores on June 19th.
Details surrounding the incident are sketchy at present, yet the shots below tell a compelling tale.
Azealia Banks will launch her ’1991′ EP tomorrow and despite the release only holding four songs, she has served up a preview today.
Arriving before her debut LP ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’, the EP includes its breakthrough title track,the dance hopeful ‘Van Vogue’ and witty number ‘Liquorice’.
This weekend saw Beyonce make her grand return to the stage. And with a purpose. Indeed, with all eyes and ears fixated on whether she still has “it” after giving birth back in January, the 30 year old delivered an emphatic answer on the opening night of her Revel resort residency.
For, not only does she still possess “it” in abundance, she turned in a showing that re-affirms her position -love her or loathe her-as the greatest performer of this generation.
Proving that Friday’s show was no fluke, the megastar continued to highlight why she enjoys such status on Saturday night with another epic show.
For one reason or another, music videos- or at least their impact on Pop culture- just aren’t the same.
Perhaps down to the scarcity of cash in the industry, it’s fair to say that the music video has felt the full force of the business’ switch from shifting albums to selling singles.
Economically it makes sense with most of today’s act hardly bringing in enough to warrant budgets the likes of Michael Janet were afforded, but can you really put a price on creativity?
Are lack of finances to blame for videos which- quite frankly- are as generic as the singles they are in aid of?
How many of these will stand the test of time?
Peep a few memorable videos and weigh in after the jump…
Nelly Furtado has been a relative reclusive on the music scene for the past six years. Yet, given today’s fast moving industry, it feels more like six hundred years.
Nonetheless, it looks like the eclectic singer is willing to put in the work to win over the modern mass. KIIS 102.7 served as the latest stop on the promotional run for her new single ‘Big Hoops’ and its housing album ‘The Spirit Indestructible’.
There Furtado served up an acoustic set which consisted of ‘Hoops’, as well as 2006 smashes ‘Maneater’ and ‘Say It Right’.
Yesterday evening, Mariah Carey took to Morocco’s Mawazine Festival for what many are calling her biggest ‘comeback‘ performance to date.
While we showed you some of her last night over here, Mariah fans will be pleased to know we now have the remaining performances waiting for you below…
This week, From The Vault journey’s back, back to a time when Mariah Carey was an undeniable vocal titan.
Our selection comes in the form of Mimi’s ‘Emotions’ performance at her now-iconic MTV Unplugged session.
*****
‘Emotions’ was the first single lifted from the songbird’s 1991 sophomore set of the same name and became her fifth consecutive #1 in the US Billboard. The song was also a Canadian Top 5 and a Australian and British Top 20.
If ever you weren’t privy to what we call a flawless vocal performance, this -quite literally- is it.
MC engaged her entire vocal range to intensify the performance, dabbling in Jazz and Gospel, while all the while remaining markedly “Mariah”. Even her stage presence, albeit not her strongest feat, was on point. The choir (which included a young Kelly Price) was also a potent touch, rendering the whole affair even more uplifting and vocally impactful.
Without a shred of doubt. this is the Mariah we fell for and hold in the highest regard. Her ability to hit those notes both confidently and effortlessly was uncanny. Indeed, there was no sign of the “painful constipation” sound or visual she seems to channel these days when reaching for those same notes.
Still, no matter the deterioration her voice has endured over the years, Mariah vocally remains a sturdy step step ahead of many of her counterparts.
Her upper register is not what it once was. That much is a given. Hence, we wish future releases will see her rely mostly on her astonishing (and somewhat underrated) middle and lower registers, so that she can exude the same confidence as in this showing while on stage. After all, there’s little point cooking up a vocal masterpiece in the studio, and falling to pieces when time to replicate live. A problem she has faced on numerous occasions in her latter day career.
An ever-adaptable chameleon, we’re sure the masses wouldn’t mind exchanging some of their lofty vocal expectations from Mariah for some of the “magic” she displayed here. A magic that has been missing from her live showings for years now.
The release date of Ashanti‘s new LP ‘Braveheart’ may be hovering in Neverland, yet that hasn’t stopped the R&B chanteuse from continuing along the promotional trail.
Her latest stop? Washington, DC, where performed at Omega’s 5000 Men Mega Party last night.
Slightly more notable than her barely-there catsuit was her on-stage debut of new song ‘She Don’t’. Is the ‘Brave’ cut any better than the project’s non-starting lead single ‘The Woman You Love’? The answer awaits after the jump…
The Holy Land will be the first to see what ‘Dress You Up’ diva Madonna has been cooking up for her highly anticipated ‘MDNA’ tour. Unlike its like named, accompanying album, the tour is off to a rocking start at the box office (pushing nearly $500 million in sales).
With dates sold out daily, fans of the 53-year-old hitmaker are set to be in for a treat. We’ve already given you a peek behind the scenes, now get into these new snap’s uploaded to the Material Girl’s Facebook page today.
