Lady Gaga has recently released an image of her stage design for her upcoming ArtRave:l tour, and its pretty bold. Revealed to the world via Twitter, Gaga tweeted a photo of the stage design (Pictured) which features two extended arms (Or are they more legs with heels on?) to bring Gaga closer to her Monsters.
Along with the uploaded photo, Lady G revealed that runways (Arms/Legs) allow her Little Monsters to dance underneath turning this tour into a true rave! Although interestingly/worringly, she also revealed the stage is Lucite; a transparent kind of material thats a bit like Plexiglass. Lets just hope she remembers to wear Underwear..! Amrite?!
The Brit Awards in association with Mastercard; the biggest
event in the UK music calendar. And now we’ve said “In association with
Mastercard” we don’t have to say it again, right? #PricelessMoments.
This year’s Brits featured a new award, British Video. Nominees were shortlisted by a mixture of sales,
Youtube views and collective Tweets, with the winner being decided during the
ceremony as viewers at home voted for their winner using the Hashtag Brits followed by the artists name, but
not including retweets and misspellings. All in all, it was a little confusing.
But if ironed out this could become a staple award in future years, and helps
secure the yoof viewership. Although ITV did repeatedly show John Newman’s
video for Cheatingwhen discussing Love Me Again. Which either shows a lack
of research in the ITV offices, or that John Newman’s hits all sound the same…
In the end 1Direction won for Best SongEver, cause apparently their big on social media. (Who Knew?!)
1Direction also picked up the British Global Success award which at the end of the day is just an
award for selling songs abroad quite well. But 1D have done this well, so well
in fact that Harry Styles couldn’t contain his excitement and had to dash to
the toilets, almost missing out on collecting the award.
The Brit Award producers have always been keen on their
collabs and this year was no different. And although Bastille and Rudimental
(Or Bastimental as they were
introduced as) were good, they were nothing compared to the brilliance of Lorde
and Disclosure who created a house version of Royals before being joined by Aluna (of AlunaGeorge) for White Noise.
Lorde went on to winInternational Solo Female beating
the likes of Gaga and (A noticeably peeved) Katy Perry. While on the subject of
KP, what was that British accent bit about? A weird mix of Dick Van Dyke meets Russell
Brand (oh, Sore Subject). All was forgiven however when she performed a day-glo
art-rave version ofDark Horse; which
was fun, if not a bit Lady G.
The other non-British Brits included International Solo Male, whichwent to Bruno Mars who ignored the Solo segment and invited his whole
band/family up to accept the award. While International
Band went to the French robotic duo Daft
Punk, who had an alright 2013 I suppose.
Most underplayed award has to go to Sam Smith, winner of Brit’s Critics
Choice Award. Although this was announced a few weeks before the show, as
tradition dictates, the winner is still normally summoned to the stage to say a
few words (Or swear words in the case of FlorenceAnd The Machine). Sadly this year all Sam was honoured with was a fleeting
flirt from Corden and a small round of applause, all without leaving his seat.
The caliber of category presenters ranged from Lily Allen
(with yellow-dipped hair) to Cesc Fabregas, who awkwardly apologised for
Barcelona beating Manchester City…Because the 02 is famous for its Man City
supporters. Pharrell Williams accidently revealed to the world why he wears that Vivienne Westwood Mountain Hat as
he presented an award with Kylie Minogue, showing how he’s only
marginally
taller than her (And she’s very short). Talking of little people, Prince
even popped up to present the first award of the evening with his band 3rd
Eye Girl. This was made only marginally awkward by James Corden stopping proceedings
to have a ‘selfie’ with Prince. Nice idea, bad timing.
Noel Gallagher brought swagger to the stage as he presented the
British Male award to David Bowie. Noel
then smashed the (admittedly not very high) hopes that David was here in person
to collect the award by proclaiming “David Bowie's too cool for that – he
doesn't do this s**t.” He had a point; as if David Bowie was going to be sat in
between Danni Minogue and Mark Wright at a table at the Brits! But he did send
his “representative on Earth” Kate Moss. As Ziggy Stardust loomed over head on
the projector, Kate read allowed a pre-written speech:
"David has asked
me to say this: In Japanese myth, the rabbits on my old costume that Kate's
wearing live on the moon. Kate comes from Venus, and I from Mars. I'm
completely delighted to have a Brit for being the best male. I think it's a
great way to end the day. Thank you very much – and Scotland, stay with
us."
It became the ultimate talking point of the evening; the oldest
winner in Brits history, a foray into the Scottish independence row. Ultimately,
it proved that Bowie-mania wasn’t dead. Then, when Arctic Monkeys collected British Album, front man Alex Turner Stated that
“Rock’n’roll isn’t dead” before dropping the mic deliberately. Sooo rock and roll. Move over and let the 67 Year old rocker show you kids how it's done...
Miss Allen, like most people during their retirement, has clearly
been listening to M.I.A. because her influences feature heavily in Lily’s
latest track Air Balloon. That’s not
to state this isn’t an Allen Original as it most certainly is. From the sweet “Landan”
vocals to the fluttering backing track, Air
Balloon is insanely catchy. As Lily herself tweeted “If you thought the
Bear and Hare was annoying, you won't want to watch this” before tweeting the lyrics“Na Na Na Na Na Na .
Na . Na Na nanana mmmmmm.”. It’s infectious,
light and bubbly, and a return of Lily to the pop world. The music video is yet
to be released, but reportedly features Lily dancing with Zebras…Nope, Me
neither! The album is yet to be titled, but the tracklist is starting to look
very good.
Who doesn’t love a bit of Shakira? A lovely bit of Waka Waka in the morning is a sure-fire
way to brighten up any day. But Shakira and
Rihanna?! Now that will keep you going for at least week..! Available NOW, Can’t Remember To Forget You see’s both
Ri-Ri and Sha-Sha (May catch on!) bounce along through a mix of Latin and rock
beats to a Kelly Clarkson-esque guitar heavy chorus. In doing so, they deliver
a solid pop-duet.
"But when I look at you the only memory I remember is us kissing in the moonlight"
“Everybody get up!”; There’s a distinctive Pharrel Williams
feel to Paloma’s latest musical offering Can’t
Rely On You, which could possibly be due to the fact that he both produced
and features in it. Gritty and
powerful, Paloma injects some James Brown-esque soul back into the pop world. Looped funky beats make this 'on trend', but the vocals make this all Paloma. Taken from her upcoming third album, A Perfect Contradiction, Paloma has reportedly stated that its time to "Screw the hard stuff, let's dance!" And She can also speak Italian…who knew?!
"You've got that good stuff but that won't last.."
Love or loathe her, anything Lady Gaga does is going make
headlines. “Look, she’s singing on stage wearing an outlandish clothing item!”
“Wowzers, she’s stepped out of a taxi wearing an outlandish clothing item!”
“Golly gosh, she’s walking around New York NOT
wearing an outlandish clothing item!” STOP PRESS!
But now she is back in the news for her music; ArtPop. Aurais the first track up and don’t let the opening restrained
guitar chords fool you, this song is perfect for kicking of the Queen of Pop’s
third album. It has everything; from thumping techno beats to smashing cymbals and
manic synths. Gaga even has time to reference all the themes covered in Artpop; electronically repeating “Dance, Sex, Art, Pop, Tech”. Originally
titled Burqa, Aura is set to reveal
the girl behind the Gaga, letting the listener into the life of the megastar: “Do you want to see the girl who lives
behind the aura?” she questions. It’s an outlandish claim for an outlandish
song; even the lyric video is brilliantly over the top, being directed by Robert
Rodriguez and created to tie in with the filmMachete Kills, to which Gaga stars.
And there’s no time for a breather as the album rolls
straight into Venus. This goddess-of-love
inspired track is the first Lady G has ever produced herself, and it’s got Gaga
all over it. It’s a dramatic dance track that features the typical ‘chorus catchiness’
seen in past hits such as Poker Face
and Bad Romance. Themystical and enchanting lyrics even
include a run-down of planets in the solar system (No, Seriously). G.U.Y.,standing for Girl Under You, spins all preconceived
gender roles on its head and harks back to the dark dirty world of Born This Way. Full of explosive and
in-your-face sexual references, including the spoken phrase “Mount Your Goddess”, GUY borders into
the sexual-but-not-sexy category.
This theme continues into the triple-x rated Sexxx Dreams, where restrained opening vocals burst into a
gloriously filthy chorus which vocally harks back to Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite(Unintentional goddess
reference). The climax of Sexxx Dreams
comes with the brilliant spoken word intersection “I can’t believe I’m telling you this but I’ve had a couple of drinks
and Oh my God...!”.
One thing made clear in Born
This Way was that Gaga is not afraid to try new directions and music
tastes, and this ‘development’ continues with the rap-grime scene of Jewels and Drugsfeaturing T.I., Too
Short and Twista. It’s an eclectic mix of manic rap, expletive lyrics and
perplexing backing beats. Whether this is a route Gaga should follow more often
is debatable, so the choice is yours. Stay and you can enjoy a well hidden, but
fine chorus. Or skip, and be rewarded with ManiCure,
a superb mix of rock and pop that features a truly powerful guitar riff. Do What You Wantfeaturing R Kelly is
probably the most batted around song from the album, and rightfully so; it’s a
gem. The inclusion of R Kelly does cheapen the songs meaning slightly, with
Gaga singing about the struggles of becoming famous quickly and constantly
being scrutinised in the public eye, Kelly about a night in a club! But that’s
not important as this groovy R&B-pop cross is beautiful.Artpop the
track contains an intoxicating chorus, while Swine is the standout club track of whole album. It’s less of an
‘adrenaline rush’ and more of a stampede. Stabbing synths smash together with
dubstep beats to provide an excellent electro-house record; it’s basically a
club night in one song.
Donatella is an
ode to the Versace headmistress, painting her in both a positive but
interestingly negative way (Would she like being called a “Rich Bitch”?). The love of all things clothes rolls into the David
Guetta produced track Fashion! (Note
the ‘!’; this is not to be confused with Fashion.
See?). This is a pure disco record that reeks of David Bowie, which is
never a bad thing. But from the ecstasy of the fashion world comes the dark
drug fuelled underworld of Mary Jane
Holland; Gaga’s ode to Marijuana. The disturbing, gritty lyrics add a very
sinister edge to what is still an enjoyable sounding song. Dopelacks the poetry of earlier tracks, but makes up for that
through shear emotion. Described as a song for the fans, this piano led piece exposes
Gaga to the core (Finally revealing the girl behind the Aura?). Written whilst Lady G was recovering from a broken hip, she
slurs “I need you more than Dope” with
pain in her heart and literal tears in her eyes.
Gypsyis the You and Ior Edge Of Gloryof Artpop, injecting
fun and hope instead of pain and dope. It’s the surprise of the album, a
gloriously enjoyable track that deserves to be placed higher up in the
listings; more an opener than a closer. Gaga’s vocals soar majestically in this 80s
inspired anthem. And after a performance as epic as this, the only thing left
is the Applause.
But Is it Art? Title track Artpop provides the insight that “My Artpop could mean anything” which
kind of sums up the album; focus on the Art like many critics and get caught up
for hours ultimately detracting yourself from the music. Focus on the Pop of ArtPop, and you’ll witness a superbly
produced, if not eclectic euro-pop album.
Lady Gaga has recently released an image of her stage design for her upcoming ArtRave:l tour, and its pretty bold. Revealed to the world via Twitter, Gaga tweeted a photo of the stage design (Pictured) which features two extended arms (Or are they more legs with heels on?) to bring Gaga closer to her Monsters.
