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Lady Gaga’s Unreleased “Chromatica” Album Tracklist Reveals Duets with Elton John, Ariana Grande, BlackPink

Roger Friedman
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Lady Gaga’s Unreleased “Chromatica” Album Tracklist Reveals Duets with Elton John, Ariana Grande, BlackPink

Lady Gaga’s new album, “Chromatica,” looks very promising. The tracklist, revealed today by accident– or are there any accidents?–shows duets with Elton John, Ariana Grande, and BLACKPINK.

The Ariana Grande part answers the question that was looming about which major female singer was on the record. I thought it was Adele. But this is very good news. Ariana has a beautiful voice. She just needs better songs.

“Chromatica” was supposed to be released on April 10th. But Gaga postponed it because of the virus. She also cancelled her tour. Many recording artists have joined her in putting off new releases. Dixie Chicks just did that the other day with their “Gaslighter” album.

It does seem like from the list below, the song “Chromatica” might be instrumental, and used as as theme throughout the record. The Elton John song has a witty title, “Sine from Above,” spelled sine instead of sign. Sine, as we remember from school, is a math term from trigonometry.

So far Gaga has released one single, “Stupid Love.” Wouldn’t we all like another one now?

 

1. “Chromatica I”
2. “Alice”
3. “Stupid Love”
4. “Rain On Me” (ft. Ariana Grande)
“5. Free Woman”
6. “Fun Tonight”.
7. “Chromatica II”
8. “911”
9. “Plastic Doll”
10. “Sour Candy” (ft. BLACKPINK)
11. “Enigma”
12. “Replay”
13. “Chromatica III”
14. “Sine From Above” (ft. Elton John)
15. “1,000 Doves”
16. “Babylon”
17. “Love Me Right” (Bonus)
18. “1,000 Doves” (Piano Version) (Bonus)
19. “Stupid Love” (Vitaclub Warehouse Mix) (Bonus)

“Empire,” Once a Force for Fox with 17 Million Viewers, Finishes Six Season Run in Tatters With Less Than 3 Mil Fans

Roger Friedman
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“Empire,” Once a Force for Fox with 17 Million Viewers, Finishes Six Season Run in Tatters With Less Than 3 Mil Fans

“Empire” was such a monster hit when it ended its first season on March 18, 2015 , 17.6 million people tuned in for the big cliffhanger. The show had debuted on January 7, 2015.

Five years and six seasons later, “Empire” ended last night with just 2.94 million fans still interested in the fate of the Lyons family.

“Empire” was a rocket with no engine. The Lee Daniels soap opera about the Lyons and their Empire Records company didn’t pace itself. It burned through guest stars and crazy plots at a dizzying speed. They never teased anything, or spaced out a story. They just blew through everything and everyone without looking back.

Starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, “Empire” had three strong seasons, a tepid fourth season. By the 5th season interest was already waning when cast member Jussie Smollett got involved in a scandal in Chicago. He said he’d been mugged in a racial and sex-centered hate attack. But when his story proved unfounded, headlines pounded away. Smollett was fired from the show, but the damage was done. “Empire” quickly crumbled.

It didn’t help that the sixth and last season was foreshortened by coronavirus. Production shut down before the actual final episode could be filmed. Last night’s show, which was likely its last, wasn’t what the producers wanted. But by the time it was over, a reasonable ending was capped onto the last episode filmed. They could come back. But would anyone care?

My guess is, “Empire” returns in five years with new actors and characters a la “Will and Grace.” It’s time to let nostalgia set in.

PS As I wrote in the previous item about Prince’s tribute on CBS, it wasn’t nice of the Tiffany network to schedule that show against “Empire.” You know their thinking– black, music, etc–so let’s try and steal that audience. “Empire” may pick up a few more points from delayed viewing.

READ THIS: https://www.showbiz411.com/2019/11/26/exclusive-whitney-houston-biopic-will-be-written-by-anthony-mccarten-of-bohemian-rhapsody-fame-and-the-two-popes

 

 

Ratings: Prince Tribute Featuring Big Dose of Sheila E. Scores 6.5 Mil Viewers, Second to “NCIS” Rerun, Number 1 in Demos

Roger Friedman
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Ratings: Prince Tribute Featuring Big Dose of Sheila E. Scores 6.5 Mil Viewers, Second to “NCIS” Rerun, Number 1 in Demos

“Let’s Go Crazy: A Grammy Tribute” to Prince scored 6.5 mil viewers, finishing 2nd in overall viewers to a “NCIS” rerun. But the music special was number 1 in the younger demos. So flip the coin. It’s a win on a slow night.

The Grammy salute to Prince was, let’s say, tepid. With the exception of a sizzling Gary Clark Jr. and an uncredited Wendy Melvoin, the 4th anniversary of Prince’s death must have amused him in heaven.

For one thing, Sheila E., unquestionably talented, emerged as sort of his music widow, the Yoko Ono with a raspberry beret. Music director of the show, she was prominently featured for the whole two hours including a whole segment just for her. Talk  about the glamorous life!

Wendy Melvoin, one half of Wendy & Lisa, the main part of the Revolution, Prince’s famous band, didn’t really emerge until late in the second hour as a lead guitarist in the house band. She was not identified. Where was Lisa? I didn’t see her. I’m sure I’ll get email about some feud going on.

Also missing were Chaka Khan, Sinead O’Connor, Cyndi Lauper, Janet Jackson, all of whom had seminal hits with Prince songs. Alicia Keys, who’d hosted the Grammys two nights before this tribute, offered a pre-taped intro to Usher’s pre-taped medley of hits from Grammy night. This is Ken Ehrlich’s famous trick. He did it last year with Diana Ross to get her on the Motown special, and Jennifer Lopez, as well. CBS has such an older demo, I worry they’re thinking they have dementia seeing the same material in a music special just two months later.

Anyway. The music production was very good for a CBS special, incredibly tame for Prince. Susanna Hoffs and Chris Martin repurposed the song Prince gave her, “Manic Monday,” as a ballad, which was musical but not manic.  Somehow, while fun to hear, Prince’s catalog got a middle of the road high gloss. All of his edgy parts were buffed out. But maybe that’s what happens over time.

One moment, though, that will stand out forever: Mavis Staples, in one of her best showings, led the band and company through “Purple Rain” like a warrior. She reminded me of Tina Turner in “Mad Max.” God bless her, she’s 80, and only triumphs. She was worth the wait during the soggy second hour.

I thought it was interesting that CBS scheduled the Prince special against the final episode of “Empire” over on Fox. It was like, let’s dilute the black audience by pitting these shows against each other.

Listen to the Songs Cut from Lady Gaga’s “Together at Home” Show: Why Did They Solicit 59 Songs No One Heard?

Roger Friedman
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Listen to the Songs Cut from Lady Gaga’s “Together at Home” Show: Why Did They Solicit 59 Songs No One Heard?

The Lady Gaga Together at Home concert was badly produced in the sense that they over-recorded songs, then threw them away off of the TV show. There are 59 extra tracks available, and if I were those artists, I’d be pissed. Meantime, sketchy Global Citizen is taking responsibility for everything, but not for this mess.These are substantial artists, and there are more on the list on the Spotify page. And anyone of these could have been substituted for Jennifer Lopez’s lip synched verfsion of “People.” The Sheryl Crow song at the bottom is sensational

Here are some of the best performances that no one saw the other night. I made sure to add Jessie J, who I think is way underrated.

Jennifer Hudson, Memory

Jennifer Hudson, Hallelujah


Andra Day, Rise Up

Annie Lennox, Lola Lennox, There Must Be An Angel

Jesse J, Flashlight


Niall Horan, Slow Hands

Sheryl Crow, I Shall Believe

Netflix Releases Numbers and Surprise! “Tiger King” With All Its Publicity Was Second to Mark Wahlberg Detective Movie

Roger Friedman
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Netflix Releases Numbers and Surprise! “Tiger King” With All Its Publicity Was Second to Mark Wahlberg Detective Movie

Netflix is releasing some viewing numbers aka ratings.

Their number one show was not “Tiger King,” despite so much publicity that it choked the public and clawed at our reason.

No, it was Mark Wahlberg’s “Spenser Confidential,” based on the work of the late great Robert Parker, that was most popular. “Spenser” scored 85 million views.

“Tiger King,” a seven part series about America’s under-under belly, was far behind with 64 million.

“Love is Blind” came in third with 30 million.

Netflix counts a household as having viewed a title if it was watched for at least two minutes. Regular TV has a different formula measured by Nielsen.

Netflix added a net 15.77 million paid streaming customers in the first quarter of 2020 thanks everyone being housebound.

The streamer said it had 182.9 million paid subscribers globally as of the end of Q1, up 22.8% from a year earlier. The company had originally told investors it expected to add 7.0 million subs in the quarter, but that was before COVID-19 kept millions of people on their couches.

“[O]ur membership growth has temporarily accelerated due to home confinement,” Netflix said in its quarterly shareholder letter. “Some cash spending on content will be delayed, improving our free cash flow, and some title releases will be delayed, typically by a quarter.”

 

 

Ringo Starr Teases Surprise Secret Show for Saturday on the Beatles’ YouTube Channel–Is Paul McCartney Involved?

Roger Friedman
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Ringo Starr Teases Surprise Secret Show for Saturday on the Beatles’ YouTube Channel–Is Paul McCartney Involved?

Ringo Starr is teasing a secret surprise show this Saturday on the Beatles’ YouTube channel. Will Paul McCartney be involved? Because Ringo’s doing it on the Beatles channel and not one of his own, I’d say yes. And then You Tube will actually collapse under the weight of the whole world tuning in. Also, for Ringo to do something at 9am from Los Angeles means McCartney, in Sussex, England, would be coming in at 5pm his time. This could be major. We get by with a little help from our friends.

Movie Awards Season Now In Real Jeopardy as “In the Heights” Moves to 2021, Other Major Releases Up in the Air

Roger Friedman
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Movie Awards Season Now In Real Jeopardy as “In the Heights” Moves to 2021, Other Major Releases Up in the Air

Movie awards season is in serious jeopardy now.

Lin Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights” has been moved by Warner Bros. from June 2020 to June 2021. Warners didn’t move the film, which has been seen by long lead press and theater owners and received a very ecstatic response, to the fall or even the end of December. They just jumped ahead a year, like “Days of our Lives.”

Other big releases have been reshuffled into the fall and winter, like the James Bond movie, “No Time to Die.” Right now, the summer really means August, with “Wonder Woman 1984” on the 14th. Warner Bros. also has “Tenet” set for July 17th. But that could change, and probably will get pushed. Disney still has “Mulan” penciled in for July 24th.

Other than “Wonder Woman 1984,” August is pretty much of a desert. The only Oscar centric film for September is “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” the second directorial job of writer Aaron Sorkin, which could be great or stagey. We might not be able to handle the truth, even those of us who loved “Molly’s Game.”

October now brings just Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” which might have opened the Cannes Film Festival. The anticipation is very high for this one. If it isn’t great, there will be weeping in the streets. (It can’t be bad!)

November shapes up with Adrian Lyne’s return film, “Deep Water,” the equally liquid “Stillwater” from Tom McCarthy, plus Pete Docter’s “Soul.” We also get “Black Widow” at last.

For the end of the year, we’ll have Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” Paul Greengrass’s “News of the World,” and the new “Dune.” The big box office movie will be “Top Gun: Maverick.”

And for now, that’s it. The Oscar season will be a lot like Tony Awards season: a quick run up to voting. It’s not a lot to choose from, but there’s a lot of quality. I’m still looking forward to Focus’s “The High Note” on May 8th. I don’t know why. I’m just a cockeyed optimist.

Rose McGowan, Rock Star: Actress Activist Will Release Her First Album, “Planet 9,” This Friday, Named for Pluto’s Replacement

Roger Friedman
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Rose McGowan, Rock Star: Actress Activist Will Release Her First Album, “Planet 9,” This Friday, Named for Pluto’s Replacement

Nature abhors a vacuum. Now that scientists want to demote Pluto (poor Pluto) from planet to something else, we need a new 9th planet. That’s where Rose McGowan comes in. Actress, activist, Harvey Weinstein accuser, McGowan has made her first music album and called it “Planet 9.” We’ll get to hear it on Friday. Rose blogged about it today. Will Rose become a rock star? You know, she already is in so many ways.

The album will be available on digital platforms and 20 percent of all sales on Bandcamp will benefit COVID-19 relief.

Here’s what she wrote:

I’m Rose McGowan and for a long time, I worked in a strange place called Hollywood. Being an actress was my day job, but behind the scenes I was honing my skills as a multi-media artist, writer and thought leader. After realizing I’d worked on sets for over 57,000 hours, I knew it was time to assert my own voice, so I directed a short film called Dawn which was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. After “Dawn,” I began a three-year writing project, my book, Brave. While writing about my life and thoughts on society, I needed to create art that would be soothing. I’d always loved using my voice, it was my favorite part of performing.

When I was a small child going through tough times, I created a utopian world in my mind and I named it Planet 9. I felt safe on this invented planet of mine. I also used to wonder what sounds existed on my planet. As life went on, I forgot about how special my planet was, I forgot I could go there in times of trouble. Six years ago, astronomers found a new planet they named Planet 9 — it’s the new planet that demoted Pluto to a star. Holy s—! They found my Planet 9! Around the same time, I met some French electronic musicians, and I decided to make music that has the power to lift your spirit. I know this, art heals. Planet 9 takes you on a very special journey. I am not trying to be a pop star, I will not be performing this album. By using my knowledge of cinema sound design, I carefully created the sounds and words for a better place, an unknown world in our own mind that we can all travel to. Planet 9 is an artistic endeavor that I hope will help others meditate in a unique way.

Let go, come to Planet 9. 

RM

Here’s the Setlist for the Prince Tribute TV Show Tuesday Night: No Chaka or Alicia or Sinead, and Where is Larry Graham?

Roger Friedman
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Here’s the Setlist for the Prince Tribute TV Show Tuesday Night: No Chaka or Alicia or Sinead, and Where is Larry Graham?

Tuesday night there’s a Prince tribute show on CBS. They’ve done very little PR for it. Luckily the show’s writer, David Wild, has tweeted about it every four minutes. Otherwise, this special is ratings-doomed.

Someone shared the setlist online. Glaring omissions among the artists include Chaka Khan, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson. Also where is Larry Graham, who played with Prince so often and made records with him, a genius from Sly and he Family Stone?

Chaka, of course, had an all time monster hit with “I Feel for You.” She wasn’t available. Alicia Keys covered “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore.” She also hosted the Grammys two nights before this show was taped. Couldn’t they find her?

Janet Jackson lives in LA. She had a hit with “When I Think of You.” Hello? Cyndi Lauper‘s “When You Were Mine” is classic. Cyndi? Did they call her?

Okay, Susanna Hoffs sings her Bangles hit, “Manic Monday” with Chris Martin on guitar.  But where is Sinead O’Connor, who had the biggest cover of all with Prince’s “No One Compares 2 U.” She’s MIA. The ubiquitous John Legend sings it instead. Good lord, does this guy sleep? And Usher sings three songs. Where was Tom Jones, who had the hit with “Kiss”? Wendy & Lisa? Hello?

Well, Prince will be laughing, wherever he is in the purple sky.

 

Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince Set List:
H.E.R. and Gary Clark, Jr., “Let’s Go Crazy”
Miguel, “I Would Die 4 U”
St. Vincent, “Controversy”
John Legend, “Nothing Compares 2 U”
Juanes, “1999”
H.E.R., “The Beautiful Ones”
Usher, “Little Red Corvette,” “When Doves Cry” and “Kiss”
Chris Martin and Susanna Hoffs, “Manic Monday”
The Time, “Jungle Love,” Cool” and “the Bird”
Foo Fighters, “Darling Nikki”
Earth Wind and Fire, “Adore”
Common, “Sign O’ the Times”
Beck, “Raspberry Beret”
Gary Clark, Jr., “The Cross”
Sheila E., “America,” “Free” and “The Glamorous Life”
Princess, “Delirious”
Mavis Staples and the Revolution, “Purple Rain”
Everybody, “Baby I’m a Star”

Good News for a Change: Celebrity Bandleader Peter Duchin Out of ICU, “Recovering and Rehabilitating” After 3 Terrible Weeks

Roger Friedman
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Good News for a Change: Celebrity Bandleader Peter Duchin Out of ICU, “Recovering and Rehabilitating” After 3 Terrible Weeks

It’s nice to have some good news this afternoon.

Celebrity bandleader Peter Duchin is out of the ICU, off his ventilator. He’s going to make it. His son Colin posted to Instagram: “Out of the ICU…Recovering and Rehabilitating…your thoughts your love, and your grace mean so much!!!”

Duchin has really battled COVID-19 with a ferocity. He’s been out of commission since at least March 23rd, enduring intubation and intensive care. Colin Duchin has posted every other day, and it looks like prayers and medicine and patience have paid off.

I wrote about the irony of Duchin and Peter Beard, friends since they were six years old, each in dire straits this months. Beard’s body was found yesterday in Montauk. Luckily Duchin is going to make a great recovery. He’d better be conducting an orchestra the minute groups can gather again, in black tie and at a swanky ballroom.

Many congrats to Colin, his brother, and Peter’s wife, Virginia Coleman Duchin.

 

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