• Hold onto your knickers, because today’s Saturday edition of The Purge is a bit of a doozy. And it all starts off with ‘Keep On Loving’, the fresh new single for The Potbelleez, which arrived at both Aussie media and digital service providers yesterday. The track is the first since ‘Show Me Where Your Love Is’ dropped back in May and comes as the band prepares to hit the road for a series of live appearances, predominantly across the eastern states.
• Brisbane’s own Sheppard have dropped another single just in time for their trip to the US later this month, where they’ve got a performance locked in on the US ‘Today Show’. “‘Coming Home’ is an anthem for the homeward bound,” explains George Sheppard. “We’ve tried to capture the joy and excitement we all feel when we get to travel home at last – whether home is a place, a person or a state of mind. It’s our most euphoric song to date.” The single is available digitally now. Listen HERE.
• We’ve got a new Mariah Carey Christmas single to call our own. ‘Lil Snowman’ features on the soundtrack to the new animated picture ‘Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You’, which is due to land on DVD this Wednesday. The soundtrack features a series of Mariah Christmas classics, including the smash hit after which the DVD is named. The soundtrack is out digitally now, before a physical edition hits next Friday.
• A new version of Little Mix’s album ‘Glory Days’ will be making its way into stockings across the country this Christmas. The ‘Platinum Edition’ of the UK girl group’s latest long player features a revised tracklist which now includes their CNCO duet ‘Reggaeton Lento (remix)’, along with new songs ‘Is Your Love Enough?’, ‘Dear Lover’ and ‘If I Get My Way’. There’s also a DVD featuring a behind-the-scenes documentary and the music videos for each of the album’s five singles. It’s out on Friday November 24.
• Sony Music’s online search for the next big Aussie music star, Sharespace, will wrap this Sunday, with the winner announced at a special event at Max Watts in Sydney. There’ll be performances from each of the eight artists, along with the series hosts Alli Simpson and Jai Waetford. You also have the chance to be there to see the show live – and tickets are free. Check THIS SITE for all the information and to RSVP. The finale event and winner announcement will be shown on the Sharespace YouTube channel from 7pm on Monday, November 13.
• Client Liaison is one of four acts reworking popular INXS tracks as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the band’s iconic album ‘Kick’. Poppy Starr Olsen reworks ‘Mystify’, Maddie Peat tackles ‘Never Tear Us Apart’, Mikey Enright’ stamps his authority on the title track and the Client Liaison boys add their electro-pop influences to a cover of ‘Need You Tonight’. Check out three of the four tracks HERE.
• Aussie superstar Keith Urban is back with new music. He premiered ‘Female’ at the 2017 CMA Awards during the week and dropped the song digitally at the same time. “‘Female’ spoke to me strongly in so many ways – as a husband, a son and profoundly as the father of two daughters,” he explains. “This song for me, is pure heart and soul – it’s composition and lyric – was something that I felt compelled to record and share right now.” And staggeringly, he only heard the song (penned by Nicolle Galyon, Shane McAnally and Ross Copperman) three weeks ago. It’s out now.
• ‘Bright : The Album’ is a new soundtrack companion to a huge new Netflix film (ironically called ‘Bright’), which is due to hit the streaming service on Friday December 22, but the album will land at digital service providers on Wednesday December 13. The latter features a massive cast of some of music’s hottest names, including Camila Cabello, Migos, Bastille, Future, Rag N Bone Man, Steve Aoki, Alt-J, Portugal The Man, Machine Gun Kelly and many, many more. The album pre-order is live now, with grat tracks from Bastille (‘World Gone Mad’) and Ty Dolla $ign & Future ftg. Kiiara (‘Darkside’).
• UK outfit The Wombats will release their fourth studio album ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’ on Friday February 09. The album is the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Glitterbug’, which was their second successive No.2 album down under. The album’s available for pre-order now, with lead single ‘Lemon To A Knife Fight’ available as an instant grat track.
• Great news for Morgan Evans this week, with Warner Music confirming that his single ‘Kiss Somebody’ has been certified gold, for sales in excess of 35,000 units. “That’s the best news,” Morgan enthuses. “It means a lot to have my gold single first at home in Australia.” To celebrate, he’s dropped a new Australian session video of said single. Check it out HERE.
• Legendary performer Neil Diamond will bring his 50 Year Anniversary tour to Australia in March. He kicks his run of dates off with two mammoth stadium shows (1300 Smiles Stadium in Townsville on March 20 and Sunshine Coast Stadium on March 22), before making stops at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Sutton Grange Winery in Victoria on March 31, Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on April 03, Roche Estate in the Hunter Valley on April 07, Botanic Park Adelaide on April 11 and Sandalford Estate in Western Australia’s Swan Valley on April 14. Telstra customers get access to a pre-sale from 2pm local time this Tuesday. General public tickets are on sale from 2pm local time on Thursday, November 16.
• Paul Dempsey is also on tour early in the new year, but he’s locked in a quartet of regional dates on successive nights in February. Bendigo’s first up; a show at The Taphouse on February 01. Then it’s off to the SS&A Club in Albury on Feb 02, the Playhouse Theatre in Canberra on February 03 and Milton Theatre on February 04.
• The Waifs have added a few more shows to their ‘Ironbark’ 25th Anniversary tour. The tour kicks off in Moruya on Sunday November 19, but there are now new dates at the Sydney Opera House Studio Theatre on November 25, Theatre Royal in Castlemaine on December 04 and at the Albany Entertainment Centre on Sunday December 10; the latter serving as the tour’s closer. Tickets for all shows are on sale now.
• And Scottish outfit Mogwai, who’ll be in the country for festival appearances in March, have confirmed headline shows in both Sydney and Melbourne as part of their visit. They’ll hit the stage at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Sunday March 04 before zipping down to Melbourne for a show at the Forum Theatre on Thursday March 08. Tickets for both are on sale at 9am AEDT this Tuesday, November 14.
• Camila Cabello’s hit ‘Havana’ maintains its No.1 heading on this week’s UK singles chart, ahead of Post Malone’s ‘Rockstar’. But the release of the new Sam Smith album ‘The Thrill Of It All’ has seen its lead single ‘Too Good At Goodbyes’ surge towards the top again, up four to No.3. Rita Ora’s latest single ‘Anywhere’ is also bolting towards the top and makes it into the top five this week (No.11 to No.5). Big Shaq’s ‘Man’s Not Hot’ is up from No.20 to No.11 and Dave’s ‘No Words’ is the only debut in the top 20 this week, new at No.18.
• Was there really ever any doubt that this week’s No.1 spot in the UK would belong to one of the UK’s biggest stars? Sam Smith’s new LP ‘The Thrill Of It All’ slams the No.1 position on debut, holding out the new Roy Orbison LP ‘A Love So Beautiful’, which enters at two. Last week’s No.1 from Alfie Boe and Michael Ball falls to No.3, while Ed Sheeran’s ‘÷’ picks up the pace to be back within the top five. Sam isn’t the only Smith in the UK top ten this week… British actress Sheridan Smith scores a No.9 debut for her debut album ‘Sheridan’. New releases from Bryan Adams (‘Ultimate’), Maroon 5 (‘Red Pill Plues’) and Dave (‘Game Over’) just miss the top ten, premiering at numbers 11, 12 and 13 respectively.
• Though there’s no change to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US this week (it’s still owned by Post Malone and his global smash ‘Rockstar’), there’s a big move from former Fifth Harmony starlet Camila Cabello and her single ‘Havana’, which continues to rocket towards the pinnacle. After shooting from No.20 to No.7 last week, it’s up another five places this week to No.2. Lil Pump’s ‘Gucci Gang’ also continues to shine, gaining another seven places to No.7. Migos, Nicki Minaj & Cardi B are taking their ‘MotorSport’ out for a spin on this week’s countdown, premiering at No.14. Taylor Swift’s ‘…Ready For It?’, meantime, bullets from No.46 to No.19.
• Over on the US albums chart, meantime, Niall Horan and his debut solo album ‘Flicker’ have vacated the No.1 position after just one week. In fact, he’s departed the top ten and almost departed the top 20 (No.1 to No.20). His replacement is country superstar Kenny Chesney and his new long player ‘Live In No Shoes Nation’. Kenny’s debut in top spot was enough to prevent Kelly Clarkson from nabbing No.1; her new album ‘Meaning Of Life’ debuting at No.2. Chris Brown’s new long player ‘Heartbreak On A Full Moon’ is new at No.3 and the new 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin album ‘Without Warning’ makes it an all new top four. The top ten debuts keep coming with new entries for Yo Gotti (‘I Still Am’ at No.6) and Big K.R.I.T (‘4eva Is A Mighty Long Time’ at No.7). Ty Dolla $ign’s ‘Beach House 3’ just misses a top ten berth, premiering at No.11.
• That’s all for a bulging Saturday edition of The Purge, but we will, as always, be back at 6pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings time with a look at the Aussie top 100s with our weekly ARIA Chart Watch.
TICKETS PLEASE
MONDAY NOVEMBER 13 : Chronixx (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 14 : Mogwai (Sydney, Melbourne)
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 14 : Roy Orbison Hologram tour (Nationally)
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 15 : Paramore (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16 : Paul Dempsey (Regionally)
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16 : Neil Diamond (Nationally)
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16 : Download Festival (Melbourne)
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16 : Mammal (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
Australia's first stop for pop!