• Welcome to your Saturday edition of The Purge, our twice weekly music news wrap. And we’re kicking it off this weekend with ‘Expectations’, the debut album from US songstress Bebe Rexha. The starlet has been peppering our charts with her tracks and feature appearances (like G-Eazy’s ‘Me, Myself & I’, ‘In The Name Of Love’ with Martin Garrix and the mammoth worldwide smash ‘Meant To Be’ with Florida Georgia Line) for the past few years, but now the time has come for her to step out confidently on her own with her 14 track debut. ‘Meant To Be’ is, naturally, tagged onto the end of the new LP, with grat tracks ‘Ferrari’ and ‘2 Souls On Fire’ also available as grat tracks with the album pre-order. Look for it at your favourite retailer from Friday June 22.
• New music from Florence & The Machine has also arrived in the form of their new single ‘Sky Full Of Song’. Released yesterday digitally and on streaming services, the track will also be made available in a limited edition 7″ vinyl for Record Store Day, which is coming up next weekend. “This was a song that just fell out of the sky fully formed,” explains Ms Florence. “Sometimes when you are performing you get so high, it’s hard to know how to come down. There is this feeling of being cracked open, rushing endlessly outwards and upwards, and wanting somebody to hold you still, bring you back to yourself. It’s an incredible, celestial, but somehow lonely feeling.”
• Some of the biggest names in dance music are teaming up to pay homage to one of the greatest albums of all time; Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’. The iconic LP, which features tracks like ‘You Can Call Me Al’, ‘Graceland’ and ‘The Boy In The Bubble’, has been reworked by the likes of Sharam, Paul Oakenfold, Thievery Corporation and even Groove Armada; each breathing new life into the classic songs. ‘Graceland : The Remixes’ is due to land on Friday June 01.
• Nicki Minaj has bounced back into the music sphere with her new single ‘Barbie Tingz’. The single (cover art above) was released yesterday alongside sister single ‘Chun-Li’, both arriving in the countdown to the release of Nicki’s forthcoming fourth studio album, which is reportedly due later this year.
• The McClymonts are hitting the road from the middle of the year on a massive tour in support of their latest single ‘Like We Used To’. The jaunt around the country kicks off at the Shoalhaven Heads Bowls & Recreation Club on Friday July 27 and makes its way through centres in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, along with solitary stops in the ACT (the Southern Cross Club on September 07) and South Australia (the Old Mill in Hahndorf on November 09). Tickets for all 22 dates are on sale now.
• Drake certainly knows how to make an impact. Recently dominating the UK chart with his single ‘God’s Plan’, last Friday the Canadian superstar dropped his latest single ‘Nice For What’. This weekend, that song is flying high in the No.1 spot on the UK singles chart on debut. Lil Dicky slides from one to two as a result, with a new entry at No.3 for Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa (‘One Kiss’). Ruti, the winner of this year’s series of ‘The Voice’ in the UK, debuts at No.14 with his winner’s single ‘Dreams’.
• Over on the UK album chart, the No.1 spot belongs to… Kylie Minogue. The Aussie pop queen’s latest album ‘Golden’ clearly has the Brits in a spin, premiering at No.1 ahead of the soundtrack to ‘The Greatest Showman’ (No.2), George Ezra’s ‘Staying At Tamara’s’ (No.3) and debuts in positions four and five for 30 Seconds To Mars’ ‘America’ and Courteeners’ ‘St Jude Re Wired’. But the top ten debuts keep coming, with a No.6 premiere for the Cardi B album ‘Invasion Of Privacy’, a No.8 debut for Tom Misch’s ‘Geography’ and a No.10 debut for Eels’ ‘The Deconstruction’. New long players from Blackberry Smoke and Lisa Stansfield enter the countdown in positions 12 and 15 respectively.
• Not wishing to sound like a broken record or anything, but Drake’s international smash ‘God’s Plan’ is No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US this week; wedged in pole position for eleven weeks. Bebe Rexha and Floria Georgia Line maintain position two, while there’s an improvement for Post Malone’s single ‘Psycho’, which is up one place to No.3. All of them will be looking over their shoulder at the new single from The Weeknd, ‘Call Out My Name’, which debuts strongly at No.4. The new Migos track is also performing strongly; ‘Walk It Talk It’ leaping from No,15 to No.10. Cardi B’s ‘Be Careful’ is new at No.16.
• It’s a big No.1 debut for The Weeknd on the Billboard 200 album chart with his surprise EP, ‘My Dear Melancholy’. Jack White may have debuted in top spot last week, but his latest long player ‘Boarding House Reach’ takes quite the second week tumble. Well, we say “tumble”, it’s more like a plunge (No.1 to No.62). Rich The Kid also did pretty well for himself, with new album ‘The World Is Yours’ entering at No.2. It’s followed by XXXTentacion’s ‘?’ (No.3) and a new entry at No.4 for Kacey Musgraves’ album ‘Golden Hour’. Hayley Kiyoko just misses the top ten on debut with her album ‘Expectations’ (No.12).
• And that’s your lot for another scintillating Saturday serve of The Purge. But worry thee not… we’ll be back here at 5pm on the East Coast this afternoon with the wrap up of all the latest goings on on the local charts. ARIA Chart Watch is live from five. Will Kylie score a No.1? Or will Hillsong spoil her party?
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