And Finally Artist News

Ariel Pink writing songs for Madonna (which she may or may not now want)

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 14 October 2014

Ariel Pink is ‘working with’ Madonna, in that he was apparently asked to write some songs for her new album, which has been in development for ages now. Bloody ages.

Pink seems to think he’s been brought in to lend some credibility to the record. It’s also possible that Madonna’s ‘people’ asked a lot of songwriters to contribute stuff so see if anything stuck. These are all things that might be worth thinking about, though it’s quite possible that Pink’s comments on the matter will see him ditched from the project altogether either way.

Speaking to Faster Louder, he said: “Interscope are calling me to help write Madonna’s record. They need something edgy. They need songwriting. She can’t just have her Avicii, her producers or whatever, come up with a new techno jam for her to gyrate to and pretend that she’s 20 years old. They actually need songs. I’m partly responsible for that return-to-values thing”.

As for what sort of song he’d write for Madonna, he reckons that she needs to go back to her roots, saying: “I guess it’s called ‘throwback’, but the first record [1983’s ‘Madonna’] was so good because of the songs. It’s been a downward slide [since then] … ‘Ray of Light’ is not cool. And all the other stuff she’s done after that, it’s not like it matters. It really shows a drain of values. People need more substance in their mac-and-cheese. People need more sugar or something”.

So, to recap, Madonna needs to return to the unrefined sugar of her youth. What she doesn’t need is the treacle of today’s youth – aka EDM – which filled her 2012 album, ‘MDMA’. And that necessary proper sugar is something Ariel Pink believes he has spoonfuls of.

OK, I’m bored of this whole sugar thing now, let’s go and do something else.