Madonna feat Nicki Minaj - Bitch I'm Madonna

The Diplo produced Trap/Hip Hop song is the 3rd single from her Rebel Heart album. It has been a fan favorite that went viral after Madonna performed this on Jimmy Fallon's show. It's a catchy, silly song in its original form with Nicki Minaj joining her in the middle. Remixes by Dirty Pop, Fedde Le Grand, Junior Sanchez, Oscar Gaeten, Rosabel, and Sander Kleinenberg will be released later this week on the digital remix EP. Dirty Pop's mix is a hard-hitting mainstream Electro/Tribal one. Fedde Le Grand's swing beat mix incorporates some elements of the original but it has lots of fun vocal effects and stutters. Junior Sanchez goes in a Deep House direction, using just a few re-arranged vocal and instrumental samples. Oscar Gaeten's mix is a tribal dub with just a sprinkling of vocals. Rosabel's main mix uses the most vocals and ends up utilizing the vocals the best. The dub mostly uses Nicki's vocals. Sander Kleinenberg's mix is atmospheric with some cool orchestral and EDM elements. Rosabel's ends up being the best of the bunch.

Grade: B+

Madonna - Rebel Heart (Review)

The highly anticipated 13th studio album from the Queen Of Pop is slated to be released next month, and there are rumors it may be moved up to next week to coincide with her Grammy Awards performance on Sunday.

Madonna began work on this album last year. She was very active on Instagram throughout that year documenting her process with many collaborators including Alicia Keys, Avicii, Diplo, Kanye West, Mozella, Nas, Natalia Kills, Nicki Minaj, Ryan Tedder, Toby Gad, and many others.

Nearly a week before Christmas, a number of unfinished demos and work in progress versions of songs from the album leaked online forcing Madonna and her team to release the first 6 songs as 'instant downloads' when fans pre-ordered the album on iTunes. The lead single "Living For Love" was one of the songs to be released then. A full remix package has also been released and a music video is in the works. The album was originally envisioned as a concept project with two discs each containing a particular them with one being "Rebel Heart" with the more socially conscious and emotional songs and then "Unapologetic Bitch" with the more playful and light-hearted songs. That concept was abandoned due to the leaks and it is now one album going back and forth between the themes.

Here is a track by track writeup.

Madonna - Living For Love (Remixes)

This is the lead single from her forthcoming 13th album Rebel Heart. The song is a return to her Dance/Pop roots. It's an uplifting song produced by Diplo about moving forward after a breakup. It features traditional House elements including a groovy piano hook and straight out of church diva backing vocals. There are plenty of remixes already by Dirty Pop, Djemba Djemba, Mike Rizzo, Offer Nissim, and Thrill. The Dirty Pop remix is an electro-drenched one with a limited amount of vocals. The Djemba Djemba one is close to the original however it strips down certain sections. His mix uses all of the vocals. Mike Rizzo's remix takes the concept of the original and turns it into a hands in the air floorfiller. Offer Nissim delivers a darker, big room full vocal take that is appropriately titled as it does bring the drama. Thrill's remix is techy and plays up some of the choir backing vocals but it lacks direction. Overall, Mike Rizzo and Offer Nissim's mixes are the best of the bunch in addition to the fantastic original.

-Listen to the original here
-Listen to the Dirty Pop remix here
-Listen to the Djemba Djemba remix here
-Listen to the Mike Rizzo mix here
-Listen to the Offer Nissim remix here
-Listen to the Thrill remix here

Grade: A

Lorde - Tennis Court (Diplo Remix)

She broke out into the mainstream with her hit "Royals" last year and received a number of awards for it. The followup "Team" was slightly less successful than its predecessor. The new single "Tennis Court" has begun to pick up steam on CHR/Pop radio. The song is in a similar style as previous singles though this one feels a tad darker overall. The hook is incredible. Diplo has done a remix that is at a similar tempo as the original but it is dancier. It is funky and current.

-Listen to the original here (YouTube)
-Listen to the Diplo remix here (YouTube)

Grade: A

Usher - Climax

This is the lead single from his new album. Produced by Diplo, the song is a mixture of the R&B Usher is known for with a little bit of the Electro/Pop. In many ways, it is a return to form. Thankfully, it isn't overly Electronic as some of his recent releases from the last album. The production is really slick. Fans of his earlier work may like this more as Usher reminds us of his great voice. He displays his amazing falsetto rather frequently. This is a great single.

Listen to the song here:

Beyonce - Run The World (Girls)

This is the lead single off of her first new album in almost 3 years. It is a busy uptempo in which the diva sings about women dominating and running the world. The song samples extensively from the electro track "Pon De Floor" by Major Lazer. The result is a noisy, non-cohesive track lacking focus and listenability. There is a clear chorus, but it feels forced. Hopefully this is not indicative of the rest of the album.

The lush Masters At Work-styled throwback remixes by Streamweaver lost all of the noisy elements of the original, leaving just the vocals over a gorgeous production. This is a perfect example of salvaging a mediocre to bad track and making it into something good.

Listen to the original here (YouTube)
Listen to the Streamweaver mix here:
Beyoncé - Run The World (Girls) (Steamweaver Who Run The House Radio Edit) by Steamweaver

Grade: D+ (for the original)/A- (for the Streamweaver mixes)