TRACK OF THE WEEK
Lady Gaga - Diamond Heart
Let's talk about Gaga's new album Joanne. Billed as her "country one", it's an unusual mix of commercial country, whiskey ballads, and pristine production. But surprisingly, it kind of works. Yes, there are some duds, but when you start to imagine it played live, your ears will prick up. Case in point is album opener Diamond Heart. When the chorus kicks in, screaming "young, wild American/ come on baby, do you have a girlfriend", you can feel the house lights come up and hear the stomping of boots on the stadium floor.
Hero of the week is Jade Little Mix, who opened up about having an eating disorder when she was a teenager. In Little Mix's new book, she writes: "At 13, you're at that age when you don't really have control over anything, and I felt as if the only thing I could control was what I was eating. I started skipping meals and stuff like that. I would look in the mirror and it wasn't that I'd think I was fat, I just had it in my head that I wanted to be really, really skinny."
Alicia Keys is a big fan of meditation, she told the audience at a Brooklyn conference. "Some days I have 15 minutes, some days I have 40 minutes, some days I have five minutes where I have to take that time, because if I don't I literally feel off. And I can tell the difference in the choices that I'm making ... my centre is off. I feel shaken a bit more, but when I do it, I feel sturdy."
Zero of the week is making Madonna comparisons, Gaga pointed out. She told Zane Lowe: "I wouldn't make that comparison at all. I don't mean to disrespect Madonna... she's a nice lady. And she's had a fantastic, huge career. She's the biggest pop star of all time. But I play a lot of instruments. I write all my own music. I spend hours and hours a day in the studio. I'm a producer. I'm a writer. What I do is different."
NOW CLICK HERE to listen to Lady Gaga's Zane Lowe interview in full
