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The Lodge at Ashford Castle, Cong, Co. Mayo

HOT HITS AND CELEB BITS! Gary Campion

I’ve been threatening to do this column for GNI for nearly as long as the magazine has existed. With my industry contacts, ear for industry whispers and knowledge, I hope to bring you all you need to know from the land of Music and Celebrity with an added personal slant on what I am listening to and the rediscovered classics that you need to revisit on Spotify….. let us dive right in at the deep end…..

My top 5 hits on repeat What I am listening to!

Jessie Ware - PearlsKitsch, camp disco at its best….give those pearls a shake until they fall off!

Louise - Just a step from HeavenReimagined - a 90’s kids’ wet dream come true!

Sophie LennonSolas - Her Junior Eurovision entry sung in Irish that saw her grab 4th place is one of the purest power vocals I have heard in a long time!

Jax Jones ft Calum

Confirmed New Album Releases I am beyond excited about!!

Miley Cyrus - Endless Summer Vacation

10 March

Lets be honest unless you’ve lived under a rock with earplugs in, you’ve hummed, sung and had the earwig lead single “Flowers” in your head for weeks. Add to that all the reply theories to the Bruno Mars song to get at her now ex-husband Liam Hemsworth by releasing “Flowers” on his birthday, and the anticipation for what will be Mileys’ 8th Studio album has never been higher. A press release from Mileys people claims that the album is a “love letter to L.A and is a reflection of the strength she’s found in focusing on both her physical and mental well-being.” Does this mean a closure on her “Malibu” period? When trying to find out more about the album the details are pretty scarce, all that is really currently known is that it was recorded in Los Angeles and that the album was announced with a short video trailer in which Miley is poolside and then cuts between blue skies and the water that surrounds her. I predict an album full of summer vibes for the longer, brighter days and hazy sunsets of summer we will hopefully have thanks to global warming.

28

Scott - WhistleProving there is more to him than ballads, this is his 3rd dip into Dance music!

Shania TwainGiddy Up! - All hail and bow down for the undisputed Queen of Country Pop…yeeee haw!!

Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!

28th April

The modern-day disco pop queen is back with a new album! After giving us a taste of what’s to come with the massive empowering hot sweaty disco number “Free Yourself” earlier this year and new kitsch disco single “Pearls”, whispers are she will be continuing this sexy, dance and studio 54-influenced sound for what will be her 5th Studio album. I have been a massive fan of this dance and ambient starlet since her 2012 debut Devotion which saw the release of one of my all-time favourite and most listened to songs “Say you Love Me,” if you have never heard it before what are you waiting for….GET ON IT NOW!! Fresh off a US tour opening for none other than Harry Styles last year, I am hoping there will be a UK and Ireland tour on the cards soon. Equally, Jessie and Lennies (Mama Ware) award-winning podcast “Table Manners,” is gearing up for its 15th Season. Each week they have guests from music, culture and politics drop by for a bite and a bit of natter about the goings on in the world, food, family and art. To date, they have had some huge guests including Kylie, Shania Twain, Ed Sheeran and many more, it is definitely worth a listen on your commute to or from work or when chilling with a glass of vino in the evening at home. Table Manners is available on Spotify and all usual music streaming platforms.

Industry Whispers - Just between us:

Kelly Clarkson, is there a divorceinspired album on the cards for 2023? While there is no timeline confirmation there are a lot of whispers that since her divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock the American Idol winner turned daytime TV host is planning new music for release towards the end of the year. In a recent interview with Variety she claimed to find it hard to vocalise what she is feeling sometimes post-divorce and that music has been very helpful for her to make sense of things and heal….will there be another “Heartbreak Song,” in her remains to be seen, but I have my fingers and toes crossed for it.

Kylie Minogue, are we ready for a 16th studio album? You bet your golden hot pants we are!! This will be Kylies first since 2020’s “Disco” which made her the first female artist to have a No.1 album in the UK across five consecutive decades. Currently, there is no set date or timeline but whispers are expecting it to drop somewhere towards the middle and end of the year.

My Top 5 Rediscovered Tunes

Don’t even ask how I end up listening to these!

Sigma ft Rita Ora - Coming Home - From 2015 this feel- good dance tune is one of those songs you can’t help but bop along to.

Sinead Quinn - What you need is….- 2002 this was her 2nd single, a feisty pop rock

Liberty X - Song for Lovers - A 2005 choir-filled pop-rap number that always put a smile on my face!

Rebecca Ferguson - I hope - This blew up the airwaves back in 2013 when I worked on her tour. “I hope, I hope, I hope!” you will give it a listen.

Dj Spoony ft The Sugababes - Flowers - This was the 1st time the song was covered by another artist in 2019

Dua Lipa , will the 3rd time be a charm? Having single-handedly kept the glittered catsuit industry in business during her “Future Nostalgia” album and 2022 world tour, she has been slowly teasing out details of the 3rd album having told The Wall Street Journal she was in no rush to release anything. But and there is always a but in the music industry…..there have been photo dumps of bannisters that look extremely similar to the ones in Kevin Parker of Tame Impala’s home studio….is there an album in the making? We will have to wait and see, but I am predicting more psychedelic pop anthems before the end of the summer!

Until the next issue, happy listening! G x