Archive for the ‘In Conversation’ Category

Giorgio Moroder And Others Talk Donna Summer & Giorgio’s 10 Big Music Moments: Interview

Robbie Daw
May 17th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
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The most talked-about producer on the planet right now isn’t one of the many crafting new material for Britney Spears, Beyonce and Justin Timberlake. It’s Giorgio Moroder, the 73-year-old Italian musician whose synth-heavy work influenced more artists than you can fill on a sheet of paper and soundtracked at least two generations.

Giorgio’s longtime collaborator and close friend Donna Summer passed away one year ago today, at the age of 63. The disco queen kept her battle with lung cancer private, but it’s Summer’s enduring legacy of revered songs like “I Feel Love,” “Last Dance,” “MacArthur Park” and “Bad Girls” that lives on. To commemorate the first year since the passing of Summer and celebrate the extensive work of Moroder, we reached out to the producer, who turned out to be as thoughtful as he is candid.

“The thing I miss most about Donna is the vitality with which she surrounded herself,” Moroder reflects. “She was always ready for a joke, even in the last months, never indicating that she was suffering. She even tried to convince me to lose weight with the special diet [she was on].”

Rest assured, Giorgio is a man whose calendar in 2013 is getting busier by the week. Still, he offered many insights regarding the classic tracks he produced throughout the ’70s and ’80s — not to mention a certain song recently recorded for Daft Punk‘s upcoming LP Random Access Memories. Head below as Debbie Harry and Blondie‘s Chris Stein, Terri Nunn of Berlin and Moroder reminisce about the music of Donna Summer and some of Giorgio’s biggest milestones. More »

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Little Boots Gives Props To Legendary Producer/Daft Punk Collaborator Giorgio Moroder: Watch

Robbie Daw
May 15th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
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Victoria On Electronic Music's Godfather

If you’re anything like us, then you’ve got Giorgio Moroder on the brain these days. And it makes total sense — after all, the Italian producer soundtracked many of our childhoods with the scores and hits he crafted for such films as Scarface, Flashdance, The NeverEnding Story and Top Gun, and now he’s back in action by featuring on Daft Punk‘s aptly-titled Random Access Memories track “Giorgio By Moroder,”

We even heard hints of Moroder in Little Boots‘ Nocturnes song “Strangers,” which we brought up to Victoria Hesketh (LB’s real name) while chatting with her in New York recently. She explained that the song was actually influenced more by ABBA, though Giorgio Moroder’s music has also had quite an effect on her over the years. More »

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Little Boots Tells Us The 7 Things You Need To Know About ‘Nocturnes’: Watch

Robbie Daw
May 14th, 2013 // 4 Comments
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Victoria Clues Us In On Her New Album

It’s been nearly four years since Little Boots‘ debut LP Hands arrived, and there’s a pretty solid reason it took so long for Victoria Hesketh to craft its follow-up, the perfectly moody, just-released Nocturnes.

“Everything is throwaway — and not just music — nowadays,” Hesketh told Idolator last week, just before her concert at New York’s Music Hall Of Williamsburg. “It’s just designed to break or designed for you to get bored of it… So it was really important to take the time to craft all the sounds and just try to make it sound one of the more legendary albums that I love.” More »

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98 Degrees Explain 7 Things You Need To Know About ’2.0′: Watch Idolator’s Interview

Robbie Daw
May 10th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
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The Guys Clue Us In On Their New Album

A couple things you should know about 98 Degrees themselves: 1.) the band — that would be Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons — are back together, in full force and getting ready to head out on the road, and 2.) their first album in 13 years, 2.0, was released this week. (See our review here.)

We recently sat down with the soulful quartet, and they gave us all a history lesson on their late ’90s pop classic “The Hardest Thing.” Now Idolator is presenting you with the rest of our conversation with 98 Degrees, wherein the guys tell all about their new album (which Nick calls “a potluck of pop sensation”) and working with Bruno Mars and Ne-Yo on a few of the tracks. Watch above. More »

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Jason Derulo: 5 Things You Need To Know About “The Other Side” & His Upcoming Album

Robbie Daw
May 1st, 2013 // Leave a Comment
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Jason Discusses Madonna & MJ Influencing His New Single

One thing we learned very quickly during our sitdown with fleet-footed crooner Jason Derulo is that he wasn’t going to let the neck fracture he sustained early on in 2012 slow him down — or keep him from doing a headstand in the just-released video for new single “The Other Side.” Another surprising bit of info we picked up: Jason says “The Other Side” was inspired by the bass lines in both Madonna‘s “Like A Virgin” and Michael Jackson‘s “Billie Jean.”

As for his upcoming third LP, Derulo tells Idolator he logged studio time with hit-makers like Dr. Luke and RedOne, and the album also has other artists featuring on a few songs — a first for Jason.

But let’s not give too much away just yet. We’ll let the singer tell you all about it himself, in the video above. More »

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Jason Derulo On Usher’s ‘Confessions’ & Being Obsessed With ‘Game Of Thrones’: Favorites

Robbie Daw
April 29th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
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What Gets Jason Revved Up?

It’s goes without saying that Jason Derulo considers Michael Jackson to be one of his biggest musical influences. But when the 23-year-old singer swung by the Idolator office last week to discuss both his new single “The Other Side” and upcoming third album, we were interested in learning about the other side of Jason himself — particularly, what are some of his favorite things aside from MJ?

Granted, we did pry out of him which of Jackson’s albums is the hands-down best, as far as he’s concerned. He also spilled details on his favorite date night activity when he and main squeeze Jordin Sparks head out for a night on the town and his junk food of choice, plus why he’s such a big fan of Usher‘s benchmark-setting R&B staple Confessions and the hit cable series Game Of Thrones.

Watch Derulo discuss a few of his Favorites above. More »

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98 Degrees Explain The History Of “The Hardest Thing”: Pop School

Robbie Daw
April 18th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
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The Guys School Us On Their Classic Video

Class is in session, and now it’s time to sit up straight and get an education! And in the case of Pop School, it’s artists who are teaching you a lesson on their classic hits. Start taking notes!

We recently sat down to talk to reunited boy-band-turned-man-band 98 Degrees about their new single “Microphone,” upcoming LP 2.0 (their first studio album in 13 years, out May 7) and, of course, their Package Tour with fellow vocal group icons New Kids On The Block and Boyz II Men. But try as we might, sometimes we find it hard to let go of the past.

Case in point: iconic pop singles from our youth — the ones that dominated the radio airwaves and the daily TRL countdown when we were just young, starry-eyed and very, very impressionable. One such gem is 98 Degrees’ “The Hardest Thing,” their second single off 1998 sophomore album 98 Degrees And Rising. One the group’s biggest hits, “The Hardest Thing” eventually found its way into the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100, and still to this day has us conjuring up images from its boxing-themed video, wherein the shirtless, pumped-up gents throw some hooks, jump rope and croon against the dazzling lights of Sin City. More »

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Del Marquis & Bright Light Bright Light Discuss Slow Knights & ’90s House Anthems: Favorites

Robbie Daw
April 9th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
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These Pop Pals Reveal What Revs Them Up

On one hand, yes, we’re still glum over Scissor Sisters taking a hiatus from making music together. But the upside is that guitarist Del Marquis has gone off on his own, somewhat, and put together retro R&B-pop stunner Cosmos, one of the year’s most refreshing albums, under the monicker of Slow Knights. We say “somewhat” because, while technically a “solo” album, Cosmos really was a collaborative effort between Del (real name: Derek Gruen) and various other artists, like Prince‘s former band the New Power Generation and vocalists Xavier Smith, Chrissi Poland, Bridget Barkan and Bright Light Bright Light‘s Rod Thomas.

BLx2, of course, released his own LP Make Me Believe In Hope last year, and it subsequently wound up on Idolator’s 10 Best Albums Of 2012 list. So imagine how thrilled we were when we had Del and Rod stop by our studio together to talk pop and play Favorites! More »

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Parachute: 7 Things You Need To Know About Their Third Album

Robbie Daw
April 9th, 2013 // Leave a Comment
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Will & Nate Spill Details On Their Upcoming Record

Last week we played a game of Pop Associated with Parachute frontman Will Anderson and guitarist Nate McFarland, during which Anderson raved about OneRepublic singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder. In the second part of our chat with the guys, they reveal certain details about their upcoming, yet-to-be-titled third LP.

For starters, the record was produced by Asher Roth‘s righthand man Oren Yoel, who, Anderson explains, they met while working with Tedder. Other songwriters Parachute collaborated with this time around include Steve Mac (The Wanted, Kelly Clarkson) and Ashley Gorley (Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban). More »

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98 Degrees Reflect On First Live Performance Of “Microphone”: Idolator Exclusive

Robbie Daw
April 8th, 2013 // 2 Comments
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The Boys Are Back!

Just before their upcoming Package Tour with fellow male vocal groups New Kids On The Block and Boyz II Men, the reunited gents of 98 Degrees will release 2.0, their first album of new material in 13 years, on May 7. And ahead of that, Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons have offered up “Microphone,” the LP’s dance-pop-infused first single.

Idolator sat down with 98 Degrees on Friday (April 5) at Manhattan’s Dream Hotel, a day after the quartet gave their very first live performance of “Microphone” on the Today Show. Watch Drew Lachey reflect on how he thinks they did during the Today taping above. More »

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