Madonna recruits MIA/Beyoncé producer Diplo for new album
By Nick Levine
Madonna has revealed that she is now working with LA-based producer Diplo on songs for her new album.
Diplo – real name Thomas Pentz – made his name working with MIA, herself a former Madonna collaborator, before going on to produce pop hits for Beyoncé (Run The World (Girls)), Usher (Climax) and Nicola Roberts (Beat of My Drum).
The Queen of Pop shared the news earlier this morning (May 8) in a pair of Instagram posts.
“Working with @Diplo got me like… WHAAaaat,” she wrote first, alongside a picture of her hands – clad in her signature fingerless gloves – tapping away at a Macbook keyboard.
A few hours later, Madonna gave an update alongside the bathroom selfie that appears in this article. “Diplo is a slave driver,” she wrote. “Got me working all hours of the night in the studio. Had to sneak into the bathroom! #clicclacclicclacbitchgetoffmyback”.
In recent months, Madonna has used Instagram to reveal the diverse palette of collaborators she has assembled for her new album – which now comprises Diplo, DJ/producer Avicii, Wrecking Ball co-writer MoZella, former Lady Gaga collaborator Martin Kierszenbaum, cult pop singer Natalia Kills and US hit-makers Toby Gad and Symbolyc One.
Last month (April) photographer Mert Alas sparked rumours that the album was already finished when he said he was listening to it, but it is clear from Madonna’s latest Instagram posts that she is still working on new material.
Madonna’s last studio album, MDNA, was released in 2012 and reached number one in the US and UK. She scored her 13th and most recent UK chart-topping single with 4 Minutes in 2008.
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