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Another group of Electric Zoo ticket buyers have filed a class action over what they call the “absolute fiasco” at this year’s festival, marking at least the fourth such lawsuit filed against promoter Avant Gardner, the organizer of the popular dance music event.
In a complaint filed Thursday in New York state court, lawyers for four attendees accused the Brooklyn-based company of false advertising, breach of contract and other wrongdoing over the event, which saw its Friday shows canceled at the last minute and Sunday plagued by problems.
“Normally this event is a transcendental audio-visual festival that creates everlasting thrilling memories for tens of thousands of EDM fans,” their lawyers wrote. “And while it did create everlasting memories in 2023, the memories created were not the ones which ticket holders were looking forward to.”
The “oversold, grossly understaffed” festival was “nothing short of an absolute fiasco,” attorneys for the concertgoers wrote, resulting in “long lines, massive overcrowding, and a literal stampede of people when it was discovered that the organizers oversold tickets.” The case was filed on behalf of Billy Ting, Duoc Vo, Garry Huang, Jeffrey Wang and Joshua Chin, but said it aims to represent as many as 75,000 ticketbuyers who had similar experiences.
Electric Zoo, held annually on New York City’s Randall’s Island, is one of the country’s top electronic dance festivals, but this year’s iteration – the second by Avant Gardner since the company acquired the festival in 2022 — was marred by issues.
First came an abrupt cancellation of Friday evening, meaning no performances by top names like The Chainsmokers and Kx5. That was followed by a delayed start and long lines on Saturday, and then a chaotic Sunday in which thousands of ticketholders were denied entry after the site reached capacity. Some fans jumped fences or ran through security checkpoints as a group.
Avant Gardner, which promised refunds for Friday and for anyone turned away on Sunday, blamed the problems on “global supply chain disruptions.” But sources later told Billboard that the Friday shutdown largely had stemmed from the promoter’s failure to pay vendors from last year’s festival, leading to a shortage of experienced concert professionals willing to work at this year’s event. Those shortages led to issues that caused city officials to withhold permitting approval until they were fixed. Citing internal sources, the New York Post also attributed the problems to staffing issues, as well as to a planning process that allegedly started months later than usual for a festival of its size and complexity.
Additionally, Sunday’s problems were caused by overselling the event by 7,000 people, according to an NYPD estimate reported by local news outlets. Shortly after the festival, Mayor Eric Adams suggested the city might launch an investigation into Avant Gardner over the debacle: “It’s unfortunate that the organizers wanted to turn our city into a zoo.”
Thursday’s lawsuit is at least the fourth such class action filed over the messy event. The first, filed on Sept. 13 in federal court, said Avant Gardner had caused “a nightmare endured by thousands of electronic music fans.” Another, filed just three days later in the same court, said the organizers had “lied to their guests at every opportunity.” In a third lawsuit, a Connecticut man said the festival’s “lack of planning and overselling of tickets” had caused dangerous overcrowding that caused him to “fear for his life.”
The specifics are varied, but all four lawsuits allege roughly similar forms of wrongdoing: That the Electric Zoo organizers misled ticket buyers, that they broke promises to concertgoers, and that they were negligent in failing to prevent the problems. Each case is seeking to represent hundreds or thousands of fans, and some or all of the cases could eventually be combined into a single, consolidated action.
A representative for Avant Gardner did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Electric Zoo class actions are only the latest legal issues for Avant Gardner, which operates an 80,000 square foot, multi-venue facility in Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg neighborhood. The company and owner Jürgen “Billy” Bildstein have clashed for years with the State Liquor Authority over allegations of drug use and other safety issues, including a 2020 agreement in which the company agreed to a $100,000 fine and to retain an independent safety monitor.
In August, that state-appointed monitor, T&M Security LLC, sued the company, claiming Avant Gardner had terminated the arrangement prematurely and then refused to pay its fees. A month earlier, another case claimed that security guards had assaulted patrons while searching them for drugs during a pride event.
An artist manager who had several acts scheduled to play the Paralello Universo festival in Re’im, Israel, near the Gaza Strip, and who was there during the attack on the festival, describes a scene of chaos and terror.
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Raz Gaster had multiple artists playing the electronic music festival, where at least 260 people were killed and others were abducted amid an attack by Hamas operatives Saturday (Oct. 7).
Gaster arrived on site at the festival event at approximately 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, with the party — which had started the night prior — meant to go until approximately 5 p.m. Saturday evening. An offshoot of the Paralello Universo festival brand started in Brazil nearly 20 years ago; the Israel event was called Supernova Sukkot Gathering after the Jewish holiday and was hosting several thousand attendees in a rural location near the Gaza Strip, with a lineup focused on the electronic psytrance genre.
Everything changed, though, when rockets and missiles launched from the Gaza Strip by Hamas starting landing on the site an hour later, part of a widespread attack on Israel.
“Around 6:30 in the morning we started hearing explosions,” Gaster says. “We went out of the backstage and we saw a full bombardment everywhere. It was hundreds of rockets and mortars flying from everywhere and explosions all around us.”
Gaster says that at this point, festival security advised everyone to get down on the floor and put their hands above their heads for protection. But after 5-10 minutes, Gaster says, “the policemen shouted in the microphones, ‘Okay, get in your cars and go.’”
“The moment the policemen said ‘go now,’ I ran,” Gaster recalls. “I didn’t wait, because we know it’s a rocket attack. You need to act quick.”
Because his car was parked near the stage very close to where he was standing, Gaster and three other men — including Universo Paralello co-founder Juarez Petrillo — were able to immediately get in Gaster’s car and drive out minutes later, after Gaster made sure the artists he works with were also in vehicles fleeing the site.
Gaster says he was “driving super fast, not stopping for anything, even when missiles are coming down. My instinct told me don’t stop for shelter, just drive… We drove so fast we didn’t even know what was happening.”
By the time Gaster and the others made it to a villa rented by the production team, located approximately 30 kilometers away from the festival, they had started getting texts and phone calls telling them that minutes after they drove away from the site, Hamas fighters had arrived “with machine guns, with RPGs, with grenades, and just slaughtered whoever they could.”
He says that these attackers arrived by motorcycles, quads and trucks approximately 20 minutes after missiles started landing.
Gaster and those he was with turned the villa into a command center, contacting IDF, other Israeli security services and “all of our friends that we know personally that have firearms that have connections that can go there.”
During this time he and the others were receiving messages from friends and colleagues still on site, who reported that the attackers were shooting attendees in their cars as they attempted to drive away. A friend of Gaster’s messaged to say that the driver of her car had been shot and that she and another friend were pretending to be dead to avoid being killed. He says these women ultimately played dead for five hours before being rescued. As of Sunday (Oct. 8), Israeli rescue service Zaka has reported at least 260 bodies at the site.
“People were hiding in ditches, hiding in bushes, hiding in the woods, hiding wherever you can think of,” says Gaster. “We were getting horrible messages from friends saying, ‘Please help us, they are shooting people next to us.’”
Gaster says it took IDF and special forces a few hours to arrive on site, with those who were there attempting to defend themselves in the meantime.
“At the party there was already a police force, like any licensed party,” Gaster says, “and they were the first ones to try to give assistance by fighting… We are Israelites, so most of us have military experience, and a few from the production managed to kill some terrorists with their bare hands and their weapons.”
Gaster says that the owner of the production company behind the festival, Nova Tribe, killed two of the attackers after taking their guns. Gaster says he and the team at the production villa were being sent on-site locations from various attendees and then sending these locations to the owner, who then went to help these attendees.
“It was 24 hours of working to find as many people as we could and get as many signs of life as we could,” says Gaster.
Universo Paralello was not origintally intended to take place at the Re’im site, with organizers moving it to this location only two days before it started, when another site in southern Israel fell through. The new site at Re’im featured a pair of stages, with the Israeli producer Artifex playing the mainstage when the attack started. Gaster was told that the attackers closed the road into the festival from both sides so attendees could not escape.
Other festival attendees have been abducted by Hamas. As a group of between 15-20 people gathered at the production villa, they, says Gaster, “started seeing videos on social media of hostages and people we know that are kidnapped and bodies we could recognize [as] our friends. Many friends are still missing, and we still don’t know where they are.”
He approximates that there are still 600-700 people missing from the party. All but one artist on the festival lineup has left Israel, with Gaster and others putting artists on any available flight into Europe as airlines canceled flights amid the attacks.
While Gaster had just arrived to his home in the north of Israel when Billboard spoke with him at around 1 a.m. local Israeli time (he says the IDF controls most of the area between where he was and where he lives, so he felt safe to drive home), he says that amid the chaos they are all “still trying to find any signs of life.”
“We are a peaceful community, we are a musical community, we do it for the creation of fun,” says Gaster. “We only wanted to dance and have a good time and enjoy music together, and it turned into a nightmare.”
At least 260 people are dead after a Hamas attack at an outdoor electronic music festival in Israel near the Gaza Strip, according to CNN. An unknown number of attendees also seem to have been abducted by Hamas operatives.
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The attack happened on Saturday (Oct. 7) at the Universo Paralello Festival in Re’im, Israel, a rural area located near the border of the Gaza Strip. CNN says the Israeli rescue service Zaka has reported at least 260 bodies at the site.
The rocket attacks began at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, with Hamas operatives attacking festivalgoers roughly 30 minutes later. CNN reports that several attendees were taken hostage, with those reports corroborated in a statement by the festival itself. There has been intense fighting throughout Israel since Saturday morning, when Hamas began firing rockets into the country and an invasion followed.
Universo Paralello, which took place Oct. 6-7, is a festival that originated in the Brazilian state of Bahia and is focused on psytrance, a high-BPM form of trance music that has long been one of the most popular forms of electronic music in Israel.
The Israeli version of Paralello Universo, called Supernova Sukkot Gathering after the Jewish holiday, released this statement on Instagram earlier on Sunday (Oct. 8): “The Nova tribe is shocked and pained. We support and participate in the grief of the families of the missing and murdered. We are doing everything we can to assist the security forces, standing by. They are in continuous contact and are located in the field during scans and searches in order to locate the missing.”
The statement says that festival organizers will pass information about missing people to relevant parties, including the IDF.
“We are full of hope and pray that good news will come to us and to you soon,” continues the statement, which was written in Hebrew. “In moments like these, it is important that we be strong and united, full faith, we will support each other and be there for anyone who needs it.” The event has since made its Instagram page private and did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment.
The lineup featured psytrance producers from countries including Brazil, Spain, Japan and Mexico, with performers Aladin, Artifex, Astral Projection, Flare Jackalon, Jumpstreet, Kido, LIbra, Man With No Name, Noface, Protanica, Rocky Tilbor, Shove, Spectra Sonics, Swarup, Wegha. Billboard reached out for comment from multiple DJs on the lineup but did not immediately receive responses.
Universo Paralello has been happening in Brazil for nearly two decades. The festival was co-founded by Juarez Petrillo, a longstanding producer and promoter and the father of the globally known producer Alok.
Earlier on Sunday, Alok released a statement regarding his father’s presence at the Israeli event. Petrillo was on the lineup performing under his DJ name, Swarup.
“As many of you know, my father was in one of the invaded locations, and concerning his involvement in the event, he is not the organizer,” Alok’s statement reads. “My father was HIRED to perform at an event that licensed the rights to use the festival’s name, as has happened in several other countries before. The Israeli producer licensed the use of the brand and independently organized the event, with my father being one of the attractions.”
This week in dance music: Spencer Brown shared his experiences as a producer with OCD, Palm Tree Festival Aspen released the lineup for its February event, Kylie Mingue’s Tension hit the top of Dance/Electronic Albums, M83 answered 20 questions about his discomfort with the limelight and more, the David Byrne and Fatboy Slim musical Here Lies Love announced that it will host DJ sets after select performances starting this weekend, we shared an exclusive first looks at the forthcoming ILLENIUM graphic novel, the managers of artists including deadmau5 and Chris Lake announced a new venture around artist IP and Beatport announced the recipients of its second annual inclusivity grants.
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If you want even more, you’re in luck. Here are the best new dance tracks of the week.
James Hype feat. Kim Petras, “Drums”
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The Label: Island Records/Cross Records
The Spiel: The U.K. producer — who blew up last year with his unstoppable “Ferrari” — pairs with dance chanteuse Kim Petras and Justin Timberlake (sort of!) for the electro pop whirlwind “Drums.” A staple of Hype’s sets since 2019, the heart rate-raising club anthem evolved into the track you hear now after Hype linked with Petras in the studio, with the singer’s shimmery timbre playing against a sample from Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” with the pop stars iconic “drums!” directive from that 2002 classic giving this song its name.
The Artist Says: “Fast forward to 2023, I met Kim in LA and we got together to create this version of ‘Drums’ you hear now,” says Hype. “We were also incredibly blessed to have Justin Timberlake agree to keep his original vocal, so this record feels incredibly special to me.”
The Vibe: Indeed as Timberlake said 21 year ago, “It’s kind of special, right?”
Mau P, “Dress Code”
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The Label: Black Book Records
The Spiel: “You wanna know the dress code? Okay, we don’t have a dress code,” insists the vocal on the latest from Mau P. Making his debut on Chris Lake’s Black Book Records with this one, the Dutch wunderkind (who recently dropped an ace remix of Swedish House Mafia’s “Ray Of Solar”) once again demonstrates why everyone’s paying attention to him. His latest tech house weapon is loaded with simply cool sounds, from the skittering synth to the growling bassline to a hectic build and a drop that’s equal parts wailing vocal and car alarm.
The Artist Says: “I don’t care what you look like or what you dress like, I just want you to have a good time,” say the producer born Maurits Westveen. “This record is meant for people to feel good about themselves and have a good time.”
The Vibe: The strutting confidence of putting on that one outfit you look legitimately great in.
Neil Frances & DRAMA, “Energy”
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The Label: Nettwerk
The Spiel: L.A. indie dance duo NEIL FRANCES puts an exclamation point on the release of their latest album, It’s All a Bit Fuzzy, with its standout single “Energy.” A collab with Chicago house/R&B duo DRAMA — “get your hands up, I ain’t coming for your man’s love,” declares DRAMA vocalist Via Rosa — the track is fresh, fun and in possession of that effortless kind of cool that feels just right for the weekend.
The Artist Says: “It’s about stamina on the dance floor, music that never stops and nights that last forever,” NEIL FRANCES says in a joint statement “but most importantly the ‘energy’ to keep up with the person you’re leaving with.”
The Vibe: It’s the beginning of fall, but you’re still locked into that late summer mood.
Chromeo, “Personal Effects”
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The Label: Chromeo Recordings
The Spiel: The Funk Lordz are back with “Personal Effects,” the lead single from their forthcoming sixth studio album Adult Contemporary. Coming 20 years into Chromeo’s career and reflecting the album’s theme of grown-up stuff, the new track is about breaking up with your live-in lover and them leaving all their things at your house after they storm out. “Adult Contemporary is a meditation on modern, mature relationships, which means: if we gotta sing about curling irons, so be it,” says the duo’s Dave 1.
The Artist Says: “This is the last song we added on the album,” Dave 1 continues. “I was on a flight and the pilot said, ‘Please don’t forget your personal effects’ and I was like, ‘Wait, how come this isn’t a Chromeo song title?!’ We felt like we needed a little breezy funk … something warm and fuzzy to bop to. You notice that long instrumental bit at the end? That’s definitely a motif on the album: extended sections where we let the music ride out.
The Vibe: Extremely relatable, down to the L-O-L lyrics “she loses hair ties all the time,” which anyone with long locks can relate to.
Miaj feat. Cakes Da Dilla & Wreckno, “I WANNA BE A BIG STAR”
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The Label: never_b_alone.mp3
The Spiel: A hot-to-the-touch house anthem from Mija, “I WANNA BE A BIG STAR” is inspired by ballroom culture and features a pair of almost absurdly scorching verses from Cakes Da Killa and Wreckno. Spare, sophisticated breakdowns from the producer offer a moment to catch your breath before she and her collaborators wind it all up again. The track is the final from Mija’s four-track NO RULES EP, which is out in its entirety today via her own never b alone.mp3 label and was funded by raising Ethereum and selling digital collectibles on web3. Mija is on tour across the U.S. until early December.
The Artist Says: “This is a house tune I wrote inspired by the documentary Paris Is Burning,” says Mija. “After I wrote the demo, I asked legendary artists Cakes Da Killa and Wreckno to jump on the track, and both of them delivered sickening verses. I wanted to keep the raw emotion of the original samples juxtaposed with quick and dirty house drops. Something you can dance, to something you can cry to.”
The Vibe: Sweating through your t-shirt on the dancefloor.
Dom Dolla, “Saving Up”
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The Label: Three Six Zero Recordings
The Spiel: The days are getting shorter, but Dom Dolla is keeping the sunlight vibes high with his latest, “Saving Up.” A truly joyful disco-flavored singalong inspired by the sound and spirit of the U.K. dance scene, the song features power-lunged vocals that insist “If you’re gonna be saving up, save your love for me” and finds Australian producer Dolla making a track on which he explores his interest in making a track that “sounds sampled, but isn’t.”
The Artist Says: “I was in the U.K. last year after a massive summer of touring when I caught the train down to Brighton with some friends and ended up in an incredible studio overlooking the beach,” says Dolla. “I was missing home a bit, but felt really inspired and wanted to write a feel-good record, reminding myself of the importance of saving time for the ones I care about and love.”
The Vibe: The simple but life-affirming joy of dancing with your besties.
Beatport has announced the recipients of its second annual diversity and parity grants. Awards totaling $150,000 will be given to the organizations Change the Beat, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, ONE OFF TRAKS, Other Village People, Saffron and We Are Moving the Needle.
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life works to empower young people from around the world via fundraising initiatives for grassroots projects. The organization will use the money to teach DJing and production to 32 young women over eight weeks in Leeds, U.K.
ONE OFF TRAKS, an Australian writing camp collaboration and platform for women, trans and non-binary artists, will use its grant to host and expand the writing camp in 2024.
Based in South Africa, Other Village People powers three queer-centered platforms. The organization will use its grant for its newest initiative Queertopia, a three-day festival celebrating South African contemporary queer nightlife culture and movements.
The U.K.’s Saffron works to foster equality in music tech by creating safe and inclusive spaces for people underrepresented in the space. The organization will use its grant to work with 20 Black creatives in the U.K. in endeavors such as community building, knowledge sharing and other educational opportunities.
We Are Moving the Need, based in the States, works to evolve the recording industry with the focus of gender equity and inclusivity. The platform will use its grant on its touring CTRL symposium, which aims to build community and evolve the recording industry via events in Los Angeles, Nashville and New York.
The fund, now in its second year, is awarding two kinds of grants: one that awards amounts between $3,000 to $15,000 to smaller organizations consisting of one to three staff members, and one awarding amounts between $15,001 and $30,000 to organizations with more than four staff members.
“The electronic music community is filled with vibrant groups of creative people who want to make our industry and world better,” Sofia Ilyas, Chief Community Officer of The Beatport Group, says in a statement. “The recipients of our second annual Diversity + Parity Fund exemplify the spirit of positive change, and it is our hope that their endeavors will resonate in powerful ways across our industry.”
Two groups of artist managers have come together to form The Circuit Group, a new entity that will create business opportunities around artists’ intellectual property. Founded by Dean and Jessica Wilson of Seven20 — whose clients include deadmau5 — along with Brett Fischer, David Gray and Harvey Tadman of AYITA — clients include Chris Lake […]
ILLENIUM has had a massive 2023 with his self-titled album and the global tour behind it. But as the year comes to a close, he’s returning to the beginning of the ILLENIUM saga.
On Nov. 21, the producer born Nick Miller will release ILLENIUM Presents: Starfall, a graphic novel spin on the producer’s own origin story. Produced in collaboration with Z2 Comics, which has produced graphic novels with a variety of artists including Blondie, Sublime and Vince Staples, the 80-page graphic novel tells the story of “a cold totalitarian society where only the fittest survive.”
See exclusive images from the project below.
“Nick has embraced a new world order of violence and brutality,” the Starfall teaser continues, “blindly following his overseers’ wishes no matter how much blood stains his hands. To meet these vicious ends, Nick relies on an addictive Substance—a potent elixir that his malignant overlord rations out to the loyally subservient.
But a mysterious woman named Ash soon challenges his worldview, unlocking a potential of harmonyrooted in a winding mythology of phoenixes and fire. To transcend the dystopia he helped create, Nick will have to battle demons of addictions and unearth the secrets of ILLENIUM.”
This storyline mimics Miller’s own life, as the producer has been candid about getting sober in 2012 after a heroin addiction.
“The chance to bring my origin story to life in graphic novel form has always been a dream of mine,” Miller says in a statement. “This will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen from me before.”
The graphic novel will be available in standard hardcover, deluxe hardcover and super deluxe editions. The deluxe edition will feature an oversized hardcover book in a custom slipcase and come packaged with three art prints illustrated by artist Alex Moore. The super deluxe edition, which contains the same contents as the deluxe edition, is limited to 100 copies signed by ILLENIUM and also includes a limited edition holographic collectors card in a magnetic case and an enamel pin. Pre-orders are available now.
The IRL ILLENIUM is currently on tour in Europe and will play a pair of shows at Los Angeles’ SoFi stadium in February behind his ILLENIUM LP, which debuted at No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Albums upon its release this past Mary. The hero of our story also announced yesterday (Oct 3) that he got married in Aspen, Col. this past weekend.
From ILLENIUM: Presents Starfall, with images from Pablo Andrés and Luis Expósito Hernández
From ILLENIUM: Presents Starfall, with images from Pablo Andrés and Luis Expósito Hernández
From ILLENIUM: Presents Starfall, with images from Pablo Andrés and Luis Expósito Hernández
Set inside the Studio 54-esque Club Millennium, Here Lies Love — the Broadway musical from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim — is already a party. Now, the revelry will continue even after curtains close with a series of post-show DJ sets happening after select dates. Called the People Power Disco Hour in homage to the […]
It’s been a busy year for M83, and it’s not done yet. After releasing his ninth studio album, Fantasy, this past March, the French musician has been on the road with his band for a 30-date spring and summer run in the U.S., Europe and Mexico, immersing audiences in the lush, cerebral, often thrilling dream pop that’s made the artist, born Anthony Gonzalez, a revered figure since his 2000s breakthrough (and particularly the release of the 2011 classic Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming).
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The fall leg of the Fantasy tour launched last night (Oct. 3) in Tacoma, Wash. and extends through mid-month with dates throughout the Pacific Northwest, California, Nevada and a final show at Austin City Limits on Oct. 15.
Amidst praise for the new album — 13 tracks of transportive, deep, pretty and emotionally evocative music — Gonzalez has also gotten attention for the monster mask he’s wearing on the cover art and in all the promotional materials, a slightly scary but now seasonally appropriate guise he says is “a way of hiding myself from the world.”
He did, however, hit a wave of unwanted attention after a March interview in which he said that “EDM is probably one of the styles of music that I hate the most,” expressing disdain that his era-defining hit “Midnight City” is so often played by “these bro EDM DJs.” Gonzalez later clarified, releasing a statement that “I do not hate the EDM community. No! I am forever grateful for the love and support,” but adding that he does hate “DJs using my music without any permission.”
Here, Gonzalez shares if any DJs have asked for this permission, why he’s more comfortable in the monster mask and why he doesn’t believe in guilty pleasure music.
1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?
Just arrived in Seattle to start the last leg of the Fantasy tour. I always loved this city. It feels like Seattle has a soul and spirit that is highly inspiring.
2. What is the first album or piece of music you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?
A cassette of the album Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden, which was sold to me by my brother’s friend Fred. I was immediately attracted by the fantastical cover art and the sound that felt like discovering a new planet. I was 10 years old and suddenly hooked to rock music.
3. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid, and what do or did they think of what you do for a living now?
My mum was the owner of a very cute little fabric store in the heart of Antibes old town, while my dad was a police inspector. Neither of them had anything to do with music, though my mother always pushed my brother and I to play a musical instrument. I feel extremely lucky that my parents always supported us in our choice of being a musician and a movie director. We always had the freedom to do what we liked.
4. What’s the first non-gear thing you bought for yourself when you started making money as an artist?
I actually don’t remember buying anything but musical instruments when I started to earn money with my music. It has always been my sole obsession.
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5. If you had to recommend one album for someone looking to get into electronic music, what would you give them?
I think it would be a Tangerine Dream album called Phaedra. It’s a dark but rewarding album that takes you on a journey to very strange places. One of my very first shocks as a teenager listening to electronic music.
6. What’s the last song you listened to?
“Pygmy Love Song” by Francis Bebey.
7. You’ve been on the road behind Fantasy since April. Has there been anything surprising or particularly interesting to you about the way the album has come to life in the live setting?
To me, it’s the team I’ve put together for the tour that keeps me wanting to play more. I love my band and crew. They always have my back and they keep inspiring me every night on stage. I don’t think I could have done it without them.
8. I understand you’re about to release “Mirror,” the unreleased Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming-era track. Why, and why is this the right time?
Simply because it’s a track that never came out digitally and we close our shows with that song. The response of the audience has been great so far, and it’s an unknown song that deserves to be properly released in my opinion.
9. The creature that’s on the cover of Fantasy and in a lot of your promotional materials for it — what is that creature? What motivates it? Why does it represent this album?
It’s a way of hiding myself from the world. I absolutely hate seeing me. It’s starting to scare me to know that so many photos and videos of me are online. Ideally I would like to be able to have control over such images, but it’s just practically impossible. So I choose to protect myself and just fight to make sure that my music stays the main protagonist in what I do.
10. You wrote on social media that “I want to keep having fantasies about worlds that I don’t know and creatures I don’t understand, and that’s the story behind this record.” Unpack that a bit more for us — have you kept having those fantasies? Why is this important to you?
I’m just a dreamer, and anything related to being an adult in a modern world is boring and terrifying to me. The ultra-connected aspect of our society is making life more stressful. Emails, socials, my phone, they are all my worst enemies. My imagination saves me from turning insane with it all. Music helps a lot.
11. Based on things you’ve said in previous interviews, it sounds like you’re ready to move away from Los Angeles. What did the city give you while you were there? Why is it time to leave?
I’m not gone yet, but I’m seriously considering it. L.A. will always be the city of dreams for me. When I moved here almost 15years ago I felt like anything was possible. It really helped me to be a better artist by allowing me to be close to more talented and successful people than me. In that way it pushed me to be a stronger person and to work more.
But I miss France a lot, my family and friends, my culture and my roots. I’m lucky that I can share my time between California and France, even though traveling has become more and more difficult. A lot has changed in 15 years, and not in a good way. Just going to an airport now is such an exhausting and draining experience.
12. What are you seeking elsewhere?
Peace of mind. A quiet life making music close to my loved ones, far from the noise and superficiality of a big megalopolis like Los Angeles.
13. You made headlines around the release of Fantasy with some comments about EDM and about how you wish DJs would ask permission before playing your music. Have any since asked for that permission? If so, did you grant it?
A few have asked yes, and I thank them for it. Of course I grant it. I know that DJs helped my music to be more popular, and I’m thankful for it. It’s just a different world with different rules. I have to learn to let go sometimes.
14. But, surely there are DJs who play other peoples’ music that you enjoy. Maybe? Was there a particularly great set you’ve been to recently?
I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a DJ, no. It’s not my culture and [I’ve] never been attracted to the club scene.
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15. What’s one song you wish you had written?
None. I’ve never been envious of anyone. I have respect yes, and there are so many artists that I love to death, but that’s all. I believe we need to accept that some artists are more talented and successful than yourself. So many songs and albums move me in a very deep way, but even so I never wished to be someone else. I’m already trying to accept myself as an artist, which is an extremely difficult process to me.
16. Do you have guilty pleasure music?
No, I don’t like this expression of guilty pleasure. If you get pleasure listening to something then it’s just good!
17. The proudest moment of your career thus far?
Being myself and making the records I want.
18. What’s the best business decision you’ve ever made?
I hate the word “business.” I don’t like talking about success, money etc. Being able to make music is a gift, and that’s all I care about.
19. Who was your greatest mentor, and what was the best advice they gave you?
Justin Meldal-Johnsen. Moving to L.A. and meeting him was a blessing. He helped me find myself in so many ways. I always go to him when I need guidance. He’s like a brother to me, and I love the fact that he always says what he thinks, even when it hurts.
20. One piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
Be happy, music is cool.
Kylie Minogue collects her second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart as her new studio release Tension opens atop the tally (dated Oct. 7). She previously led the 22-year-old list with 2020’s Disco.
The new album’s chart-topping debut comes after its lead single, “Padam Padam,” became a viral hit over the summer, and went on to become her first top 10 hit on the 10-year-old Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in June.
Tension, released Sept. 22 via Darenote/BMG, earned 24,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 28, according to Luminate. That marks Minogue’s best week, by units, since the industry began measuring by that metric in December 2014. On the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, Tension debuts at No. 21, her highest-charting album in over a decade, since Aphrodite hit No. 19 (July 24, 2010-dated chart).
Further, of Tension’s first-week units, album sales comprise 19,500 – the pop star’s biggest sales week for an album in nearly 20 years. She last sold more in a single week with an album when Body Language debuted with 43,500 (Feb. 28, 2004-dated chart). Of Tension’s 19,500 sold, physical sales comprise nearly 14,000 (7,000 on vinyl – her biggest week on vinyl since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991; 6,000 on CD and 1,000 on cassette) and digital album sales comprise about 5,500.
Tension was issued as a standard 11-song album, a 14-track deluxe edition (on CD, digital download and streamers) and in a 16-song edition (sold as a digital download exclusively through Minogue’s webstore). Sales of the album were bolstered by more than 15 physical formats, including seven vinyl variants (all with the same standard 11-song tracklist, with many in different colors with alternative covers – including some retailer-exclusive offerings), five cassettes (four with the album’s standard tracklist, and one with the 14-song tracklist – all in different colors) and five CDs (including a signed edition sold through Newbury Comics, and versions in alternative collectible packaging).
Tension was ushered in by the No. 7-peaking “Padam Padam” on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in June. (The chart ranks the week’s most popular songs of the genre in the U.S., by blending streams, sales and airplay.) The track also became her first entry on the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs chart (peaking at No. 14) and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart and two weeks atop the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.
The viral hit went on to earn 34.19 million on-demand official audio and video streams in the U.S. – making it Minogue’s third-biggest streaming song ever in America. “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” released in 2001, is her most-streamed hit in the U.S. (176.66 million) and her seasonal cover of “Santa Baby,” released in 2000, is in second place (44.62 million). (Minogue made her Billboard chart debut in May of 1988, bowing on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Should Be So Lucky.”)
Following “Padam,” the new album has spun off a second dance hit with the title track, which hit No. 18 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in September, No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales and debuts at No. 7 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay on the Oct. 7-dated chart. Plus, concurrent with the album’s debut on the charts, the set’s “Hold On to Now” bows at No. 32 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and No. 10 on Dance/Electronic Song Sales.
Outside of the dance world, “Padam Padam” gave Minogue her first entry on the Pop Airplay chart since 2004’s “Slow,” and her first hit on the Adult Pop Airplay chart since 2002’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”
The Billboard 200 and Top Dance/Electronic Albums charts rank, respectively, the week’s most popular overall albums, and dance/electronic albums, in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. Top Album Sales ranks the week’s top-selling albums by traditional album sales (CD, vinyl, cassette, digital download album, etc.).