Manhattan Digest

All you need to know about Manhattan culture and so much more...

living for love

Producer Paul Andrews Officially Remixes Madonna’s “Ghosttown”

by

So its pretty safe to say for any talent working in the music industry that if you get the seal of approval from the one and only Madonna, then you are clearly doing something right.  This is the case for the amazingly talented producer and songwriter Paul Andrews, who has done an official mix of her song “Ghosttown” off her incredible new album “Rebel Heart”.

Paul is someone who I have profiled not once but twice in the past on Manhattan Digest.  One in my Get To Know series, and the other one was coincidentally about dropping a mix of Madonna’s song “Living for Love”.  I say the word coincidence because that is exactly how this whole process was able to happen.  Apparently, Madonna’s team heard the remix to of “Living For Love” then he received a text from a mutual friend stating the following- “Silly question, but would you want to remix Madonna’s next single?”

Immediately jumping at the idea (because who wouldn’t), Paul asked what she was looking for when it came to remixing “Ghosttown”.  It was simple- just be creative like he was with his other mixes.  Only having three days to finish the mix, he spent them feverishly getting it done and arranging all of it in his head throughout that period of time.  Once it was finished and submitted, he got word that Madonna herself has approved the mix and it would be an exclusive for the Jay-Z driven “Tidal Music Streaming”.  Madonna (who just celebrated her 45th number one single on the Billboard charts), wanted to use it but not for a Dance EP as it wasn’t a dance mix.  Suffice to say, this is an amazing accomplishment for Paul in getting to work with one of the biggest legends in music there ever was, and hope that this can continue and so on and so forth.

To hear an exclusive preview of “Ghosttown” you can go to Paul’s direct site, however to hear it in its entirety download Tidal and experience the epic greatness that is this track.

Producer & Songwriter Paul Andrews Drops New Madonna Mix

by

Two people I happen to be big fans of are living legend and queen of the too tight cape Madonna, as well as producer, songwriter and all around good guy Paul Andrews.  Long Island and frequent NYC’er Paul is someone that I profiled recently for the site, and in that original interview you really get to understand just how truly talented this guy is.  With 2014 being such a lackluster year in music, in particular sales wise, some of the biggest artists in the world have their albums slated to be released this year in hopes that we can salvage what 2014 didn’t give.  Madonna of course is one of them, as her highly anticipated new album “Rebel Heart” is slated to be released this coming Tuesday.

One of the songs off of that album is called “Living For Love” which is a simple piano based song.  However Paul remixed the song with a more uptempo base, and it sounds freaking fantastic.  Take a listen to the track here.  Madonna songs have been remixed for almost 30 years, yet I love how Paul took a simple, low key song and really lifted it to a whole other level with a great synth-base that elevates it to a whole other level.  He truly shows what a chameleon he is when it comes to mixing songs, and this is a great example of that.

On the page for “Living For Love”, he has this to say about the remix-

Recorded February 2015. 

Madonna is a hard worker.  How could anyone not respect that!  She’s still delivering.  This is my 4th Madonna remix.  Decided to go with a 90’s sounding house style feel for a few reasons:

The original version of “Living For Love” is piano based.

There seems to be a trend with mixes going back to the 90’s style.

I liked how my “Lights” 90’s remix came out.

I got a new virtual synth and I HAD to use it!

When I first heard “Living For Love”, I wondered why the song built up in the chorus just to drop out.  The chorus sounds like a gospel song, so why not “go there”.  Interestingly, the song seems to have so many different parts to it, so I decided to re-harmonize each section on its own.

I’m saddened to hear that some radio stations aren’t playing Madonna because she doesn’t appeal to their younger listening audience.  As with most pop stations, they play into the marketing.  Would they play this song if a younger artist sang it?  I honestly do not listen to pop radio.  They have stopped playing the music I like a long time ago.

The latter part of what he said could not be more true.  Madonna puts out better music than most of the 1dkatypladygagabieber crap that is out there today.  So does Paul.  For more information on this mix and everything else Paul does, check out his official site.