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Pick at the pops: 12 May 2008

Sugababes

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Our weekly round-up of the weird and wonderful world of pop music...

Was it only last week that we were praising Coldplay for their unparalleled decision to give single ‘Violet Hill’ away for free on the internet? Well, this week Chris Martin, Will Champion, another bloke with a beard and another bloke with a beard are going one further – this time they’re giving their whole album away for nada. Half of it, anyway. Martin says it’ll be a buy one track/get one track free offer, adding, “nobody buys full albums any more and we’ve made an album that you have to have from start to finish”. Sounds like a winner to us – what do you think, Capitol Records, Coldplay’s US label? “This appears to be incorrect.” Oh.

Free or not, we won’t be seeing a new album from Sugababes this year, because they apparently need more time to work on new material. They’re not arguing or splitting up or anything. Here’s Keisha’s plausible explanation: “I think sometimes people forget we do write our own material. Even when we have a co-writer [that’s “all the time”, pop fact fans] we’re writing the bulk of the song.” Makes you wonder why they credit something like seven other writers on every track they “co-write”. If Keisha, Heidi and Amelle are shouldering the bulk, these others are clearly not pulling their weight. Sack them, Keisha! You know the drill by now.

Let’s find a pop star we can rely on: here’s Madonna. But what’s this? It seems our Madge was two whopping hours late for a gig in Paris last week. Even worse, it was one of hers. When the old girl finally hobbled on stage, she treated disappointed Parisian punters to a measly 40 minutes of choreographed mayhem. A fan collared outside the venue suggested the gig wasn’t spontaneous and might even have been – gasp – mimed! He huffed that “it was too perfect with no room for emotion”. Hmm. Seems so unlike Madonna.

Like any self-respecting regular pop column in 2008, we’re obliged to give you weekly updates on who’s for or against Jay-Z playing Glastonbury. This week, Winehouse producer and lounge-pop cover artiste Mark Ronson will be supporting Jay-Z… ah, wait a minute – Ronson will be supporting Jay-Z on his arena tour in July. So it’s just about cash. Never mind, Jay. You’ve still got the Eavises.

Matthew Horton

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