Martin Solveig is doing more than producing for Madonna – he’s now a part of her world tour. Announced at the end of last week, the “Hello” producer, who was also behind Madonna’s “Give Me All Your Luvin’,” is joining the singer on the European leg of her MDNA World Tour.
The series of European dates starts on May 29 in Tel Aviv, Israel and ends on August 21 in Nice, France. There’s no word about the specific dates Solveig is playing, as of yet.
Recently coming off a Coachella set, Solveig was one of several producers tied to MDNA. Benny Benassi and William Orbit, who produced Madonna’s Ray of Light, were also contributors. Although originally only expected to do one track when invited to work with the pop star in July 2011, Solveig ended up doing three. Aside from “Give Me,” “Turn On The Radio” and “I Don’t Give A” were additionally produced by Solveig.
Madonna, apparently, was looking to have a dance sound on her latest album, and Solveig, in working with her, was asked to experiment. In an interview with MTV, he discussed trying out different BPMs for the eventual MDNA tracks and said: “We were working with no limits. I think the only thing that she said when we started was ‘I just want people to be able to dance to my music and connect easily with my music,’ and also probably to take some risks at some point. Other than this, it was open to any kind of experimentation.”
Unfortunately, listeners didn’t fully connect well with MDNA, although “Give Me All Your Luvin’” performed adequately on the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself, however, debuted with 359,000 units its first week, going to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and dropped to No. 8, with 48,000 units, the second week. This 86-percent decrease earned MDNA the dubious distinction of the greatest drop for a No. 1 debut album.
A fair portion of MDNA’s first week figure came from ticket purchases, as the album was additionally included. While this practice points to overly-inflated album sales, it also shows the tour is drawing a fair audience.
