Bonnie McKee - Hot City (aka Epic Album)

[Lucas M]

11 hours ago, zaynphallic said:

New Podcast: 

 

A few highlights:

• "Teenage Dream" was the most difficult song to write. Bonnie came up with the title.
• She and Katy talked about working together on the "Witness" album, but Katy wanted to work with a new team, and Bonnie was having a "mental breakdown at the time" (lol) so they ultimately felt it wouldn't be a good fit.
• She feels like the Epic songs are some of her best work, and that she was in her "peak era of writing pop hits". Said she believed in the album with all of her heart, but the label didn't understand it.
• She says the people at Epic at the time "were not really confident in themselves as a label", and if something "didn't immediately skyrocket, it was on to the next". Says "American Girl" was doing really well, but as soon as it started to dip a bit they jumped ship. She says she was "livid".
• Says the label agreed on "S.L.A.Y." being the second single, and so Bonnie landed the opening spot on the Karmin tour herself, and fronted the money for the tour herself, before Epic changed their mind on "S.L.A.Y." and left her to pay for the tour on her own. That's when she called her manager and said she wanted out.
• She talks about the leaked demos. Says she really appreciates that people give a shit about the songs, and it gives her hope and makes her feel validated, but it's also scary and violating because she doesn't understand how people got her hands on them.
• Says she's still dealing with shit trying to get the masters cleared.
• She built a whole set with her bare hands "for the fans" for the "S.L.A.Y." music video. I'm assuming she's talking about the vault she teased on Instagram.
• She says a couple years after everything fell apart at Epic, she still wanted to put out "S.L.A.Y." and a friend of hers was like "nobody says slay anymore". Lol. (I wonder if this is the same friend who convinced her to release "Thorns"?! I smell sabotage.) However she feels like the word "slay" is making a comeback (😂) and this is the universe telling her "slay bitch, let's go".
• She is thinking about calling the album "From the Vault" because she wants to be clear that these are old songs and a "walk down pop history lane".
• She wants to put out "S.L.A.Y." to help get some traction before releasing the new album.
• The new album is a lot darker, vulnerable and personal "but still BOPS".
• The Bombastic EP was supposed to be a full album, but her manager at the time convinced her to make it an EP. (🙄) She said she wishes she put more songs on it, and after it was released her manager "didn't love it" anyway. She says a lot of time she listens to people who think they have authority on taste, but they don't. (Lol no kidding).
• She says she really didn't want to give up "Naked" and "I Don't Care" because they were really personal to her.
• She wrote a song with Miley for "Bangerz" that didn't make it because it "wasn't that great".
• She thought about keeping "Let There Be Love" for herself because she knew it was a smash, and was annoyed Xtina didn't really do much with it.
• She talks briefly about "California Winter" (yasss), and says she tries to push it every year because she believes it will be a classic. She had to do a one-shot video because there was like "two weeks to Christmas" and she didn't have time to edit it. (We love our last minute queen).
• The host brings up "Stud Muffin" (screams!). Bonnie said her friend worked at Quest Bar and had a budget for a song/music video. 🤣 She says it's "so dumb" but she "loves it".
• She ends off by naming her Top 5 songs she's written/co-written...
  • #5) "American Girl"
  • #4) "Forever Drunk" by Peach PRC (surprising to see this here, since Bonnie hasn't really promoted it. But she says Peach is a former stripper and sent her a video stripping to "American Girl" lol)
  • #3) "Wide Awake"
  • #2) "Roar"
  • #1) "Teenage Dream" (says the title has really gone on to make it's mark in pop culture history, and "the title was mine.")

I’m glad she’s still trying to put out the album. I still have hope it will come out

[Joyride]

i wonder what else would've been on the Bombastic album; all the other songs from that time sound so pitch-y 

[reflection]

‘5 items’ was a song cut last minute?

[spcdoo45]

3 minutes ago, reflection said:

‘5 items’ was a song cut last minute?

Probably four songs and an album cover.

[izzzyyy]

2 hours ago, BonnieMcChicken said:

If she filmed a music video for slay i would hope she has the legal stuff somewhat figured out or at least for that song. i hope she's just waiting to release slay until she has the rest of the songs figured out. idk i'm just making stuff up. release something anything. she should have kept naked for herself. such a great song. but we would have never heard it if that happened. 

Epic is not clearing the masters. They need to clear them for release. She openly said this and also it relates to what she said about it being "difficult because none of the old people still work at the label." (Might be misquoting a little.) Essentially, none of the people she was friends with, or who were in her corner work there anymore, so she is not a priority at ALL.

[izzzyyy]

8 minutes ago, reflection said:

‘5 items’ was a song cut last minute?

Don't think so, especially not with what she said in the podcast now. Could be an album cover, like somebody else said, or it could be a remix. 

[izzzyyy]

49 minutes ago, Joyride said:

i wonder what else would've been on the Bombastic album; all the other songs from that time sound so pitch-y 

I Get What I Want the only thing that comes to mind

[izzzyyy]

11 hours ago, Ice Prince said:

I truly want her to put the Epic songs out, but IN THE MEANWHILE, she could release her darker album she keeps talking on, and eventually release those other tracks when she gets the masters back like droplet singles within 5 summers or whatever.

Bring it on, Bonnie, I want to believe you.

Everybody's feelings of frustration are valid and justified, and I have notably partaken in this discourse before, and I even wholly gave up on her after a bit. So I can't imagine how it must be to be an OG fan and still be struggling. But, I believe her this time. She has shut up publicly about the album coming outside the legal stuff. She's even telling us to ask Epic because they need to clear her masters for release. She confirmed the SLAY music video is done; it's finished. The album must be completed, too, since that's what she mentioned, the masters. She submitted the whole thing, not groups of songs. She has financed so much into this project, ATP; hearing her progress, it'd be a horrible decision for her to drop everything and create a new rollout. It would have been a good decision for her to start with the darker album, I can't deny that, but I think she is doing what she can with the decisions she DID make. We should try our best to support her during this time in relation to the Epic shit, as I'm sure it's not easy. She could have said, well, legal issues, I guess I'm just gonna give up now. Things may NOT be coming as soon as we hope for, but there's no denying there's a possibility they will still come. Maybe spring/summer 2023? If she plays the roll-out smart, it could definitely work for her. Hopefully, SLAY by the end of the year, Rewind Your Heart could work as a single, saw some people mentioning Electric Heaven as well. If nothing ever comes of this, well, maybe I'm a fool, but truly, I believe she is trying. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by izzzyyy

[izzzyyy]

10 hours ago, low kii savage said:

Don't worry guys, if Bonnie McKee won't release this summer....
EVIL MCQUEEN WILL ON HALLOWEEN

  Reveal hidden contents

hopefully....

 

King of photoshop

[izzzyyy]

9 hours ago, izzzyyy said:

Everybody's feelings of frustration are valid and justified, and I have notably partaken in this discourse before, and I even wholly gave up on her after a bit. So I can't imagine how it must be to be an OG fan and still be struggling. But, I believe her this time. She has shut up publicly about the album coming outside the legal stuff. She's even telling us to ask Epic because they need to clear her masters for release. She confirmed the SLAY music video is done; it's finished. The album must be completed, too, since that's what she mentioned, the masters. She submitted the whole thing, not groups of songs. She has financed so much into this project, ATP; hearing her progress, it'd be a horrible decision for her to drop everything and create a new rollout. It would have been a good decision for her to start with the darker album, I can't deny that, but I think she is doing what she can with the decisions she DID make. We should try our best to support her during this time in relation to the Epic shit, as I'm sure it's not easy. She could have said, well, legal issues, I guess I'm just gonna give up now. Things may NOT be coming as soon as we hope for, but there's no denying there's a possibility they will still come. Maybe spring/summer 2023? If she plays the roll-out smart, it could definitely work for her. Hopefully, SLAY by the end of the year, Rewind Your Heart could work as a single, saw some people mentioning Electric Heaven as well. If nothing ever comes of this, well, maybe I'm a fool, but truly, I believe she is trying. 

Y’all… Bonnie McKee is coming https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR5L2bEt/

 

[izzzyyy]

“It’s done.” The album is finished. She is still fighting. Please send her some love this is probably difficult. By the looks of it though it seems to have gotten better for her. 

[TakeYouToHell]

9 hours ago, reflection said:

‘5 items’ was a song cut last minute?

Probably two versions of Bombastic - clean and explicit. 

[zaynphallic]

Hopefully this new TikTok is a sign that the wheels are actually in motion again. 🙏

[TakeYouToHell]

To be honest I don't care about the title of Epic album. It doesn't matter if it's gonna be "From The Vault" or somethin like "2012-2014 songs collection". Just release it and move on

[Bambi101]

15 hours ago, Joyride said:

i wonder what else would've been on the Bombastic album; all the other songs from that time sound so pitch-y 

Agreed, but I don't think we've heard all of her 2015 material. Out of the ones we have I could see Undefeated, Diamonds, and In the Wild being added onto the EP. "I Want It All" was an older demo she dug up and re-recorded for the EP, so there's a chance she would unearth more songs from years ago if she had to.

14 hours ago, izzzyyy said:

Everybody's feelings of frustration are valid and justified, and I have notably partaken in this discourse before, and I even wholly gave up on her after a bit. So I can't imagine how it must be to be an OG fan and still be struggling. But, I believe her this time. She has shut up publicly about the album coming outside the legal stuff. She's even telling us to ask Epic because they need to clear her masters for release. She confirmed the SLAY music video is done; it's finished. The album must be completed, too, since that's what she mentioned, the masters. She submitted the whole thing, not groups of songs. She has financed so much into this project, ATP; hearing her progress, it'd be a horrible decision for her to drop everything and create a new rollout. It would have been a good decision for her to start with the darker album, I can't deny that, but I think she is doing what she can with the decisions she DID make. We should try our best to support her during this time in relation to the Epic shit, as I'm sure it's not easy. She could have said, well, legal issues, I guess I'm just gonna give up now. Things may NOT be coming as soon as we hope for, but there's no denying there's a possibility they will still come. Maybe spring/summer 2023? If she plays the roll-out smart, it could definitely work for her. Hopefully, SLAY by the end of the year, Rewind Your Heart could work as a single, saw some people mentioning Electric Heaven as well. If nothing ever comes of this, well, maybe I'm a fool, but truly, I believe she is trying. 

I mean, yeah, I can see her trying more this time around which I'm most definitely excited about, but as far as her communication goes things haven't changed much. Why did it take fans constantly sliding into her DMs and leaving annoyed comments on her TikToks for her to reveal the legal issues with the masters? She literally went mute after reassuring multiple fans the album's coming out sooner than we think in July. Now it's September and we're here talking about the album possibly coming out next year. Sure, we've waited like 9 years for this (which is so ridiculous lol!!) so I guess we can wait a couple of months, that is--unless she somehow makes up her mind for the billionth time about this not being the "right time/climate" for her to drop these songs. We, as a fandom, have trust issues and rightfully so. She's unpredictable, and constantly changes the narrative. I was relieved to hear her say (on the new podcast) she doesn't care for commercial success anymore, at least she's also more realistic with her expectations. 

4 hours ago, TakeYouToHell said:

To be honest I don't care about the title of Epic album. It doesn't matter if it's gonna be "From The Vault" or somethin like "2012-2014 songs collection". Just release it and move on

True, although I still don't like the "From the Vault" title and I'll be renaming it asap. I'd like her to treat the album as the unique body of work it always was, not some random collection of unfinished demos she put together. FTV would be a more fitting title for an album full of pitches for other artists (i.e. like what Sia did with This Is Acting) imo.