Category — Brittany Murphy

So sad.

As the news of Brittany Murphy’s death earlier this morning continues to work its way through the various social networking sites and media outlets, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the work that Murphy had done over the past few years as a recording artist.

It was always a well known fact that Brittany Murphy was working on a debut album. According to reports as far back as 2004, Murphy was booking producers and session singers for studio work on her upcoming release.

In 2006, Murphy went on to collaborate with the highly talented Paul Oakenfold for a song called “Faster Kill Pussycat” off his album, A Lively Mind. “Faster kill, faster still pussycat, I can’t stand to see you cry,” Murphy taunts with a delicious rasp atop a combination of hard, thumping synthesizers and gritty, grinding bursts of electronica.

As a debut release, the track floored me–it was dark, bold, and fearless; a tantalizing taste of what could come of Murphy’s debut. To this day, the song remains one of my favorite songs of the ’00’s. Click here to watch the video for “Faster Kill Pussycat” and celebrate this stunning release once more.

Later that year, Murphy lent her vocals to two tracks on the Happy Feet soundtrack, covers of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland.” The songs, as with “Faster Kill Pussycat,” defied all expectations, proving herself a singer with a far better ability to croon than many of the pop starlets on the scene at the time.

In May of 2008, Murphy left a blog note on her MySpace confirming that she had been in the studio with Max Martin, Timbaland, and Paul Oakenfold, assuring fans that the process of her debut was moving slowly because she “needed to make sure that becoming a “pop star” was what i wanted.”

As of 2009, the album still hadn’t come to fruition. Quite sadly, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever hear anything from those lost sessions now.

Brittany Murphy will truly be missed–not only as a wonderful actress, but as the recording artist who could have been.

Rest in peace, Brittany.

Twitter can be so useful sometimes.

Take for instance that of Guy Oseary, Madonna’s manager. After seeing signs (“back in the recording studio..”) that the Queen was readying new tracks for her upcoming Greatest Hits collection, my friends and I quickly took to swamping him with questions: What did it sound like? Who was producing? Was it more Confessions or Bedtime?

Alas, we have learned: Madonna has been in the booth with none other than Paul Oakenfold. It makes sense, as he’s done dozens of mixes for her over the years, as well as a few pre-shows on the Sticky & Sweet Tour.

I see this more as disaster avoided rather than opportunity lost. I mean, imagine all the producers we might have had to suffer through…Timbaland? Scott Storch? I don’t even want to think about it.

I’m an Oakenfold fan, a title cemented after his amazing collabo with Brittany Murphy called “Faster Kill Pussycat.” Call me a sucker for anything offering a nod to the Grindhouse era in film, but I was and still am quite smitten by the track.

So…what do you guys think about the choice in producer?

DL: Paul Oakenfold ft. Brittany Murphy – Faster Kill Pussycat

PS: How does Lady M remain so fucking cool even in text form? There’s something about her enticing little quips (“im cooking up something good for you to sing with me on… love, M”) that make her that much more interesting than the two dozen or so fembots trying to take her throne daily.