Rufus Wainwright unveiled a clever new pop romp, “Trouble in Paradise,” the first offering from his as-yet-untitled new album.
In a statement, Wainwright said the song was about the fashion world, but its general themes applied to the world at large. Over lush pop rock orchestration reminiscent of Billy Joel, Wainwright saunters through a vocal performance that lends a lavish edge to his wry lyrics, singing, “There’s always trouble in paradise/ Don’t matter if your drinks are neat or on ice/ There’s always trouble in paradise/ Don’t matter if you’re good or bad or mean or awfully nice.”
“A little older, a little wiser, but raring to go, I am excited to re-ignite the darker sensibilities of song matched with a musical sense of humor,” Wainwright said. “‘Trouble in Paradise’ is my first offering on this typically intense Wainwright journey. We are in the deep end baby.”
“Trouble in Paradise” marks Wainwright’s first proper pop track since 2012’s Out of the Game. In 2015, he released the album version of his opera, Prima Donna, and the following year he issued a record of musical adaptations of nine Shakespeare sonnets, Take All My Loves. As for the new record, Wainwright has yet to reveal a release date or title, though he did record the LP in Los Angeles and will release it via his new label, BMG.
Wainwright has a string of North American tour dates lined up this fall, starting November 1st at the State Theatre of Ithaca in Ithaca, New York, and wrapping November 23rd at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas.