Starfucker (Slayyyter album)

Last updated

Starfucker
Slayyyter - Starfucker.png
Standard edition cover
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 22, 2023 (2023-09-22)
Genre
Length35:16
Label Fader Label
Producer
  • Baej Lambeaux
  • Aaron Joseph
  • Chris Lyon
  • Nicopop
  • Vaughn Oliver
  • Jordan Palmer
  • Valley Girl
Slayyyter chronology
Troubled Paradise
(2021)
Starfucker
(2023)
Singles from Starfucker
  1. "Out of Time"
    Released: June 9, 2023
  2. "Miss Belladonna"
    Released: July 21, 2023
  3. "Erotic Electronic"
    Released: August 18, 2023
  4. "I Love Hollywood!"
    Released: September 22, 2023

Starfucker is the second studio album by American singer Slayyyter. It was released on September 22, 2023. An '80s-influenced electronic pop record, Starfucker explores a "dramatized" and satirical view of Hollywood, focusing on the culture of drugs, vanity, and celebrity. A deluxe edition of the album was released on December 1, 2023. [3] [4]

Contents

Slayyyter worked primarily alongside Nicopop, who produced "Clouds" for the album's predecessor. Previous collaborators Valley Girl and Jordan Palmer returned to produce tracks for the album, alongside her touring DJ Owen Jackson, [5] and new collaborators Vaughn Oliver, Aaron Joseph, Baej Lambeux, Jacob Decoteau, and Chris Lyon.

It is Slayyyter's first charting album, debuting at number 17 on Billboard 's Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart and peaking at number 10. The album received positive reviews from critics.

Background and development

Slayyyter released her debut studio album Troubled Paradise on June 11, 2021, to generally positive reviews. She described the album as "very thrown together", and sought to expand her musical tastes for a new project. She wrote nearly 200 songs for the album. [6] Inspired by old Hollywood tropes and her own experience moving to Los Angeles to pursue a music career, [7] she wrote songs that invoke celebrity and 80s and 90s films. She cited the erotic thrillers Blue Velvet , Body Double , and Basic Instinct as visual and lyrical references. [8] [9] She used "broody synths" to create darker music, inspired by the American electronic duo Boy Harsher. [10] The album's title came from a conversation Slayyyter had with Jackson about the music industry, in which he'd referred to someone the pair knew as a "starfucker". [11]

The entirety of the album, as well as an estimated "50–60 [demo] songs", leaked online ahead of Starfucker's release. [12] Scrapped songs for the album include a track sampling "Stereo Love" by Romanian musicians Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina, which Slayyyter and her label were unable to release due to costly sample clearance fees. [13]

Composition

Starfucker is a sonic departure from Slayyyter's previous hyperpop style, [14] combining a more conventional, pop sound with club music styles such as techno [15] and electroclash. [16]

Singles and promotion

"Out Of Time" was released as the album's first single on June 9, 2023. [17] This was followed by "Miss Belladonna" on July 21, 2023, coinciding with the announcement of the album. [18] "Erotic Electronic" was released as the album's third single on August 18, 2023, alongside a music video where Slayyyter walks naked down Hollywood Boulevard. [19] The release of fourth single "I Love Hollywood!" coincided with its music video and the album's release on September 22, 2023. [20]

Slayyyter debuted tracks from Starfucker in her set at Life Is Beautiful Music & Art Festival in Las Vegas on September 22, 2023. [21]

"Makeup" featuring French-born American singer Lolo Zouaï was released on November 10, 2023, as a promotional single to promote the deluxe edition of the album, which was released on December 1, 2023. [22]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Line of Best Fit 9/10 [23]

Caitlin Chatterton of The Line of Best Fit gave the album a 9/10 review, declaring it "an express delivery of utterly skipless dance belters". [23] PopBuzz ranked Starfucker at #17 in their ranking of the best albums of 2023, described by Sam Prance as "one of the best explorations of fame in pop since Lady Gaga's The Fame ". [24] Paper named the album among its top albums of 2023, with Justin Moran writing, "the project still manages to sit left of center with an experimental energy that keeps Slayyyter’s brand of pop weird enough for all the outsiders who’ve followed her online since “BFF”. [25]

Courtney DelMar of 50thirdandthird deemed the deluxe edition of Starfucker her definitive 2023 album of the year, and was complementary of Slayyyter's "choice to mostly eschew the straight disco pop that has been in vogue, and make something for the clubs that is a little more indebted to and informed by the underground." [26] In a mostly positive review, Thejas Varma considered the record "pop at its best, a concoction of disparate influences working in sync to produce groovy earworms", but was critical of the track "Memories of You", considering the "bouncy Euro house tune [to be] weakened by a dated trance synth line in its chorus." [27]

Track listing

Starfucker – Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."I Love Hollywood!"
  • Slayyyter
  • Jonathan Bach
  • Nicolas DiPietrantonio
Nicopop3:04
2."Miss Belladonna"
  • Slayyyter
  • Bach
  • DiPietrantonio
Nicopop3:04
3."Dramatic"
  • Slayyyter
  • Ellee Duke
  • Bach
  • DiPietrantonio
Nicopop3:11
4."My Body"
  • Slayyyter
  • Kyle Shearer
  • Nate Campany
Valley Girl3:41
5."Memories of You"
  • Slayyyter
  • Jordan Palmer
  • Owen Jackson
Palmer2:52
6."Rhinestone Heart"
  • Slayyyter
  • Duke
  • Bach
  • DiPietrantonio
Nicopop2:29
7."Erotic Electronic"
  • Slayyyter
  • Bach
  • DiPietrantonio
  • Jackson
  • Nicopop
  • Jackson [a]
2:23
8."Purrr"
  • Oliver
  • Joseph
2:11
9."Plastic"
  • Slayyyter
  • Michael Adubato
Baej Lambeaux2:41
10."Girl Like Me"
  • Slayyyter
  • DiPietrantonio
Nicopop2:46
11."Tear Me Open"
  • Slayyyter
  • Chris Lyon
  • Shearer
  • Campany
  • Chris Lyon
  • Valley Girl
3:38
12."Out of Time"
  • Slayyyter
  • Andy Seltzer
  • Oliver
  • Bach
  • DiPietrantonio
  • Phil Fearon
3:10
Total length:35:16
Starfucker – Deluxe edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Starfucker"3:25
2."Makeup (featuring Lolo Zouaï)"
  • Slayyyter
  • Shearer
  • Campany
  • Lyon
  • Lolo Zouaï
  • Valley Girl
  • Lyon
3:11
3."James Dean"
  • Slayyyter
  • Jacob Decoteau
  • Bach
  • DiPietrantonio
  • Jackson
  • Nicopop
  • Jackson
  • Thorne
2:29
Total length:44:22

Notes

Personnel

Charts

Chart performance for Starfucker
Chart (2023)Peak
position
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums ( Billboard ) [28] 10

Release history

RegionDateEdition(s)FormatLabel
VariousSeptember 22, 2023StandardFader
December 1, 2023Deluxe
  • Digital download
  • Streaming

Tour

To support Starfucker, Slayyyter began the Club Valentine Tour across the United States in October 2023. [29] The same month, dates for the United Kingdom and Ireland were announced for February 2024. [30]

Tour dates

DateCityCountryVenueSupporting Act(s)
October 25, 2023BostonUnited StatesRoyaleMiss Madeline
October 26, 2023BrooklynBrooklyn Steel Bayli
Miss Madeline
October 27, 2023Washington, D.C.9:30 ClubMiss Madeline
October 28, 2023PhiladelphiaTheatre of Living Arts
October 31, 2023TorontoCanadaThe Opera House
November 2, 2023ColumbusUnited StatesNewport Music Hall
November 3, 2023DetroitSaint Andrew's Hall
November 4, 2023ChicagoHouse of Blues Chicago
November 6, 2023DenverSummit
November 7, 2023Salt Lake CitySoundwell
November 10, 2023San FranciscoThe Regency Ballroom
November 11, 2023Los AngelesThe Novo Bayli
Miss Madeline
Lolo Zouaï [lower-alpha 1]
November 12, 2023San DiegoThe Observatory North ParkMiss Madeline
February 11, 2024DublinIreland3Olympia Theatre
February 13, 2024GlasgowUnited KingdomSWG3 Studio Warehouse
February 14, 2024ManchesterO2 Ritz Manchester
February 17, 2024LondonO2 Forum Kentish Town

Notes

  1. Zouaï was credited as a "special guest", appearing during Slayyyter's set to perform their song "Makeup". [31]

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