Paul Oakenfold 'Breaks Barriers' With Madonna

The first single from Madonna's upcoming greatest hits and more album, 'Celebration,' is the newly recorded title track. Living up to its title with a fun, freewheeling vibe, the dance anthem was co-produced by Madonna and DJ/producer Paul Oakenfold. Oakenfold tells Spinner that the pair worked on several songs to boost the retrospective with new sounds.

"I produced a bunch of cuts. I don't know what's on the album, I just know 'Celebration' is the first single," Oakenfold says. "I didn't know it was coming out so soon either," he adds excitedly, speaking from Norway where he's midway through his duties as the opening artist on the European leg of Madonna's 'Sticky and Sweet' tour.

Mid-July, Oakenfold issued the latest in his Perfecto Records mix CD collection, 'Perfecto Vegas,' a whopping double-CD inspired by the edgier club cuts from the 45-year-old British-born artist's 2008 residency at the Palms Hotel and Casino. "It's underground tracks from the underground side of what we do," he says. "There are tracks that I do that become hits and other DJs play them. But there's no point in having an album with those kind of tracks. It dates the record."

Three Oakenfold productions are mooted for inclusion on 'Celebration,' which is due in September. It's important that the new tracks blend in, he says, and he took Madonna's classic songs as inspiration. Still, though 'Celebration' easily recalls Madonna's 1983 breakthrough 'Holiday,' Oakenfold wasn't going for a total retro feel. "I'm certainly not looking to go backwards. I'm looking to go forwards and to break musical barriers down with something that's up-tempo and works on American radio, which is pretty jaded in some respects," he says. "In terms of the song, it sounds classic Madonna; in terms of the music, it's cutting edge."

The 'Celebration' single is out now.

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