TIESTO: A 'WASTED' OPPORTUNITY?

Tiesto's poptastic new single 'Wasted' is out in the UK on Monday — and the Dutch DJ will be hoping that the track sells better than it has in other parts of Europe so far.

The single has already emerged in other territories, and in Australia it only reached No.48. In Belgium it peaked at No.46, and in Canada it only made No.100 in the Hot 100.

In Finland it made No.20 and in Sweden reached No.9, but in Tiesto's home country of the Netherlands it only reached No.24.

Here's the track:

Tiesto's 'Wasted' has featured on the BBC Radio 1 playlist and so is fairly certain of a decent chart placing in the UK, and his new association with the station won't have done him any harm. But some Tiesto fans have been asking if this new pop direction is a step too far.

The chart prospects received a boost yesterday when DJ Mag received a cover version of 'Wasted', performed by a three-piece called Pros & iCons. Hear it here:  

Which led us to discover some other 'Wasted' covers, such as this: 

and this (eventually):  

Tiesto has received a lot of criticism since abandoning trance a few years ago — as he outlined in the DJ Mag interview here — although he did say just before last year's Top 100 DJs poll opened: “If DJ Mag takes me back to their No.1 spot this year, I will make a full trance album again.” He ended up being voted to No.4.

Tiesto's album 'A Town Called Paradise' follows 'Wasted' a week later, and is already receiving mixed reviews. Here's what the DJ Mag reviewer thought of it...

Tiësto
A Town Called Paradise
PM: AM Recordings
1.0
Just shit

One of the difficult things about reviewing a Tiësto album — apart from actually listening to it — is that there are only so many ways to describe rubbish. However, on the Dutchman’s fifth album he’s made it slightly easier by delivering 14 identical piles of crap: lumpen trance that stomps on your will to live like candy ravers in furry boots, and breakdowns that feel like jumping off a cliff. Which it might seriously drive you to do. Then there are the singers bellowing ‘empowering’ lyrics Gwyneth Paltrow would consider trite. Speaking of whom, this is all so awful it makes Coldplay’s collaboration with Avicii sound inspired. Produced with apparent contempt for anyone’s ears or intelligence, it’s lowest common denominator bullshit of the most cynical kind. But the most galling thing is that like some evil alchemist Tiësto will somehow turn this trash into millions of dollars. Paul Clarke

Words: Kim O'Connor