Wynter Gordon for Mardi Gras?

The rumour mill continues to stir as the 2011 Mardi Gras Party draws nearer.

Joining the list of performers already under speculation – namely Rhianna, Dolly Parton, Ke$ha and Belinda Carlisle comes a new name – Wynter Gordon.

The singer is currently riding high on the charts with her club smash Dirty Talk. Calls to the Star Observer office today claimed the singer was on her way to Australia for a promotional tour to take advantage of her new popularity here, and would add a Mardi Gras performance to her schedule.

In a recent interview with the Star Observer, Gordon said her album would be released in March – making a Mardi Gras performance the ideal launching platform.

The 25-year-old New Yorker has spent the past five years working both behind the scenes of the music industry (as a songwriter for the likes of Mary J. Blige and Jennifer Lopez) alongside brief stints in the spotlight (singing the hook on Flo Rida’s smash single Sugar; collaborating with David Guetta on Eastern-tinged club hit Toyfriend).

Now she’s standing on her own two feet with Dirty Talk, a sexed-up dance track that came about as the result of an unconventional writing session.

“Artists all get to that point where they go ‘whatever’, when they’re so frustrated and tired with the creative process,” the stunning singer told the Star Observer during a recent Australian visit.

“I got to that point just before I wrote Dirty Talk. I had the hook in my head, then Nicole (Morier, co-writer) and I started Googling sexy words to fill in the lyrics — we spent a whole writing session looking at porn sites. I’m a little ashamed.”

This and her other recent singles — the lush Freemasons collaboration Dreamer included — mark a noticeable shift in genre from the first song that drew Gordon widespread buzz. Leaked onto the internet several years ago, Surveillance was a propulsive Timbaland-like production which suggested its singer would be the next big thing in R&B, not dance-pop.

“When I write songs, it’s always from a writer’s standpoint. I’m not thinking about genre, so I can really come up with anything,” Gordon said.
“Surveillance came from a time when there was no real direction, we were just trying things out. But it never got a release, which is a shame because it’s such a cool song.

“I have thousands of songs. Will they all get released? Realistically, no. I like to listen to them all turned up on my iPod really loud, just so people on the street can hear them.”

A New Mardi Gras spokesman would neither confirm or deny the rumour, but reiterated the organisation’s policy of not releasing the names of its guest performers before prior to the party.

Given the change in rumour mill, we’ve decided to move to a new poll.