♫ NEWS: JANELLE Monáe UPDATES / J. HUD ON ‘SEX & THE CITY’ SOUNDTRACK / MONICA SPEAKS ON NEW ALBUM

Monday, April 14, 2008

Janelle Monáe, who recently performed in the Atlanta Ballet production of Big Boi’s “Big,” recently inked a deal with Bad Boy/Atlantic in a joint venture with the Wondaland Arts Society. The singer will re-release her EP nationwide on June 24th. The first suite was released last year on indie label, the Wondaland Arts Society (which she co-founded). She’s releasing her debut as a series of four “suites,” which are essentially EP’s that include four to five songs.

Janelle & Diddy at her showcase earlier this month. (Photo: WireImage)

“She gonna give it piece by piece, because there’s a lot of important things that she wanted to say,” Diddy explained of her album rolling out in a series.

The Atlantic family and Diddy both are happy about the joint venture, which will be executive produced by Big Boi of OutKast.

“I think it’s something that I needed to do to show my level of creativity for my legacy as an executive producer and as a label owner,” he said of bringing her on board. “I was looking for things that were different and innovative. Because if you’re a leader in this industry you want to be helping to push it forward, and she’s an artist that would help to push it forward. … It’s so good that it’s not a risk. It’s not about the sales, it’s not about one particular thing.” [SOURCE]

I personally am really excited about Janelle getting some major label recognition. Her music is very refreshing, and I’m so excited that she’s going to get some mass distribution going on for her debut album, Metropolis.

Jennifer Hudson at 80th Academy Awards (Photo: WireImage)

Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson, who is starring in the much talked about and very secretive Sex & the City: The Movie, which is due out in theaters May 30th. And even though the secrets of the film have been guarded, director Michael Patrick King is starting to spill. He tells Entertainment Weekly that Fergie just recorded the film’s opening number.

“It’s called ‘Labels & Love,’” he says. “It’s an entirely new song with lyrics, but it has the Sex & the City theme as the DNA — on steroids.”

In addition to Fergie appearing on the soundtrack, J. Hud, who plays Carrie’s assistant in the highly anticipated film, records a ballad titled “All Dressed Up in Love” — written by MC Jack Splash and Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo. The new song plays during the end credits.

“She sings it like nobody’s business,” says King.

Hopefully after this, Jennifer will hit the studio and hopefully get her album together.

R&B veteran Monica has recently spoken out about her forthcoming album, which is set to be released sometime in August, via J. Records. She revealed that the new project, a follow-up to 2006’s Makings of Me, will be titled Lessons Learned.

♫ Listen to Monica’s Voice Mail
from monicasoul.com

I think the new title is pretty appropriate, considering that Monica’s project didn’t do as well as the label had hoped. Lessons Learned will contain 12-14 tracks, with a single coming out no later than July. The helm of the project is produced by friend and much-collaborated with, Bryan-Michael Cox and Kendrick Dean and will also feature productions from Babyface, Polow Da Don, Ne-Yo and R. Kelly.

I am hoping that Monica really puts out a solid project, because I’ve been a Monica fan for a long time. I’m glad that she’s staying in touch with her fans as well, because I think that’s what music is moving to - artists need to be in touch with their fans. It’s very important in this day and age.