Soul singer Bilal hasn’t released an album since 2001’s 1st Born Second, but it seems as though he’s putting the finishing touches on an “electro-jazz rock” album to be released in 2010.
“I’m just excited to put out a new record without having to conform to major label standards,” says Bilal.
“Before there was always this pressure of, ‘What’s going to be the first single — what are people going to get?’ I never really saw making music like that.”
Bilal went back into the studio back in 2008, a while after his label dropped him in 2003 and shelved his unreleased sophomore album, Love for Sale. The album eventually leaked, which kept his live show presence heavy — Bilal did a lot of shows over the past few years, including making surprise appearances at some of Maxwell’s shows.
Nine of the 12 songs planned for the album are finished, and all are produced by Bilal, with some help from producer Nottz, and Sa-Ra member Shafiq Husayn, who worked on Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War.
ROBIN THICKE ALBUM NEWS
The critically acclaimed king of blue-eyed soul, Robin Thicke just recently dropped his single late last week and now information about the new project is beginning to hit.
Thicke reveals that the follow-up to last year’s Something Else will be titled Sex Therapy, which is also the title of the Polow Da Don-produced lead single.
His fourth studio album will hit stores December 8th, while the single will impact iTunes on October 20th.
On the album, he is said to produced and write a lot of the material, as well as working with Jeff Bhasker, Scott Storch, and Surf Club. That line-up sounds pretty interesting, considering the acoustic feel that I get from a lot of Thicke’s music.
Check out this new track from Ne-Yo, which is supposed to appear on the original motion picture soundtrack for Disney’s feature animated film, The Princess & the Frog.
The new track sounds like a Stargate production, which wouldn’t be surprising, considering that he works with them frequently. The soundtrack will also include music written by Randy Newman and performed by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
The Princess & the Frog will be the first African American Disney princess and will open in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on November 25, 2009 before expanding into wide release on December 11, 2009.
Lady Gaga - No Way (full) - listen
Lady Gaga is preparing to rerelease her debut album, The Fame Monster on November 24th. The album will supposedly contain all of Gaga’s videos, as well as a couple of new tracks. Although the first single from the rerelease, “Bad Romance” has been leaked in demo form, the blogosphere is still awaiting the final version. But before we get that, we get “No Way,” a track produced by Fernando Garibay, and supposedly will appear on the rerelease.
Tami Chynn - To the Floor (full) - listen
Tami Chynn is currently working on her new U.S. debut, Primadonna and apparently has a new label deal worked out. “To the Floor” was produced by RedOne, who is largely responsible for a lot of Lady Gaga’s music, including her hit, “Just Dance.” Tami is also working with the production, singing and writing duo, Rock City and is supposedly going to drop a single at the end of this year, with her album coming out at the first quarter of this year.
It was a known fact that Billboard’s Woman of the Year, Beyonce, was prepping to release a new single from her latest studio album, I Am… Sasha Fierce. But now rumors have hit the blogosphere that Bey will team with none other than Lady Gaga for a remix of the Bangladesh-produced, Sean Garrett-penned track, “Video Phone.”
“On Oct. 7, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé were working on the video together at a studio in NYC,” an insider reveals exclusively to Life & Style. “Everything on the set was being kept very hush-hush, and security was extremely tight.”
“In the video,” says the insider, “Beyoncé wears a feathered dress. And of course Lady Gaga wears something wild. The fashion is sick and insane.” [SOURCE]
Beyonce is also set to release two DVD’s in November. One is I Am… Yours (released November 24th), the hotly anticipated taping of her live tour, as well as a 2-disc documentary, titled Beyond the Ballad. Lady Gaga, who is preparing to headline a new U.S. tour this fall, is also rereleasing her debut album, The Fame Monster, which will also hit stores on the 24th of November.
This should be interesting. Both artists are known for their showmanship and are at their peaks. This collaboration will be monumental.
Check out the official first single from Universal Motown signee Mika Means, featuring none other than Lil’ Wayne.
“Everybody Know Me” was produced by Meco, who is also responsible for the recently popular “Buy You A Round (Up & Down)” by Verse Simmonds. It comes from her presently untitled debut studio album, which is due out sometime at the top of next year.
Rihanna announced via her official Twitter page on Tuesday that “THE WAIT IS OVA”. No word if November 23rd is the release date of her currently untitled fourth LP or if it is just the date of her official new single.
On the album tip, Rihanna is said to be working with Justin Timberlake, Tyson Ritter of the All-American Rejects, Drake, Ne-Yo, Akon and more.
Just last week, Rihanna shot the cover for her fourth album with Ellen von Unwerth in Berlin and she was spotted heading to the studio in NYC on Tuesday evening (pictures below).
Check out this new track from N.E.R.D. and Santigold, “Soldier,” taken from the 90210 soundtrack that dropped today.
This is not the first time the band, which consists of Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shae Haley, has worked with Santigold. They collaborated sometime in the middle of last year on the track “My Drive-Thru,” a bonus cut from N.E.R.D.’s last album, Seeing Sounds. It’s been said that native Virginians are currently working on a new album and have since added a female presence to the mix.
Soul singer Bilal hasn’t released an album since 2001’s 1st Born Second, but it seems as though he’s putting the finishing touches on an “electro-jazz rock” album to be released in 2010.
The critically acclaimed king of blue-eyed soul, Robin Thicke just recently dropped his single late last week and now information about the new project is beginning to hit.
