Do your kids like the new record? What have they said about it?
Yes. They definitely dance to it but its kind of funny because they are still confused .... It’s like, ‘who is this Britney Spears singer in contrast to mommy?’
How has your involvement in the record-making process changed over the years?
I have always been heavily involved in every album I have ever made. I'm very stubborn when it comes to recording and will only record songs I love, which is why it takes me a long time to make an album. I have to feel connected before I record and the song has to spark something inside me. Very few songs do that. I guess it's a good process because I love all of my music. I know there are a lot of artists that hate songs they recorded. I don’t feel that way.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Britney Spears On Her New Album, Her Favorite Music and Working With will.i.am
Mariah Carey Set To Return To Sony Music In 2012
LA Reid and Doug Morris aren’t the only power players leaving the Universal Music Group for Sony Music. In what is possibly one of the most shocking moves in music since Janet Jackson parted ways with Island Def Jam, Mariah Carey will also be leaving UMG to return to Sony.
Carey, who became the best-selling act on Columbia Records in less than 8 years, left Sony in 2000 following her tumultuous divorce from the company’s then head Tommy Mottola and signed a record-setting yet short-lived $80 million deal with Virgin Records. She then joined UMG in 2002 after the failure of her ‘Glitter’ movie and soundtrack which led Virgin to buy out her contract for over $28 million.
The diva has only 1 album left to deliver for UMG and will reportedly release the project by the end of this year. Other records Carey put forward while signed to the company include the 6x platinum ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’ which was co-executive produced by Reid.
Source
Carey, who became the best-selling act on Columbia Records in less than 8 years, left Sony in 2000 following her tumultuous divorce from the company’s then head Tommy Mottola and signed a record-setting yet short-lived $80 million deal with Virgin Records. She then joined UMG in 2002 after the failure of her ‘Glitter’ movie and soundtrack which led Virgin to buy out her contract for over $28 million.
The diva has only 1 album left to deliver for UMG and will reportedly release the project by the end of this year. Other records Carey put forward while signed to the company include the 6x platinum ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’ which was co-executive produced by Reid.
Source
L.A. Reid writes farewell letter to Def Jam
L.A. Reid has officially stepped down as Island Def Jam chairman.
His letter sent to his staff started off with a quote from Colin Powell: “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through
argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.”
And here’s the rest of L.A.’s letter as obtained by JustJared.com:
“To my Island Def Jam family: After much consideration, I have decided to leave my position as Chairman of the Island Def Jam Music Group.
“I have always thrived on growth and the next great challenge, and I look forward with much enthusiasm to what the future holds.
“I am extremely proud of our beautiful roster and all we have accomplished in my seven years with IDJ. We continue to have incredible success together with today’s most phenomenal superstars - Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey (she reportedly will follow L.A.), Kanye West, Bon Jovi, Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo, Rick Ross, The Killers, The-Dream, Chrisette Michele, Jeezy and Ludacris to name a few.
“I want to thank all of you for your amazing contributions.
“With Warm Regards -
LA”
Yesterday, it was announced that L.A. would be joining the judging panel on The X-Factor - his leaving Def Jam early frees up his schedule to join Simon Cowell’s show!
Source
His letter sent to his staff started off with a quote from Colin Powell: “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through
argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.”
And here’s the rest of L.A.’s letter as obtained by JustJared.com:
“To my Island Def Jam family: After much consideration, I have decided to leave my position as Chairman of the Island Def Jam Music Group.
“I have always thrived on growth and the next great challenge, and I look forward with much enthusiasm to what the future holds.
“I am extremely proud of our beautiful roster and all we have accomplished in my seven years with IDJ. We continue to have incredible success together with today’s most phenomenal superstars - Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey (she reportedly will follow L.A.), Kanye West, Bon Jovi, Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo, Rick Ross, The Killers, The-Dream, Chrisette Michele, Jeezy and Ludacris to name a few.
“I want to thank all of you for your amazing contributions.
“With Warm Regards -
LA”
Yesterday, it was announced that L.A. would be joining the judging panel on The X-Factor - his leaving Def Jam early frees up his schedule to join Simon Cowell’s show!
Source
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Gone But Not Forgotten: Nate Dogg's 15 Greatest Music Appearances
As the tragic, unsettling news of Nate Dogg's death settles, VIBE looks back at a few of the West Coast crooner's most epic music moments. R.I.P. Nathaniel Dwayne Hale
Katy Perry's mother writes book
Katy Perry's preacher mother, Mary Perry Hudson, is shopping a book about how her pop-star daughter has impacted her Christian ministry, and admits that while she's proud of Katy, she "disagrees with a lot of choices she makes in her career."
Hudson shopped the proposal, seen by Page Six, to New York's literary agents hoping to land a publishing deal. "This memoir is her story, in her own words. Mary and Keith Hudson have been Christian Evangelists long before the world every heard of Katy Perry," the proposal begins.
Following her debut single, "Ur So Gay," the raunchy singer's career took off with her smash hit "I Kissed a Girl." She flaunted bust-bearing outfits and sexy bad-boy husband Russell Brand while comparing her upbringing to "Jesus Camp" and recalling speaking in tongues and channeling messages from God. Perry admitted kissing girls before marrying confessed sex-addict Brand.
Perry told Rolling Stone last year, "Speaking in tongues is as normal to me as 'Pass the salt' . . . It's a secret, direct prayer language to God. My dad speaks in tongues and my mom interprets it . . . I wasn't ever able to say I was lucky because my mother would rather us say that we were blessed. Deviled eggs were called 'angeled' eggs."
Her mother's proposal states: "Amid a torrent of negative reports from tabloid magazines and entertainment shows, Mary Hudson wants to tell 'her story' and dispel a lot of rumors. Katy's success has impacted her ministry in both negative and positive ways.
"She loves her daughter very much and is very proud of her accomplishments, but disagrees with a lot of choices she makes in her career. This memoir is to set the record straight. It is not Christian proselytizing or a Katy Perry tell-all. It is the story of Mary Perry Hudson."
Co-writer T.L. Gray told us, "We currently have interest from a couple of different agencies, but have not signed with anyone . . . Mary also just completed a Christian book called 'Joyful Mother' that will be released soon from Destiny Image . . . we've been playing around with a few different titles." A rep for Perry didn't get back to us.
Source
Hudson shopped the proposal, seen by Page Six, to New York's literary agents hoping to land a publishing deal. "This memoir is her story, in her own words. Mary and Keith Hudson have been Christian Evangelists long before the world every heard of Katy Perry," the proposal begins.
Following her debut single, "Ur So Gay," the raunchy singer's career took off with her smash hit "I Kissed a Girl." She flaunted bust-bearing outfits and sexy bad-boy husband Russell Brand while comparing her upbringing to "Jesus Camp" and recalling speaking in tongues and channeling messages from God. Perry admitted kissing girls before marrying confessed sex-addict Brand.
Perry told Rolling Stone last year, "Speaking in tongues is as normal to me as 'Pass the salt' . . . It's a secret, direct prayer language to God. My dad speaks in tongues and my mom interprets it . . . I wasn't ever able to say I was lucky because my mother would rather us say that we were blessed. Deviled eggs were called 'angeled' eggs."
Her mother's proposal states: "Amid a torrent of negative reports from tabloid magazines and entertainment shows, Mary Hudson wants to tell 'her story' and dispel a lot of rumors. Katy's success has impacted her ministry in both negative and positive ways.
"She loves her daughter very much and is very proud of her accomplishments, but disagrees with a lot of choices she makes in her career. This memoir is to set the record straight. It is not Christian proselytizing or a Katy Perry tell-all. It is the story of Mary Perry Hudson."
Co-writer T.L. Gray told us, "We currently have interest from a couple of different agencies, but have not signed with anyone . . . Mary also just completed a Christian book called 'Joyful Mother' that will be released soon from Destiny Image . . . we've been playing around with a few different titles." A rep for Perry didn't get back to us.
Source
Rolling Stone reviews Rebecca Black's "Friday"
Rebecca Black's "Friday," a song and music video produced by the Los Angeles company Ark Music Factory, has gone viral over the past few days, bubbling up from Tumblr and Twitter to become one of 2011's fastest-growing memes. The clip has already been parodied, covered and remixed many times over, and will likely inspire further variations as it spreads throughout internet communities and pop culture. The fascination with the video mainly comes down to its subpar production values, grating hooks and extraordinarily stupid lyrics. (This is a song that makes a point of explaining the sequence of days in the week.)
But there's something else going on here, something that makes "Friday" uniquely compelling. After all, there's no shortage of insipid failed pop music out there, and Ark Music Factory is responsible for many other music videos by young unknowns that are just as cringe-inducing, if not much worse. When you see this video, you immediately notice everything that it does "wrong," but it actually gets a lot of things about pop music right, if just by accident.
For one thing, Black's voice is totally bizarre. It's not just the processing on her vocals – she has a peculiar tonality that inadvertently highlights the absurdity of boilerplate pop lyrics that may not seem as ridiculous if, say, Katy Perry was singing instead. When she sings the "Friday, Friday" hook or the "fun fun fun fun" refrain, she sounds unlike anything else in pop music. Perhaps the closest comparison is Laraine Newman in Saturday Night Live's Coneheads sketches – pinched and stilted, like an alien attempting to pass an average American girl. Obviously, this isn't the most pleasant sound in the world, but Black comes out sounding like a distinct singer with an alluring sort of anti-charisma.
With a voice as strange as this, Black probably doesn't belong in the world's most generic modern pop song, but here she is. "Friday" is exactly what you expect from teen-oriented pop in 2011, from the sing-song melodies on down to a guest spot from an anonymous rapper who's only tangentially related to the rest of the song. If the video was intended to be a parody of teen pop convention, it would be on par with some of the best SNL Digital Shorts by Lonely Island.
And thus Black and Ark Music Factory have made a video that forces its audience to reckon with a particular formula for pop music. It's not as if any of this was ever actually cool, but suddenly it seems as if any legit pop singer goes anywhere near the vibe of "Friday," it will just seem like a joke.
Source
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
New Britney Spears rumors: Deluxe details, video premiere, & more!
* Video premiere for “Till The World Ends” is scheduled for April 6th!
* She is also set to grace the June issue of Harper’s Bazaar!
* Ellen skits are set to air on March 28th/29th with a performance on The Ellen Show March 30th!
* March 29th will be the GMA performances along with “Britney Day” on all MTV Channels!
* On April 2nd she is set for something on Kid’s Choice Awards but no details if it is a performance or just an appearance/presenter.
* The Deluxe version of Femme Fatale will include 4 bonus tracks, possibly a 5th bonus hidden track, gold foil wrap, and extra photos!
Source
* She is also set to grace the June issue of Harper’s Bazaar!
* Ellen skits are set to air on March 28th/29th with a performance on The Ellen Show March 30th!
* March 29th will be the GMA performances along with “Britney Day” on all MTV Channels!
* On April 2nd she is set for something on Kid’s Choice Awards but no details if it is a performance or just an appearance/presenter.
* The Deluxe version of Femme Fatale will include 4 bonus tracks, possibly a 5th bonus hidden track, gold foil wrap, and extra photos!
Source
Monday, March 14, 2011
NKOTBSB Releasing An Album, Look To Fans For Suggestions
Jordan Knight recently teased that New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys were recording a batch of new tracks together before they kick off their big NKOTBSB tour this summer. The latest news is that their efforts will see the light of day on May 24 when the official NKOTBSB album drops. The guys announced their forthcoming album on Monday (March 14) and the fans will have quite a bit of input on it.
In addition to the new songs, the bands will each include five of their own classic songs on the album.
Source
Rolling Stone reviews Britney Spears' "Femme Fatale"
Britney Spears is pop music's stealth avant-gardist. For years, critics have dismissed her as a cipher with a wisp of a voice. But from the minute she burst on the scene — heralded by the keyboard power chords of ". . . Baby One More Time" — her music has steered bubblegum into weirder, woollier territory. "Toxic" was a mélange of Bollywood and spy-movie guitar; "Piece of Me" was an essay on 21st-century tabloid infamy crooned over 22nd-century club rhythms. Then there's this year's "Hold It Against Me," which dissolves into a furious dubstep breakdown — easily the most assaultive beat on the Hot 100 right now.Source
Femme Fatale may be Britney's best album; certainly it's her strangest. Conceptually it's straightforward: a party record packed with sex and sadness. Max Martin and Dr. Luke, the world's two biggest hitmakers, are responsible for seven of 12 songs: big melodies and bigger Eurodisco thumps. But other producers go nuts, tossing the kitchen sink at Britney. The Bloodshy-helmed "How I Roll" is sputtering, oddly beautiful techno. In "Big Fat Bass," Will.i.am turns Britney into a cyborg obsessed with low-end. ("The bass is getting bigger!" she exults.) On nearly every track, Britney's voice is twisted, shredded, processed, roboticized. Maybe this is because she doesn't have much of a voice; it's certainly because she, more than almost any other pop diva, is simply game. Femme fatale? Not so much. But say this for Britney: She's an adventuress.
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