Tuesday, January 14, 2009

Seems as though Usher has hit the studio again with long-time friend and collaborator, Pharrell Williams as well as Maroon 5’s Adam Levine. It seems as though they’re working on a new album to be put out sometime this year. Interesting, considering how terribly Here I Stand flopped. I guess he’s trying to make people forget the bad taste that it left in their mouth.

We’ve heard a little something from the the Queen Bee herself, Lil’ Kim, but she’s been keeping it fairly quiet about what’s been going on with her new project, and what she’s been working on as far as the music front. She recently sat down with MTV.com to talk about what she has in store for the new album.

She claims the new record will carry something new and unheard of from the Queen, and that she’s “getting ready to come with a whole new flavor, a whole new style.”

Here’s what else Kim had to say:

“And I don’t care what nobody says, I’m not gonna let anyone pigeonhole me. This is what it is. I’m coming with it,” Lil’ Kim explains further. “I got to hang in there with the fellas. The only way to hang in there with the fellas is to be able to do what the fellas do. And with Lil’ Wayne singing and rapping, T-Pain singing and rapping, and everybody singing and rapping, somebody got to represent for my laaaaaaadies.”

When asked whether she will be playing with Auto-Tune like other musicians, such as Kanye West, have done, Lil’ Kim says:

“Maybe, maybe not.” She then adds, “I’m gonna be singing, I’m gonna be flowing. Whatever I feel. It’s not gonna be so strategic or placed. It’s gonna be whatever I feel. I’m gonna have fun on my next album. It’s coming soon. Really soon.”

I’m not sure how this screams “different,” but I definitely am eager to see what Kim comes up with for this new project. It’ll be good to hear something new from her.

Ciara finally sets a release date for her third studio album, Fantasy Ride! The album, which features productions from Polow Da Don, Tricky Stewart and The Dream and many more, will drop in April, after a few delays.

Ciara recently shot a video for her new single, “Never Ever,” featuring Young Jeezy in Atlanta over the past weekend. The clip was directed by Chris Robinson and should debut in a couple of weeks.

Although her sophomore album was supposed to drop last year, former Destiny’s Child bandmate Letoya Luckett has some new information about the tentative release of her new project, Lady Love.

The new album is expected to drop April 7th, despite rumors online of the set hitting stores in the United States on March 24th. The album will be lead by the single “Not Anymore,” which is said to be penned by none other than Ne-Yo.

“Not Anymore” is supposedly dropping online in just a couple of days, on the 15th, and I wouldn’t be surprised, considering the snippets that have leaked from Luckett. She’s also been in the studio with Pharrell, Tricky Stewart and The Dream, as well as a rumored collaboration with Timbaland.

I’m eager to see what she comes up with, considering that her debut album wasn’t too shabby. It garnered her a pretty good response (she debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts and got major radio play with her first single, “Torn”) and gained her a nice fanbase.

Tags: adam, album, ciara, kim, letoya, lil, luckett, pharrell, usher