Avril Lavigne Grateful For Freedom
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Collaborations, Industry News, Upcoming Releases, Pop,
Avril Lavigne is grateful for the freedom she was given by L.A. Reid. The "What the Hell" hitmaker was given her first record contract by the American Idol judge when he worked for Arista and she is pleased he allowed her to write her own material.
"L.A. Reid is the man. My experience was he signed me, he believed in me, he got me. He always gave me my freedom to be who I was, to make the type of record I wanted to. On my first album, I was so young - I was 16 when I was making it. Everyone figured that people would write songs for me, and I was like, 'No, I want to write my own music.' It was so different from anything that was out there. L.A. was like, 'She's onto something. Just let her do her thing.' So it was great."
Avril admits she found it difficult working away from the music boss and feels "re-inspired" after signing a deal with Epic Records, the label now headed up L.A.. She added in an interview with WWD, "Later on down the road we got separated when he moved to another record company, and other people came in and took over. It was difficult for me, especially on my last record, working with all these random people that really didn't even understand me at the record company. And now I get to be back with him, and it's exciting again. I'm totally re-inspired. When you're writing and creating, you can't have these businesspeople come in and try to be all business. [L.A.] finds a balance between business and creative, and he's really good at not making it weird or interfering in the creative process."
Gallery: Avril Lavigne Grateful For Freedom
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Katy Perry Set to Lose Producer
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Industry News,
Katy Perry is set to stop working with producer Dr. Luke. The pop star and the studio wizard worked together on her hit album Teenage Dream - which contained several chart-topping hits, including "California Gurls," "E.T." and "Last Friday Night" - but the relationship must end after he signed a new deal with Sony Music.
The producer - real name Lukasz Gottwald - has agreed to join the company in 2012 and run his own record label under the Sony umbrella. The new venture will be called Kemosabe Records and, as part of the contract, Dr. Luke can only work with Sony artists, which rules out future collaborations with Katy because she is on EMI.
The 27-year-old singer - who is married to Russell Brand - is preparing to release the "The One That Got Away," which will be the sixth single from Teenage Dream. Dr. Luke has also worked with a number of other chart-topping artists, including Ke$ha, Britney Spears, Jessie J and most recently with Rihanna on her new album Talk That Talk.
Gallery: Katy Perry Set to Lose Producer
Jay-Z Begins Working on New Album
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Upcoming Releases, Hip-Hop & Rap,
Jay-Z has started working on a new album. The "99 Problems" rapper only released his Watch the Throne album with Kanye West last month, but producer No I.D. said he's already started work on his next studio album.
"Jay has started again. He played me a couple of things. I gave him some music while we were at the Watch the Throne sessions. But with Jay, you never know what he's really doing, thinking, planning until it's really done. I'm sure he'll make a decision one day to make an album very quickly, like he usually does. I think he's at a place where he has visions of what he wants to do, and it's not really dependent on any of us. It's dependent on his vision and he's gonna do it, and hopefully I'll be involved," No I.D. said.
No I.D. and Jay have previously worked together on tracks including "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" and "Run This Town." The producer is also working with rappers Nas and Common on their respective albums, and said they are hoping to "revive" hip hop: "We're really trying to revive a certain part of hip-hop that seems to be fading out. They're gonna be full bodies of work that are really dedicated to the fan base."
Gallery: Jay-Z Begins Working on New Album
Jessie J Talks About Working With Justin Timberlake
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Upcoming Releases, Pop,
Singer-and-actor Justin Timberlake spends 14 hours at a time in the recording studio. The 30 year-old penned some tracks with British star Jessie J, and the "Do It Like a Dude" hitmaker was astonished by his work ethic.
"When he's in the studio, he is in the studio. We would literally spend 14 hours in there and not leave. I would be like, 'Where is the toilet please? I'm going to wet myself."
Click to continue reading Jessie J Talks About Working With Justin Timberlake
Gallery: Jessie J Talks About Working With Justin Timberlake
Linkin Park Back in the Studio
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Upcoming Releases, Pop, Rock,
Linkin Park have started on the follow up to A Thousand Suns with Rick Rubin. The "Shadow of the Day" group have "been in the studio writing" with the legendary producer, coming up with new ideas and revisiting material they started during sessions for their last album in 2010.
"Typically we'll have a once a week meeting to go listen to the songs that they're coming up with and talk about them. For so early in the project, they are much further along than they have been on the last two albums we did. On A Thousand Suns there were still a lot of irons in the fire. We knew, 'OK, we can't do this forever. Let's leave this batch and we'll come back and address it when we start up again," Rick said.
Linkin Park recently headlined Download festival in the UK, although their set did not feature any new material.
Gallery: Linkin Park Back in the Studio
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