Will.i.am unveils new album ‘#willpower’: here’s our thoughts.
Hey, MP! So I hear will.i.am has a new album out. Any good?
Yes indeed he does. That all-seeing, all-promoting rap-pop star and curious-coiffed The Voice judge has taken a break from being Chezza’s BFF and released his long-awaited album of hits-in-the-waiting, #willpower.
Is the hashtag really necessary?
Do we think so? Not really but this is the guy who Tweeted in the middle of doing a part of the London Olympic Torch relay last year, so… not surprised, let’s put it that way.
Apart from the singles we already have, what’s good on the album?
Hmm… well upcoming single ‘Fall Down’ with returning Disney alumn Miley Cyrus is easily one of the best songs on the album – it’s fun, it’s dance-y without becoming boring and it’s a great turn for Miley who’s making a bit of a musical comeback. Other good tunes include solo effort ‘Hello’ and Scherzy-baby collab ‘Far Away From Home’ which are both catchy and destined for the summer airwaves.
Any stinkers on the album?
Sadly, not all of it is good – there’s a lot of sameness on the record and despite his efforts to go R&B (Getting Dumb, Geekin’) and more hip-hop (Ghetto Ghetto), a lot of is the same stuff we’ve heard a hundred times over. Not even the guest collabs can save some of the songs – ‘thatPower’ with a certain Mr Bieber is catchy for about fifteen seconds and dull the rest of the song. We’re also a bit miffed he didn’t get Chezza a guest spot for the album but then maybe we’re just suffering Girls Aloud-related withdrawals.
So it’s not worth buying the whole album?
Probably not, no. The bonus tracks aren’t too bad but really, this is an album basically for the singles, much like Calvin Harris’ ’18 Months’ album. The previous singles like ‘This Is Love’ and ‘Scream & Shout’ are both still fun but chances are you bought them a while back. In short, pick at the album but don’t go expecting anything more than fun, disposable dance-pop that’ll be the soundtrack to parties for the next few months.
Thanks, MP!
You’re welcome reader and enjoy the album – will.i.am streamed the whole thing on YouTube for everyone to listen to ahead of its album release, so go and listen for yourselves before buying!
Will.i.am ft. Justin Bieber – ‘#thatPOWER’ – Download or Ditch?
We have been waiting eagerly for Will.i.am to release his new album ‘#willpower’ since we first heard ‘This Is Love’ and we were even more excited when ‘Scream and Shout’ dominated the charts. Imagine our delight when we heard that the Voice mentor’s newest album will be massaging our eardrums next month. And if that wasn’t enough, his latest twitter ready single ‘#thatPOWER’, with lead vocals supplied by the Biebs himself, has debuted online over the weekend. It’s safe to say we need a new pair of pants.
As any belieber (or even non belieber) knows, it’s been a tough few weeks for the 19-year-old pop prince so it’s good to see him back where he belongs – on our iPods.
The collaboration was recorded less than a month ago, February 20th to be exact. Mr. I.Am (or is it, He.Is?) and Justin decided to record the track before the Brits whilst shoe-shopping, which sounds like a pretty busy day to us. But has all the chaos of that day resulted in a bit of a rushed job?
‘#thatPower’ is geared towards dancefloors and clubs across the nation and that is something the former BEP frontman does best. The song starts with a sample of Daft Punk’s ‘Harder’ and the ‘Beauty and the Beat’ singer delivers some captivating “Oh I’m alive“s in a pretty promising opening. The track has heavy electronic beats served with a catchy tune and Justin’s sweet vocals trickled all over it, like some form of delicious pop ice-cream sundae.
But is the track a little too similar to ‘Scream and Shout’? Or is it up there with “I gotta feeling”? Are Justin’s vocals and fan base enough to push the track up to the club classic status of Will’s past hits? Is this love? Or does it have you screaming “Baby, baby. baby, no”? We’re putting it up for the Download or Ditch vote. Closes Friday 5pm.
Wretch 32 to join Cheryl on tour!
With Cheryl Cole’s UK arena tour kicking off next month, rumours are rife on possible surprise guests. will.i.am? Gary Barlow? Nicola Roberts?
One person who you can definitely expect to see onstage is Wretch 32, who features on Cheryl’s next single release, ‘Screw You’. The rapper revealed all to Capital FM:
“Yeah, I think I’m popping out on some dates. That should be quite cool. It’s going to be live, man. I know she goes in with her show so I can’t wait to pop through the floor or come in through the sky!”
Blimey! That sounds like quite something. The Girls Aloud reunion tour will have to be mighty special to beat Cheryl’s spectacular.
All dates for the “A Million Lights Tour” are listed in our Pop Diary!
The week ahead on Planet Pop: Pop Diary
Having trouble planning your week in pop? Look no further!
Here are some of the best events happening this week, as listed in our Pop Diary!
EVENTS
- Scouting For Girls (Putney)
- Lady Gaga (Twickenham) will be performing live in the UK this week.
- Ed Sheeran will be playing the iTunes Festival
- Olly Murs will be playing the iTunes Festival
- Plan B will be playing the iTunes Festival
- Emeli Sandé will be playing the iTunes Festival
- JLS will be playing the iTunes Festival
- Conor Maynard will be playing the iTunes Festival
- The Vaccines will be signing copies of their new album ‘Come of Age’ at HMV Manchester.
NEW RELEASES
- Scouting For Girls release their album ‘The Light Between Us’
- The Vaccines release their album ‘Come of Age’
- The Script ft. Will.i.am – ‘Hall of Fame’
- Smiler ft. Tawiah & Professor Green – ‘Top of the World’
- Pink – ‘Blow Me (One Last Kiss)’
- Ne-Yo – ‘Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)’
- Cheryl – ‘Under The Sun’
TV / RADIO
- One Direction, Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Pink will perform at The MTV Video Awards 2012 will be broadcast live, with performances from (1am, MTV, Friday 7th September).
- Little Mix will be appearing on Daybreak (6am, ITV1, Monday 3rd September)
- Joe McElderry & Stacey Solomon will be chatting to the Loose Women (12.30pm, ITV1, Wednesday 5th September).
- The Vaccines will be taking over BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge (10am, BBC Radio 1, Monday 3rd September).
Britney confirms new will.i.am feature!
When we first heard the Britney Spears and will.i.am collaboration, ‘Big Fat Bass’, we predicted it would be the start of an exciting musical friendship… and we were right! After Mr i.am did the business producing their duet on Brit’s Femme Fatale album last year, Miss Spears is rumoured to be returning the favour by appearing on Will’s forthcoming album.
#willpower (yes, the hashtag really is part of the album title) is said to include a brit.i.am duet called ‘Sexy Sexy’. Something about the title tells us it’ll be quite a sexy track. Just a hunch.
Although no concrete details are known just yet, Britney did tweet this the other day:
Can’t wait for y’all to hear @iamwill’s next single featuring me. Coming very soon. Stay tuned people…
Oh, the little tease! Keep your ears peeled for this one – we’ve got a feeling they’ll have another hit on their hands!
It’s the UK’s answer to ‘Moves Like Jagger’, courtesy of The Script and will.i.am
When two coaches from The Voice USA teamed up on a song last summer, it hit No1 in 24 official charts around the world and became the 2nd biggest-selling single of 2011 in the UK. So it was only really a matter of time before two panellists from the UK version followed suit… and it would appear that our answer to ‘Moves Like Jagger’ is ‘Hall Of Fame’, from The Script featuring will.i.am.
The Script have done well to sell a gajillion records considering neither rock nor pop purists consider it ‘cool’ to be out-and-proud fans; but we’ve always had a soft spot for them, and ‘Hall Of Fame’ is a decent, Olympic-friendly anthem. If we’re being completely honest, it’s not making us want to put our hands in the air and wail along at top volume in quite the same way that ‘Breakeven’ and ‘For The First Time’ did, but perhaps – like ‘Moves Like Jagger’ – all it needs is a little time to settle in to our consciousness before becoming another amazing chart-botherer for their collection.
Bit late for the Catwoman auditions Rita :(Pop Postbog: Rita Ora’s debut album – all the goss!
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MP!er Luke H contacted the all-new MP! Pop Post Bag to ask for details of the debut album from Rita Ora. He said “Hi can you tell me some details on Rita Ora’s album O.R.A”. Well hello Luke – after some hotel door banging, pop star stalking, and other things you’re too young to hear about – our investigation is complete. Here’s what we know in bullet points. Handy.
- UPDATED: Rita’s debut album is called ORA and will be released in the UK on 28 August, 2012.
- UPDATED: The album’s cover is featured at the bottom of this article.
- Ms Ora’s album will include the number one smashes ‘R.I.P’ and ‘Hot Right Now’ as well as brand new single ‘How We Do (Party)’ which we think is pretty awesome in a ‘TGIF-meets-Cover Drive’ sort of way.
- She’s nabbed herself a load of pretty cool producers from Ester Dean (who’s the genius behind most of Rihanna’s recent smashes) to global beat-twiddler Will.i.am, to rapper Drake, slick production duo Stargate and even hip-hop megastar Kanye West, so we’re expecting plenty of R&B-infused pop gems from the Roc Nation darling.
- Judging by her pretty ace performances at the recent Radio 1 Hackney Weekend we can probably expect to see songs such as ‘Facelift’, ‘Shine Ya Light’ and ‘Roc the Life’ on the album, although potential tracks such as ‘Been Lying’, ‘Unfair’ and ‘Love At War’ might not make the cut. Potential sadface/’Turn Myself In’ alert.
- If we had to guess the overall feel of the debut, we’d go with two parts Rihanna, one dash Cover Drive/Shontelle, and another dash of the excellent R&B-dance tunes Cheryl recently produced on her latest album. Therefore: amazing.
- She’ll probably keep the gorgeous blonde hair. Less an insider tip, more a hopeful request – as she looks ace with it and only Rihanna, Katy and Gaga can pull off the ‘changing hair really often’ thing.
- Here’s the album’s cover:
That’s all the info we have at the moment, dear readers, but don’t fear – we’ll keep you updated with the latest news about O.R.A. more often than Rihanna whips out an offensive if slightly LOL-worthy tee shirt.
Send us questions, stories, pictures and rants using the MP! Pop Post Bag!
The Voice judges perform ‘I Gotta Feeling’, are awful
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In an effort to promote this Saturday’s launch of new TV talent show The Voice, the BBC has released a video of judges Will.i.am, Jessie J, Tom Jones and The Other One covering the BEP’s ‘I’ve Gotta Feeling’. Visitors of a sensitive disposition should look away now. Sometimes getting 4 supposed superstars to combine forces delivers an amazing pop moment, and other times it looks a bit like your younger brother’s school play gone horribly, horribly wrong. Ouch, our ears.
MP! What the hell is The Voice?
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Well MP!ers, in a nutshell: It’s a TV SHOW! It’s BRAND NEW! And it’s going head to head with BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT. Say hello to your new TV obsession and another reason to never make plans on a Saturday night. Keep reading for 5 things you need to know – there’s rotating chairs, “blind” auditions and Jessie J in big gold pants…
It’s a reality TV singing competition with a twist. Contestants audition to the judges, but the panel are facing the other way and aren’t allowed to see them. The purpose of these “blind auditions” is to create more Susan Boyle moments - apparently proving that music is just about the voice (see what they did there?). (more…)
Cheryl Cole’s new album – 5 things you *need* to know
Despite the fact that it actually had some really strong tracks on it, Cheryl Cole’s last album ended up being a bit of a laughing stock, thanks to uninspired lyrics (who can forget the classic, “You were the tree and I was the apple”?), cheap production and really dodgy vocals – but with her third solo album expected later this year, we decided to do the research and find out if there’s any chance she might turn it all around. The answer? In short, it looks like she’s got a good shot.
Keep reading to find out 5 things you *need* to know about Cheryl Cole’s new album, including who’s masterminding it, when you can expect to hear the first single and what the ex-Girls Aloud star herself thinks of it. (more…)
