With the new Muse album, The 2nd Law, coming on October 2, frontman Matt Bellamy spoke to the New Zealand Herald about the record and said it is more personal than most of the band's recent work. "We're singing about things like relationships for the first time," Bellamy explained. "Actually, I did that for a bit on the first album [1999's Showbiz] but then I started doing interviews and thought, 'Oh my God, I can't answer these questions they're getting too personal.' So that's when we started getting all conceptual and pretending the album was about the end of the world, or whatever." Muse has already said in other interviews that the music on The 2nd Law will be eclectic, and Bellamy told the Herald that "Every album we do we try to find new ground and new sounds to play with and new instruments, new styles of songwriting and new styles of production. Because change is what creates momentum in a band and I think we're lucky, all three of us are very open to exploring new avenues."

Shakira

will.i.am has delayed the release of his new solo album #willpower, originally slated for October 15. He tweeted this week that "I’m trying to finish #willpower…& now because of all the leaks I have push the album back to make new songs…I will give you updates soon." Will later added that the leaked songs were "incomplete" and "unfinished." According to Idolator, a new collaboration between Will and Justin Bieber surfaced online earlier in the week, prompting the Black Eyed Pea's response.

Nas and Lauryn Hill are teaming up for a co-headlining tour this fall. The trek is titled "Life Is Good/Black Rage," after Nas' new album and Hill's upcoming single. Ten dates have been announces, starting October 29 in Dallas and winding up in Oakland on November 19.

Pearl Jam has announced that "due to overwhelming demand," the band is repackaging its Pearl Jam Twenty deluxe box set as Pearl Jam Twenty: Three Disc Deluxe Edition, which essentially contains the same video features from the previous set, but in a new streamlined package and with a new 20-page booklet.

Rapper Common is currently working on a number of acting projects, but he is also expecting to drop his 10th studio album at the top of 2013. "I am writing a new album. It will be coming out in January, and I'm looking forward to that," he told MTV News. "My stuff will come at the top of the year maybe some songs out there on the street level, I'm going to work with No I.D. and looking to hopefully work with Kanye [West] and that's some of the major people I'll be working with, and whatever other great talents that I feel are going that direction that I want the album to be." Common currently appears in the AMC show Hell On Wheels, and in November, he makes his debut as a producer and lead actor in the feature film, LUV.

Skrillex is set to make a cameo in the Disney animated film Wreck-It Ralph, for which he is already contributing to the score. The movie is due November 2, and film producer Clark Spencer revealed that Skrillex will appear as a DJ in a party scene. "We built his model, we put on his look, and we sent it to him to have him give us comments," Spencer told TotalFilm.com. "And he said he would never wear non-black tennis shoes. He said, 'My tennis shoes will always be black.' So we changed the tennis shoes to black. You don't see them in the film, as he's behind the DJ booth, but they were in the model. He has seen the animation, and he's very, very excited about it."

Beyoncé and Carole King will perform at Alicia Keys' annual Black Ball fundraising gala for her Keep a Child Alive charity. Keep a Child Alive helps people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India, and this year's event, taking place on November 1 at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, will honor Oprah Winfrey and Angélique Kidjo for their philanthropic efforts. Beyoncé, Keys, Kidjo and rock group Alabama Shakes all will perform, and Whoopi Goldberg will serve as emcee.

Destiny's Child will release a greatest hits collection called Playlist on October 9. Playlist will include chart-toppers such as "Say My Name," "Independent Women, Part 1," "Bootylicious," "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier."

On Tuesday evening, The Beach Boys gathered at Los Angeles' Grammy Museum for a night of festivities, including an acoustic performance and the launch of a new exhibit chronicling the group's history. The fivesome also participated in a Q&A session during which they were asked whether the group's solo projects might prevent them from making more new music beyond this year's That's Why God Made the Radio. Al Jardine answered, "The Beach Boys is the real deal. I'm not interested in that other stuff," according to Rolling Stone. Then Brian Wilson added, "I wouldn't mind getting together with Mike [Love] and the guys and making an exciting rock & roll album. I'm sure by early next year we'll be ready to rock."