Mariah Carey's new album, Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel, will include a mini-magazine that doubles as the CD booklet. Billboard reports that Elle magazine and IDJMG have collaborated on a 34-page booklet that will include ads for Mariah-friendly products and more. The first million U.S. copies of the album will include the expanded booklet, which will also come with the digital version of the record. A shortened version of the booklet will be inserted into Elle's October issue as well. "The idea was really simple thinking: 'We sell millions of records, so you should advertise with us,'" said IDJMG Chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid. "My artists have substantial circulation-when you sell 2 million, 5 million, 8 million, that's a lot of eyeballs. Most magazines aren't as successful as those records."
My Chemical Romance |
My Chemical Romance have officially begun recording the follow-up to 2006's The Black Parade in Los Angeles with super-producer Brendan O'Brien. "At this point, the best way to describe the new album is My Chemical Romance being the purest, most distilled version of itself," singer Gerard Way said in a statement. "No bells and whistles, as the focus has been on melody and songwriting. If it doesn’t work in a room with just the five of us, we aren’t trying to make it work in the studio with effects and string sections." Way recently told Rolling Stone that one of the new songs, "Death Before Disco," "brings back, lyrically, some of that wonderful fiction from the first album. I think we wrote our ‘Born to Run,’ and I’m so amped about that. It’s a completely different sound for the band — it’s like an anti-party song that you can party to. I can’t wait for people to hear it. To me, it’s the greatest song we’ve ever written — it’s my favorite MCR song."Rapper Drake had been fighting through a leg injury on the current "Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted" tour, but his torn ACL proved to be too much to perform with. On Friday night's tour stop in Camden, NJ, Drake fell while performing his hit song "Best I Ever Had" and left the tour to have surgery on Sunday back home in Toronto. Drake wrote in his blog, "I embarked on this tour with a torn ACL, MCL and LCL, and due to the events that happened the other night, lord only knows what other damage I have done." There has been no official announcement, but it seems unlikely Drake will return to the Young Money tour this summer.
Atreyu's follow-up to 2007's Lead Sails Paper Anchor will hit stores October 27. Congregation Of The Damned was produced by Bob Marlette (Airborne, Ozzy Osbourne) and mixed by Rich Costey (Mars Volta, System Of A Down, Rage Against The Machine). A fall co-headlining tour with Hollywood Undead is set to kick off on October 16 at The Pavilion in Lubbock, TX.
The Who's Roger Daltrey will head out on his own "Use It Or Lose It" solo tour this fall, kicking off in Vancouver on October 10 and winding up in Clearwater, FL on November 30.
Wolfmother will return with Cosmic Egg in October, showcasing the Australian rock act's new lineup. Frontman Andrew Stockdale is now backed by rhythm guitarist Aidan Nemeth, bassist/keyboardist Ian Peres and drummer Dave Atkins and features new songs such as "California Queen," "Sundial," "Far Away" and "Pilgrim." "For a while, I was thinking of not going forward as Wolfmother ... but then, eventually, I decided just to do it. It's a bizarre situation, because you're making new music, but you're also connected to the first record, and the new people are replacing people. It's not a new band with a fresh slate," Stockdale told MTV News. "But once we got started making this record, I thought, 'It's more of a challenge to continue as Wolfmother,' because there is a first record, there is something to compare it to ... and that makes you push yourself."
R&B artist Trey Songz is set to release his third album, Ready, on September 1. "This album is very adult, very easygoing and very sexy," he tells Billboard. "It feels cohesive and reflects the changes you see in me physically, with my new haircut, and everything else that represents me evolving into manhood."
