Songwriter update:
I reported earlier that British (but with an American deal with Lava Records) singer
Jessie J, who may now be going by Jessie, was working with
Dr. Luke and
Claude Kelly. We've since had the opportunity to hear what must be at least one result from that collaboration:
Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA," co-written by Luke, Claude, and Jessie. Hopefully, though, we'll hear better things sung by Jessie herself on her debut album, supposedly due out this year. I'm skeptical about that actually happening--the buzz behind the singer, more formally known as Jessica Cornish, needs more time to build.
Lucas Secon, the co-writer of songs like the Pussycat Dolls' "I Hate This Part," Martin's "Show The World," and Sarah Connor's "Under My Skin," is working on a new song with
Britney Spears, according to
his latest MySpace blog. He says he's also the producer of the lead single for
Toni Braxton's new album,
Pulse, which was written by him and Makeba Riddick. "Get Loose," a Toni track which leaked late last year, is still a great listen. "Resuscitate Me," which he reports is the "Say It"-following second single from
Booty Luv's second album, is co-written by him as well.
Sharon Vaughn, co-writer of Agnes's "Release Me," has a song on her
MySpace called "Penny on the Sidewalk" which sounds like it's being sung by
Fredrik Kempe, the Swedish opera and pop singer who, despite two solo albums, is best known recently for his songwriting work. It could be an old song , but if you've missed Fredrik's voice or are completionist about the work of Kempe, Vaughn, Per Magnusson, or David Kreuger, its writers, head over there. If you're only a fan of Kempe's up-tempo, poppy productions, though, it's not for you. The (female) voice on "Dreamers Don't Get Much Sleep" also sounds familiar, though I can't quite place who it is.
Fibes, Oh Fibes!'s album
1987, released this week, features songs by Spandau Ballet's
Gary Kemp and
Pontus and Petter Winnberg (the former being one-half of Bloodshy & Avant), among other talents more known to Swedes.
Swedish singer and former Alcazar and Barbados member
Magnus Carlsson continues to work on his upcoming pop album (to be preceded by a holiday album this year, last I heard),
Pop Galaxy, due in February of next year (you have to raise an eyebrow at that choice). He's continued to record with
Pitchline (Velvet's "Come Into The Night" and "Take My Body Close") and
Hitvision (and as mentioned before, Emil Hellman of SoundFactory contributed to some of them); some of the possible inclusions are called "Addicted To You" and "Last One To Stand."
Allison Iraheta, the fourth place finisher on the last season of American Idol, has worked with
Toby Gad for her debut album, planned for a fall release...but really, who hasn't worked with him at this point, especially out of the Idol contestants?
Fred Ball (of Pleasure and work with Bertine Zetlitz) has contributed as a writer and producer to
Girls Can't Catch's upcoming album.
Pascal Gabriel is working with
Ladyhawke (on her second album),
Example,
Goldfrapp, and
Marina & the Diamonds (we may have heard some of the resulting creations already).
The tracklist for
the Saturdays' second album is out;
Ina Wroldsen, co-writer of the majority of their first album, has done "No One," "One Shot," "Baby Baby," "Denial," "Wordshaker," "Open Up," and "Deeper." She's also contributed "Discover Me" to
Girls Can't Catch's album, "My Hands" and "Heartbeat" to
Leona Lewis's (earlier her two Leona contributions were called "Thank You, Thank You" and "My Heart," so I'm guessing they've just been renamed), "My Man," "Get Up (Stronger Man)," "Punching Out," and "I Had Him First" to
Jade Ewen's, and "Before The Rain"'s to
Alexandra Burke's. She's also got a song called "Not For You" which is listed as a
Kylie Minogue release, but I don't have the Kylie knowledge to know whether that's a song that's come out already or not (it could also be the same song as
Natalie Bassingthwaighte's "Not For You," also by Ina).
On the list of songs locked away in vaults that you know exist but have never been heard, "When I Say So" has been high on my desperate-to-hear list. It's one of the songs BT created for the pop princess during the Britney era. The full story of how her work with BT went from album anchors and lead single (as the amazing "Before The Goodbye" was once meant to be) to one import bonus track ("Before The Goodbye"), a b-side ("I Run Away"), and an unreleased song ("When I Say So") can be read here. The gist, though, is this: inspired by the success of the BT-produced "Pop" by 'N Sync, Britney's people asked BT to work on material for her. When the album ended up going in the more R&B, dirty funk direction of songs like "I'm A Slave For You" by the Neptunes, the futuristic pop songs BT had created were set aside.
(physical).
