Artist News

Natalie comes to life

Natalie Imbruglia has finally revealed the release dates of her fourth studio album Come To Life. It will be released on Island Records on October 5 in the UK and Oct 12th in Europe. It will be preceded by the single "Want" on September 28.

The 10 track album is produced by Ben Hillier (Blur, Elbow, Depeche Mode), and features three writing collaborations with Coldplay including the first single "Want", which Natalie co-wrote with Chris Martin. One of the tracks is produced by Brian Eno (U2's main collaborator).

It has been a long four years since the release of her last studio album Counting Down The Days, which debuted at #1 in the UK. In 2007, Natalie released a singles collection before cutting ties with Sony. Come To Life is said to "chart an entirely new path for this vastly under-rated artist. This remarkable record combines dark, driving beats and gorgeously wistful ballads into a totally cohesive whole."

We can't wait! Meanwhile, a music video for the album track "Wild About It" has been released to create buzz for the album. This is not the single. Watch it here.

Kasey Chambers “Doing it for the kids!”

Australian country princess Kasey Chambers and her father Bill Chambers will release an album of children’s songs under the name Kasey Chambers, Poppa Bill and the Little Hillbillies.
Kasey’s husband Shane Nicholson and her brother Nash Chambers will play on the album. Nash and the Chambers family have produced the album. The album will also feature the songwriting debut of Kasey’s 7-year old son Talon who has written the song "Two Houses" for the album.

To coincide with the album, Kasey has also written a children’s book called Little Kasey and the Lost Music. The book will feature a bonus CD of the track "The Lost Music Blues" as well as an audio reading of the book by Kasey. “Writing this book has been a dream of mine since my first son was born 7 years ago. The idea of the story and characters started back then and have grown a little each passing year,” Kasey said in a statement. Both the book and CD will be released on October 30 through Liberation.

Eminem lashes out against Mariah

Eminem has attacked Mariah Carey with an extremely ugly rap called "The Warning". The lyrics graphically details his alleged sexual encounters with Mariah as well as an attack on her husband Nick, calling him a faggot (we're not impressed).


The public feud between the two stars began when Eminem released the track "Bagpipes to Baghdad" on his latest album Relapse. Mariah's latest single "Obsessed" is widely speculated to be about the rapper, although she denies this. It's hard to believe the song has nothing to do with Eminem when you watch the music video in which Mariah is dressed as Eminem stalking her! (see photo above).

Eminem claims to have had an affair with Mariah in 2001, although Mariah denies this ever happened. which she denies.

Pink breaks Rod Laver record

Pink has left her mark on Rod Laver Arena permanently. A pillar backstage has been painted pink to commemorate her record-breaking run of shows and she has even autographed it.

On Sunday, Pink performed her 13th show at Rod Laver Arena for the Funhouse tour, breaking John Farnham's previous record of most shows at the venue on one tour. Petro was at that very show and had an absolute blast!

Artist News

Madonna's celebration

Here is the official cover for M-Dolla's (aka Madonna) forthcoming, career-spanning compilation titled Celebration. It was designed by street pop artist “Mr. Brainwash” who is best known for “throwing modern cultural icons into a blender and turning it up to eleven." Songs that are currently confirmed to appear on the compilation: "Everybody", "Express Yourself", "Vogue", "4 Minutes", "Celebration".

The compilation is set for release on September 28 2009 in the following formats: single cd, double cd, digital download and dvd. The single “Celebration” goes to radio August 3 and is produced by Paul Oakenfold who has remixed Madonna in the past.

Other Madonna-related releases around the corner: Filth & Wisdom, Madonna's first effort as a director, will be released in the USA on September 29. Her I Am Because We Are documentary will also get a DVD release by September 22.

Liam Gallagher storms off stage!

OASIS singer Liam Gallagher did not appreciate a free beer he received from a fan. Gallagher stormed off stage last night after fans threw beer at him. The singer disappeared during his band's set at London's Roundhouse venue, leaving his brother Noel and the rest of the group to play without him for half an hour.

Liam blamed "students in stupid pointy shoes", for upsetting him, then fumed: "I hope you feel as uncomfortable as I feel", before walking off. Noel then told the crowd: "I think someone's in a bad mood." The 42-year-old guitarist then took to the microphone and the performance continued until Liam returned later in the set. However, the atmosphere between the two brothers was frosty for the rest of the show, with them both leering at each other from opposite sides of the stage throughout.

Already Halo?

Since the release of Kelly Clarkson’s latest album All I Ever Wanted, many fans have noticed the similarity between her song "Already Gone" and Beyonce’s recent hit "Halo". Kelly collaborated with Ryan Tedder on the track, a dramatic ballad driven by a pounding heartbeat, twinkly piano and swooping strings. Unbeknownst to her, Tedder used suspiciously similar elements when he produced a track for Beyonce.

"Ryan and I met each other at the record label, before he was working with anyone else...He's from Oklahoma, I'm from Texas; we got along really well and had some of the same influences. We wrote about six songs together, four or five of them made the album. It was all fine and dandy. I'd never heard of a song called Halo. Her album came out when my album was already being printed. No-one's gonna be sittin' at home, thinking 'Man, Ryan Tedder gave Beyonce and Kelly the same track to write to.' No, they're just gonna be saying I ripped someone off. I called Ryan and said, 'I don't understand. Why would you do that?'"

Kelly claims she "fought and fought" to try and prevent her label from releasing "Already Gone" as her third single, out of respect for Beyonce. "In the end, they're releasing it without my consent," she sighs. "It sucks, but it's one of those things I have no control over. I already made my album. At this point, the record company can do whatever they want with it. It's kind of a s**tty situation, but.… You know, you learn."

In my opinion, while the songs have undeniable similarities, they still both have their own entities and different stories to tell. As Chris said on the show, hit songs follow identical formulas all the time, especially those produced by the same production teams. Just look at Max Martin!

Rob Thomas records INXS classic

Rob Thomas has put down lead vocal on "Never Tear Us Apart" with INXS. The band are in the process of recording a new album with special guest vocalists redoing their greatest hits.

Rob has done INXS before. In fact, Rob’s done "Never Tear Us Apart" before. On the last Matchbox Twenty tour of Australia, INXS drummer Jon Farris joined Matchbox Twenty on drums to perform "Never Tear Us Apart" and "Don’t Change". There is no word when the new INXS album will be released.

Kate goes top 10

Sound Museum favourite Kate Miller-Heidke has scored her first Top 10 hit with the third single from her Curiouser album "The Last Day On Earth". The song received attention during promotional adverts for the Neighbours storyline of Bridgit Parker's tragic death. It instantly climbed the iTunes chart, and this was reflected in the latest ARIA Singles chart when it jumped 28 spots to #7. Kate's previous highest charting entry was with her last single "Caught In The Crowd". It reached #33, but only remained in the top 50 for one week.

Kate has flown back into the country this week after gigging in the US, to promote the song. Here is a breathtaking live acoustic performance.

Artist News

- Here is the cover art for Whitney Houston's forthcoming, seventh studio album I Look To You. This is Whitney's first studio effort since 2002's Just Whitney, and will hopefully provide a big comeback for the diva who once had it all, before the drugs took over. One track "I Don't Know My Own Strength", a big ballad, leaked onto the net last week to mixed reception from fans, but there is no confirmation that it will be the lead single as has been suggested.

On July 14, 2009 Houston was in London for the album's official launch party. In total nine songs were premiered including "Million Dollar Bill", "Nuthin' But Love", "I Didn't Know My Own Strength", "Like I Never Left" (featuring Akon), "For the Lovers", "I Look to You" (featuring R Kelly), "Worth It" and a cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You". "Calling You Tonight" (produced and demo by Johnta Austin) was also played and cited as a likely lead single. Executive producer Clive Davis also pointed out that "we didn't try to fit Whitney into the market" and much of the songs were still unfinished. The album is not yet complete. Someone better get a rig along as the album is due August 28, the same date as Mariah's newie. We smell a big battle of the divas!!! Better get your armor as one Jordin Sparks would say.

- A 20 second clip of Madonna's brand new track "Celebrate" has leaked onto the internet and sees a return to the euro-dance sound of her 2005 studio effort Confessions On A Dancefloor. A wise move after the hard flopping of last year's underwhelming Hard Candy. The track, produced by Paul Oakenfold, will be the first single from Madge's new Greatest Hits compilation due in September. It will be released to radio stations on July 28, 2009 and on other areas on August 3, 2009.

- And speaking of hits compilations, Britney Spears is to release a singles collection later this year. A bit strange considering Brit has only released two studio albums since 2004's comprehensive My Prerogative: Greatest Hits compilation. It's set for a October 23rd release, perfectly timed for her first Australian tour.

- In local news, a couple of former Idol favorites have new music on the way. Guy Sebastian has a new song "Like It Like That" ready for release August 21st and you can listen to the track and watch behind the scenes footage of the music video here. Returning to an upbeat, feel good soulful sound, I have to say I'm impressed by this song and look forward to giving it a spin. Guy has spent much of the past year playing gigs and recording in the US where "Like It Like That" will be his first release. The album of the same name is out October 9 and will be his first album of original material since 2006's Closer To The Sun. His 2007 soul covers album The Memphis Album was a big success achieving double platinum sales.

- Meanwhile, Ricki-Lee has unveiled the cover of her brand new single "Don't Miss You". The track goes to radio next week and to retail July 31st. Her third studio album Hear No, See No, Speak No is due in October. Let's hope Ricki-Lee can redeem herself after last year's ill-informed decision to release a "Singles Collection" (with only 6 singles to her name!). Rightfully so, the compilation bombed miserably, failing to chart anywhere in the ARIA Top 100.