Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster

Has an album title ever been so self-prophetic? In its first year, this electropop opus rocketed Lady Gaga from unknown New York lounge singer to the world’s biggest pop star this side of Britney Spears. The Fame’s brand of pop is shamelessly decadent: 11 of its 13 songs are about money, celebrity, sex, clubbing, or a sticky combination of all four. It’s insipid subject matter, unless you consider Gaga as less of a silly, manufactured blonde than an ingenious artist playing the part of a glitzy pop star. Witness The Fame’s impeccably sleek opening songs, from the carelessly rambling chorus of “Just Dance” to the snappy, futuristic beat of “LoveGame”: Gaga’s got the outrageous outfits and dance moves down to a science, but underneath it all, the music is aggressive and authoritarian in ways that most other Top 40 tunes are not. Often compared to Gwen Stefani’s, Gaga’s vocals are in fact richer and rounder, allowing her a certain stylistic versatility, and her personae alternate from wild party kid to vulnerable lover. Some of the risks don’t always pay off, but the Lady Gaga of the dark and ardent megahit “Poker Face” prevails. She is commandeering enough, bizarre and beguiling enough, to ensure that she’ll be basking in our attention for a very long time.

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Rihanna - Rated R

The wait is ova - for one of the most hotly anticipated new albums in recent history, as multi-platinum, award-winning Def Jam recording artist Rihanna announces the completion of her fourth original studio album, Rated R, scheduled to arrive in the physical and digital marketplace on Monday, November 23rd.The “Russian Roulette” video, directed by Anthony Mandler, will premiere in prime-time on ABC.

“Russian Roulette” was written and produced by fellow Def Jam artist Ne-Yo, whose long track record with Rihanna includes the #1 hit “Unfaithful” (2006, from A Girl Like Me), their Top 10 duet “Hate That I Love You” (2007, from Good Girl Gone Bad), and #1 pop/ #1 R&B “Take A Bow” (2008, from Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded). In addition to Ne-Yo, other producers and writers on Rihanna’s new album include the team of The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, Chase & Status, Stargate, Justin Timberlake and more.

Rated R is the long-awaited follow-up to Good Girl Gone Bad (May 2007), which contained the non-stop string of hit singles that began with the MTV VMA and Grammy Award-winning global #1 hit “Umbrella” (featuring Jay-Z), then “Shut Up and Drive,” “Hate That I Love You” (featur­ing Ne-Yo), and “Don’t Stop the Music.” Good Girl Gone Bad spent 98 total weeks on the Soundscan chart, earned cumulative sales of more than 36-times platinum in at least 20 territories around the world, and spun off the CD+DVD package Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded (January 2009) - which continued the string of hits with the #1 “Take A Bow,” and the #1 “Disturbia.”

Good Girl Gone Bad was the third album release in less than two years by the 21-year old Barbados native Rihanna. It followed-up 2006’s RIAA platinum A Girl Like Me, which contained the back-to-back hits, “S.O.S.” and “Unfaithful”; and her RIAA gold debut from 2005, Music Of the Sun, featuring the world-wide smash, “Pon De Replay.”

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Leona Lewis - Echo

2009 release from the British vocalist. Echo is the follow up to her debut album, Spirit, which sold over six million albums worldwide, earned three Grammy Award nominations and resulted in her becoming the best selling new artist of 2008. Echo sees Leona working with superstar talent Ne-Yo, John Shanks, Max Martin and Ryan Tedder, as well as with new collaborators Xenomania and Julian Bennetta. Clive Davis and Simon Cowell co-produced the album. Features the single ‘Happy’.

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Robbie Williams - Reality Killed The Video Star

2009 album from the British superstar (and former member of Take That). Reality Killed The Video Star, his eighth album and first in over three years, was produced by Trevor Horn and features 12 brand new tracks (plus one reprise.) Songwriting collaborators include Danny Spencer & Kelvin Andrews, Brandon Christy, Craig Russo, Richard Spencer & Scott Rudin, Chaz Jankel, Guy Chambers and Fil Eisler. One track, ‘Morning Sun’, was written and recorded in the wake of Michael Jackson’s death. Features the single ‘Bodies’.

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