Music News

Rihanna is planning a huge New York concert.
The 26-year-old singer is gearing up to release her eighth studio album and is reportedly in talks to perform in an enormous show which could shut down one of the city's busiest neighbourhoods for four days.
The NBA All-Star Weekend concert is being organised by Jay Z's company Roc Nation and although no deal between the pop sensation and the company has yet been reached, the Bajan beauty is believed to be keen to sing some of the new tracks from her upcoming album, tentatively titled 'R8'.
The performance will be held in the Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza, and local communities have been advised to prepare for the closure of major streets throughout the city, including Broadway, from February 10 to 13 due to the huge demand the 'We Found Love' hitmaker is expected to attract.
Last month, Rihanna and Jay Z held talks in Roc Nation's head office in New York where they were believed to be speaking about her LP - on which she has worked with Kiesza, Sia and Florence Welch - which is expected to be released later this year.
However, Rihanna - whose last album, 'Unapologetic', was released in 2012 - has been secretive about the record and has not officially announced any information about it.
Attempting to squash speculation about her forthcoming activities, she previously posted on Twitter: "ANY news about #R8 will be delivered directly from me!!!! (sic)"

Katy Perry is nervous about her performance at the Super Bowl.
The 'Dark Horse' hitmaker will take to the stage during the prestigious half-time show at the championship game next month and she's confessed she still can't believe she was chosen to headline the gig.
She told ESPN The Magazine Music Issue: "Honestly? I feel like I've outdreamt my dream. I don't get nervous much, but I'll definitely be a little tingly inside that day."
The 30-year-old star will perform half way through the game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona and Houston Texans' J.J. Watt - who appears alongside Katy on the cover of the magazine - admits he's jealous of her involvement in the end-of season match.
He said: "She's playing in a bigger game than I've ever gotten to play in. I'm hoping someday to be in those shoes."
Katy will follow in the footsteps of 'Uptown Funk' singer Bruno Mars, who last year performed before 115 million viewers during the half-time show, and will be joined on stage by Lenny Kravitz.
She's not the only star who may be experiencing butterflies in their stomach on match day, however, as 'Let It Go' crooner Idina Menzel will be performing the National Anthem before kick-off on February 1.

Sam Smith is Meghan Trainor's "bestie".
The 'Lips Are Movin' hitmaker recently met the 22-year-old singer-songwriter and admitted they exchanged phone numbers and got on so well she already considers him to be one of her best friends.
She told BANG Showbiz: "I met Sam Smith and he's a lovely, lovely person. He's my new bestie!"
The blonde beauty - who has been nominated in the Record of the Year and Song of the Year categories at the Grammys for her breakthrough single 'All About That Bass' - is currently in London to promote her debut album, 'Title', which will be released in the UK next week (26.01.15).
However, the 21-year-old star was disappointed to hear the 'Stay With Me' singer is touring across the US at the moment, as she wanted to meet up with him during her short stay in the English capital.
She explained: "I texted him saying 'I'm in your hometown' but he's in Montreal or somewhere doing some shows far, far away."
Meghan - who was speaking at an exclusive session at Spotify's London headquarters - also said she finds it difficult speaking to people in Britain because she feels like people don't understand what she's saying.
She joked: "I keep realising you don't know the lingo of America... or my swag. I just learned that today."

Rihanna has made a track with Florence Welch.
The Bajan beauty has registered a collaboration with the singer - who performs under the name Florence and the Machine - which is believed will feature on the 'Diamonds' hitmaker's upcoming album.
The song, which is titled 'A Night', lists 28-year-old Florence and award-winning producer Paul Epworth as the track's writers, leading to speculation the song could sample a track from the singer's 2011 album 'Ceremonials' titled 'Only If for a Night'.
Details about the 26-year-old's album - tentatively titled 'R8' - have been sketchy, although Kiesza and Sia have previously confirmed their involvement, while 'Stay With Me' singer Sam Smith recently hinted he has recorded with the star for the LP.
He teased: "I'm personally very excited for Rihanna's album. I know some stuff about that record that no one knows."
The highly anticipated album - which will be her first since 2012's 'Unapologetic' - is also expected to feature the track 'World Peace', which leaked earlier this month.
However, the outspoken chart-topper has attempted to shut down speculation about the record by saying she is the only official source of information for details of her new music.
Taking to her Twitter account in November, she wrote: "ANY news about #R8 will be delivered directly from me!!!!"

Five want to team up with McBusted.
The boyband - made up of Ritchie Neville, Sean Conlon and Scott Robinson - have been spending time experimenting in the studio and are keen to get the rockers in on the act after Sean struck up a friendship with band member James Bourne.
Sean said of the 'Air Guitar' hitmakers - James, Dougie Poynter, Matt Willis, Tom Fletcher, Harry Judd and Danny Jones - who they supported on their tour last summer: "We really like them guys.
"I'm good mates with James Bourne as well so hopefully whilst we are in the studio experimenting... well hopefully we can get in with James as well and see if we can bring something to the table."
Scott added: "We are in the studio at the moment sort of experimenting and stuff like that. Like Sean said, he's got a relationship with James which would be great."
The band - who will kick off their 'Loud and Intimate' UK tour in April - also revealed they would be happy to team up with their 'The Big Reunion' co-stars, Blue, with whom they toured as part of the ITV2 reality show in 2013.
Sean added they've even considered taking TV presenter Keith Lemon's advice, who told them to join forces with Blue - made up of Lee Ryan, Duncan James, Antony Costa and Simon Webbe - and call themselves Flu.
Sean exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "We've got the Flu thing. Keith Lemon said we should join up with Blue and call ourselves Flu.
"We're good mates with them because we were on The Big Reunion tour. We sort of knocked around with them quite a lot. They're doing their album at the moment. We are on our own tour so maybe we'll do something together in the future you never know."
Scott added: "We need to work on the name. Although everyone does get the flu in January. You could buy the Flu album in January. Flu's not a bad idea. It might be, you know, in a couple of years, 'We're going to see Flu!'"
Tickets for Five's 'Loud and Intimate' UK tour are on sale now.

'Loud and Intimate' UK tour dates in April:

Thu 16 - Bristol O2 Academy
Fri 17 - Middlesbrough The Venue
Sat 18 - Glasgow O2 ABC
Sun 19 - Leeds O2 Academy
Tue 21 - Manchester Ritz
Wed 22 - Liverpool O2 Academy
Thu 23 - Birmingham Institute
Fri 24 - London O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire

Adele is working with a vocal coach.
The 'Someone Like You' hitmaker has enlisted the help of Los Angeles coach Ron Anderson to work with her in an attempt to avoid damaging her vocal cords, despite being renowned for having one of the best voices in the world.
A source said: "It's not unusual for pop stars to see vocal coaches even when they have near-perfect vocals."
The expert - who has also coached Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson and Selena Gomez in the past - previously worked with the 26-year-old musician in 2011 shortly after the release of her 30 million-selling album '21', and has now returned to him in a bid to prevent damaging her voice again after undergoing emergency surgery in 2012 to repair a vocal cord haemorrhage
The source told The Sun newspaper: "Adele's sessions with Ron don't tend to focus on how good she sounds, they're more about minimising the risk of damage. If she is having issues again, it could explain why her album is getting pushed back."
Despite receiving help with her voice, industry website Music Business Worldwide last week reported the singer's highly anticipated third album is unlikely to be released before the autumn.
A source close to the singer said: "The album will be released when it's ready - [we] hope that will be at some stage in 2015. That's all I can tell you right now."

Mark Ronson is upset he isn't popular in Russia.
The 'Uptown Funk' hitmaker has topped charts across the world with his catchy collaboration with 'Locked out of Heaven' singer Bruno Mars, but has been left disappointed by the single's performance in Russia, having only charted at number 198.
He said: "It's doing really well but someone showed me a print-out, they were trying to impress me with the charts in the world of how well it was doing and I was like, 'oh wow that's cool!' and then I was like, 'Why is it 198 in Russia?!'"
The 39-year-old musician - who released his new album 'Uptown Special' yesterday (19.01.15) - admitted he isn't sure why the nation is not as keen on the single as other territories, but insisted he is determined to make them like the track.
He explained: "I don't know what it is. Perhaps funk is a thing that isn't as popular or traditional. Russia just must not like it, so I'm going to go there for a while and see what I can do about that."
Despite being thrilled with the single's performance around the world overall, Mark revealed he feels embarrassed when he performs the track live with Bruno because he doesn't look as cool as the 29-year-old star when he wears sunglasses.
Speaking to BBC Radio 1, he added: "I've been doing a lot of TV performances of 'Uptown Funk' with Bruno Mars and he wears sunglasses all the time and he just wears them because he's cool, he looks like a superstar, so you have to wear sunglasses all the time. But I just wear them and look shifty and like I'm hiding something. I'm like, 'do we have to wear sunglasses again?!'"

Meghan Trainor has recorded a duet with Harry Styles.
The 'All About That Bass' hitmaker has revealed she was joined in the studio by the One Direction heartthrob to record a song called 'Someday Maybe', which is all about love.
She said: "It's real! It's a duet. It's a beautiful song we wrote together on my ukulele. We even recorded a rough demo together with our vocals together. It's a cute acoustic love thing."
The 21-year-old star confessed she wasn't sure what 20-year-old Harry's song writing skills would be like, so she came prepared with her own but was shocked by his maturity.
She told The Sun newspaper: "It's one of the first cool things I got to do with a pop star.
"A friend of mine said Harry was a fan and said he would love to write with me.
"He's an incredible writer, too. I was worried he'd just be a 20-year-old boy. So I walked in with a prepared verse and chorus. But he gave me very poetic, mature lyrics.
"I was like, 'Well, damn, Harry, you know what love is'."
However, Megan admits the song may never be released as Harry remains committed to his One Direction bandmates - Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson.

TLC are raising money to release their "final album."
The 'No Scrubs' hitmakers have launched a campaign on crowdfunding website Kickstarter in a bid to raise $150,000 (£98,900) to make the LP, which they are dedicating to their fans.
Writing on their fundraising page, the band wrote: "This album, our FINAL ALBUM, is dedicated to all of you that have stuck with us, always challenging us to do our best. And of course, it's for the new fans too! 😉 We just want to put out great music that touches everyone. That's it (sic)."
The two remaining members, T-Boz and Chilli, are hoping to meet their target by February 19, and have promised to pay tribute to the group's third member, Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes - who was killed in a car accident in 2002 - on the record.
They continued: "This final album will be the first studio album by the two of us. Of course, Lisa's spirit will always be present in our music. That will never change."
The group's last release was '3D' in 2002, with their previous albums including 'Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip' in 1992, 'CrazySexyCool' in 1994 and 'FanMail' in 1999.
Writing about their financial target to create the LP, the women said they are hoping to reflect their successful musical history with the record, having topped the charts with four singles and picked up five Grammy awards during their careers.
They added: "Without you, we wouldn't have ten top 10 singles and four number 1 singles. We wouldn't have won five Grammy awards or sold 65 million records worldwide. Without you, we wouldn't have become the most successful girl group of all time! Without you there would be no TLC!! (sic)."