Music News

Jennifer Lopez will receive the Icon Award at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards.
The 'On The Floor' hitmaker is set to become the first woman to be honoured for her lifetime achievement to music at the ceremony held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 18.
The star is the only the fourth recipient of the Icon Award ever, following on from Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder and Prince.
Larry Klein, producer of the Billboard Music Awards, commented: "Jennifer Lopez is one of the most iconic performers of her generation.
"We are thrilled to honour her historic career with the 2014 Icon Award and will be on the edge of our seats like everyone else when she takes the stage."
The sexy songstress is also going to take to the stage during the ceremony to debut her FIFA World Cup anthem 'We Are One (Ole Ola)' with Pitbull, as well as performing her new single 'First Love'.
The 'American Idol' judge took to Twitter over the weekend to reveal her upcoming eight studio album will be called 'A.K.A.', as well as sharing the artwork for the new record, which shows her clad in a bondage-style red leather dress.

Keith Urban would encourage his daughters to go into showbiz.
The 'American Idol' judge has two children, Sunday, five, and Faith, three, with his actress wife, Nicole Kidman, and likes the idea of them following in their footsteps - but only if they are willing to work hard, and says they are already showing signs of being talented performers.
Asked if he would allow them to go into showbiz, he said: "Absolutely, if they're willing to work for it. It's not just about having talent, bit having passion. They both sing and dance, but who knows? They may go into acting or music.
"They have an iPod in their room. There's music coming from their bedroom all the time."
The country singer is already giving Faith guitar lessons and is impressed with her skills.
He told America's OK! magazine: "She mimics what I'm doing strumming-wise. That's what I'm trying to teach her. I love how she gravitates toward the guitar. She'll go get her little pink guitar, and hold it - she sits with it right, and she strums with it right. I hope she keeps going."

Miranda Lambert would love to record a duet with Beyoncé.
The 'Automatic' hitmaker is a huge fan of the pop superstar but admits she would be too nervous to ask the 'Drunk in Love' singer to go into the recording studio with her.
Asked who she would like to collaborate with, she said: "Kelly Clarkson is a friend of mine. And I'm a huge Beyoncé fan, but I would never dare tread that water because I'd be too nervous."
Meanwhile, Miranda says she finds it hard to relax.
The country music star - who is married to Blake Shelton - admits she is very nervous about releasing her new album, 'Platinum,' next month and is trying to embrace any quiet moments away from technology.
She told People magazine: "I do have trouble putting down [my iPhone], but I'm getting better about it. I think it's important to take a minute and breathe: no TV, no computer, no iPhone, no iPad. You have so many gadgets today, and everyone is over stimulated all the time."

Kelis doesn't feel she needs to "prove" herself any more in the music industry.
The 34-year-old singer - who released her new album 'Food' this month, her first on UK indie label Ninja Tune - doesn't worry about chart success anymore and is happily "out of the race" when it comes to competing with other pop stars.
She explained: "I have far-exceeded anything that I could possibly imagine in my career and I feel really blessed and really honoured to be upheld with such super, super, super, talented people.
"So that being said, I don't know if I'll ever stop, but I dropped out of the race a long time ago, know what I mean? I don't feel competitive at all. I don't feel the need to prove myself. I have proved myself far beyond - I could go on forever, you know."
The 'Milkshake' singer - who has a four-year-old son Knight with ex-husband Nas - feels "really grateful" to have had such a successful career and doesn't feel like she's "running on that rat wheel still".
She added to SPIN magazine: "Right now, my responsibilities are to be sane, happy, and blessed. I feel very blessed, I have a child who requires a rational, sane thinker. He deserves that, so I can't afford to care that much about things that don't actually deserve caring."

Aloe Blacc doesn't believe you have really made it in the music business until you've recorded four albums.
The 35-year-old singer insists longevity is the key to being a respected musician but he is worried new artists aren't going to get the chance to develop over several records.
Blacc said: "I don't think you've made it in the music industry unless you've got four solid albums and maybe three bona fide hit songs from each album. That's making it in the music industry, and not many artists are going to have that chance ever again because of the metabolism of the music industry right now. It's so quick and that's just the way that the marketplace works. I'll be lucky if I get a second hit."
Aloe worked with Pharrell Williams on his track 'Love is the Answer', which features on his new album 'Lift Your Spirit', and he admits he was pleased to be able to give the producer a chance to be involved in something less controversial than Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines'.
He told BANG Showbiz: "I was happy to work with Pharrell to then give a chance for Pharrell's production to stand for something positive. At the time he told me he was working on 'Happy' so I was really excited to know that he was working on the same thing. To create music that was going to open people up to positivity."

Carl Barat admits there is a "colossal risk" involved in reforming The Libertines.
The co-frontman, who will be reunited with bandmates Pete Doherty, Gary Powell and John Hassall for a gig at London's Hyde Park this summer, understands the group reforming isn't without its risks.
He told NME magazine: "For me, the right reasons are, can we do it? Do people want to do it? Would it be a good thing to do? And I don't f***ing know. I'm not saying for a second that it's without a colossal risk, doing this."
Pete let slip in a phone interview to an Israeli journalist earlier this month that the 'Can't Stand Me Now' hitmakers were coming together for the concert and claims his often turbulent relationship with Carl has been fixed.
He said: "Don't listen to what I said before. It's all good with Carl at the minute. He's grown up a bit. The way he talks to me, I can see it ... his face is evolving somewhat. He's lost a bit of the crippling darkness and weariness in relation to me. I love him."
The Libertines play Barclaycard British Summer Time in Hyde Park on July 5.

Chris Martin was desperate for his bandmates to start writing Coldplay songs.
The frontman, who shares writing credits with the other members of the group - Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion - was tired of having to come up with the initial ideas and wanted them to step in and contribute to the band's new album 'Ghost Stories' from the beginning of a song.
He said: "For a long, long time I've been begging the band, 'Please could someone else start a song'.
"I've been given that gift from the universe or from God or whatever you want to believe in that ideas for songs get sent through wherever they get sent from and then I take them to the rest of the band and then we layer it up and that's how we do it.
"For a long time, I've been saying, 'Guy, I know that you write music sometimes, on your own, is there any way that you would give us some of it'. He's like, 'No, you won't like it'."
But the 37-year-old singer was pleasantly surprised when Guy approached him last February and told him he'd been experimenting with ideas for a new track, which later became 'Magic', a song which features on the new album.
Chris explained: "I was so grateful. It made me so happy and that was kind of a simple of the album as a whole, 'We'll help each other out here'. There were lots of songs but that was the first point where I thought, 'Everyone is invested in this, everyone knows what we're trying to do, go a bit more personal'."

Kasabian feel they have been "training 10 years" to make their new album.
The band - made up of frontman Tom Meighan, guitarist Serge Pizzorno, drummer Ian Matthews and bassist Chris Edwards - launched their new record '48:13', named after the record's running time, at Abbey Road Studios in London yesterday (01.02.14).
Serge, who wrote and produced the album, said: "We kept everything direct musically and tried to combine electronical, hip hop and late 60s rock and roll.
"It feels like we've been training 10 years for this. I hope you enjoy the record."
Tom joked it was the "speech of the year" and later spoke of his excitement ahead of the band's debut headline set at Glastonbury Festival this summer.
Asked about rumoured fellow headliners Metallica, he said: "They're amazing, who [else] do people want, The Beach Boys?"
The experimental new record features tracks including 'Bumblebeee', which was named by Serge's three-year-old son Ennio, along with 'Glass' and 'Treat'.
Songs 'Explodes', 'Clouds' and 'Bow' are some of the stand out tracks on the record, along with new single 'Eez-eh' and S.P.S, which Tom claims is about Serge's love for him.
The band's fifth album '48:13' will be released on June 9.

Ella Henderson thinks Ryan Tedder has a "special formula" for making hit records.
The 'Ghosts' singer says the One Republic frontman has helped her to make a "big record" when penning her debut album and thinks he has a special talent for songwriting after scoring number one singles for the likes of Leona Lewis and Beyonce.
She told the latest issue of Wonderland Magazine: "I wanted to make this big record and have it played worldwide, and he knows a special formula to write songs like that".
Ella rose to fame after making it to the live finals on 'The X Factor' in 2012 and although she lost out to winner, James Arthur, she went onto sign a recording contract with Sony.
Now the 18-year-old singer claims the two years spent making her album has helped her to discover her own sound and she is determined to take control of her career.
She mused: "I don't wanna copy anyone, I didn't want to do a retro record. I wanted to do something new, and fresh.
"In the beginning I was open to anything, but you figure out what your sound is, and when you go into sessions there's certain things you have to be open, and honest on. When it comes to my music, when it's your job, you can be cutthroat about things."