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"Will.i.am has confirmed to Rolling Stone that he will be acting as executive producer on Britney Spears&amp;apos; forthcoming album, her eighth. The producer and Black Eyed Peas frontman, whose new solo effort, #willpower, debuted at number nine on the Billboard Top 200 today, said that he is a few months into the process of working on her album.\r\n&amp;quot;After I did a song on Femme Fatale &amp;#x2013; &amp;apos;Big Fat Bass&amp;apos; &amp;#x2013; and then we did &amp;apos;Scream &amp;amp; Shout,&amp;apos; she really liked the way we worked because of my approach,&amp;quot; will.i.am told said last night at a Levi&amp;apos;s event in Hollywood celebrating his sustainable-product program Ekocycle. &amp;quot;So they asked me to be involved in, not producing and writing every song, but to be an executive producer on the songs.&amp;quot;\r\nWill.i.am Teams With NASA to Broadcast Song From Mars\r\nAlthough will.i.am wouldn&amp;apos;t confirm who those other songwriters and producers will be, he did mention that Spears &amp;quot;really liked Diplo,&amp;quot; who has been rumored to be involved in the album. The producer hopes this album will reflect who Spears is as a person rather than an artist, and he&amp;apos;s been actively spending time getting to know her on a more intimate level to ensure that can happen.\r\n&amp;quot;I was like, &amp;apos;OK, look, guys, me and Britney need to have lunch four times a month for three months before I even try to go in the studio with her,&amp;apos;&amp;quot; will.i.am said. &amp;quot;Because we need to talk. We need to talk about what she&amp;apos;s excited about in life. I gotta talk about the things that hurt her. I gotta talk about the things that make her concerned &amp;#x2013; she&amp;apos;s a mother. I gotta talk to her about all the things that her fans want to talk to her about. I gotta be the vehicle between her and her fans.&amp;quot; He added, &amp;quot;We can&amp;apos;t do another song about going on the dance floor. Really? Didn&amp;apos;t we see a bunch of Britney doing that already? Don&amp;apos;t we want to see something that comes from her heart?&amp;quot;\r\nThe producer and Spears have now had almost three months&amp;apos; worth of lunches, and they had a session yesterday that will.i.am called &amp;quot;amazing.&amp;quot; Although he was unable to offer any sense of a timeline on the album&amp;apos;s release, he suggested that the production on his end is moving along fairly quickly.\r\nThe producer will also release a follow-up single to his current Justin Bieber-featured number &amp;quot;#thatPOWER,&amp;quot; but won&amp;apos;t confirm which track that will be except to say that its video will be &amp;quot;pretty sick.&amp;quot; And although will.i.am has several solo tour dates booked through the summer, he may not be bringing #willpower around the U.S. anytime soon.\r\n&amp;quot;I&amp;apos;ll probably be on a real tour in September,&amp;quot; the producer said. &amp;quot;But I don&amp;apos;t know if I&amp;apos;m gonna tour America. I&amp;apos;ll tour everywhere else, but not the States. It&amp;apos;s a weird place to tour.&amp;quot; He added, &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s gonna be cool. [But] I don&amp;apos;t want to reveal how I tour.&amp;quot;\r\nMeanwhile will.i.am, honored last night for his collaboration with Levi&amp;apos;s 501 on a pair of jeans created from plastic Coca-Cola products, has numerous other projects on the table. Those include ongoing work with his i.am.angel and i.am.scholarship programs.\r\n&amp;quot;I want kids to go to school, but I don&amp;apos;t want to kids to go to school and have debt after they graduate,&amp;quot; he explained of his motivation for i.am.scholarship, to which Levi&amp;apos;s contributed $10,000 last night. &amp;quot;How can I send kids to college where all they have to do is focus on becoming entrepreneurs? So when they graduate not only are they looking for jobs &amp;#x2013; they&amp;apos;re creating jobs.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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