Band says ideas for new songs are often born on tour, but usually written at home.
By James Montgomery

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Paramore’s Hayley Williams


Photo: MTV News

It seems odd to talk about “new” Paramore songs, given that their Brand New Eyes album is just seven months old, but the fact remains that there actually are some new tracks in the works … albeit very slowly.

“[Frontwoman Hayley Williams] normally needs to rest her voice during show days, so she’ll come to soundcheck sometimes and just listen to her in-ear monitors,” drummer Zac Farro told MTV News on Saturday at the Bamboozle festival in New Jersey. “The other day, we were just messing around — we have a couple of songs we just play for fun. They’re never anything we’ll probably use, but we’ve been playing them for a while. [They're] just random, two-second things.”

So while it sounds like those “two-second” things might not amount to much, Farro quickly added, “Actually, ‘Decode’ and ‘I Caught Myself’ [Paramore's two songs on the "Twilight" soundtrack] were kind of written that way, so you never really know.”

Williams agreed, though she made it clear that the band is still very much focused on playing songs from Brand New Eyes, and said that the majority of writing for the follow-up — whenever it may happen — will take place at home in Franklin, Tennessee.

“We like coming up with new things, but, like Zac says, it’s usually at home, at practice,” Williams said. “We usually write intros and outros for shows, and that’s a good outlet for us, and a way to keep our creative brains rolling and keep our chops up. But, like he said, it’s like two seconds and then we’re done.”

And Paramore will have even more time to work on those two-second outbursts (maybe even extending them to four or five seconds) when they hit the road on the Honda Civic Tour with Tegan and Sara and New Found Glory. The trek kicks off July 23 and already, Williams and company are getting pumped — even if it means they’re not going to be home any time soon.

“We all like a bit of everything, musically, and you can usually tell that in our [concert] bills,” Williams said. “I think Honda Civic Tour is the most diverse lineup we’ve ever had. And I’m really psyched about it. I saw Tegan and Sara in Nashville, and they were great. It’s going to be a lot of fun!”

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‘Kon says he’s joining his artist in Europe to record songs for her next album.
By Jocelyn Vena

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Akon and Lady Gaga


Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

While Lady Gaga has been touring across the globe and gearing up to shoot a video for her single “Alejandro,” she’s also found time to record tracks for her next album. Her label boss, Akon, has already heard some of the Fame Monster follow-up, and he says it is out of this world.

“She records while she’s on the road,” Akon told Vibe.com. “I’m flying out to Europe to work on some new records with her. Gaga’s just like me. She has a tour bus with a studio in it. Some of the songs I’ve heard are going to be crazy. She’s getting bigger and better.”

Although a release date, title and other details have yet to be revealed, Akon knows that she’s working hard and doesn’t need much advice from him.

“All I’m doing at the end of the day is listening to the tracks Gaga has written and approving them for her album. She has producers that she works with outside of myself and they are coming up with some incredible records,” he explained. “But the beauty of it is she knows exactly what she wants. So it just makes it easier for me.”

Frequent Gaga collaborator RedOne told MTV News that he and the singer still have a lot of tricks up their sleeves but wouldn’t be specific. “That I don’t want to say, because you always want to shock people,” he said. “And you don’t want to let people know, so that when they hear it, [they go], ‘Oh my God.’ ”

And after winning a pair of Grammys with Gaga this year, RedOne promised more successes to come. “We’re just gonna rock again,” he said. “When me and Gaga get together, it’s crazy. It’s unbelievable.”

What do you hope Gaga will do on her next album? Tell us in the comments!

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Janet Jackson may have two songs in rotation — “Nothing” and her Pitbull team-up “Heartbeat Love” — but fans anxious to hear her follow-up to 2008’s Discipline have a long wait ahead of them: Jackson tells Rolling Stone she’s not currently working on an album.

Check out photos from Janet Jackson’s Rock Witchu Tour.

“There was a time where I was actually in the studio and I was recording, but I’m not working on an album,” she says. “There have been a lot of record labels that have asked me to sit down and talk with them, but I don’t know if I want to do something completely independent, or go with a major.” Discipline was Jackson’s first disc on Def Jam after she left her longtime label Virgin.

So what about the new songs? “Nothing” is a one-off she co-wrote and co-produced with Jermaine Dupri for the new Tyler Perry film Why Did I Get Married Too?, and the lyrics reflect the tensions and turmoil between characters, like Angela’s trust issues with Marcus (”You can even have the password to my phone”), as well as her own character Patricia’s guilt and regret over Gavin (”We should cherish every moment like it’s the last”). As for the second song, Jackson said she did it as a favor for Rodney Jerkins, for “fun.”

When Jackson does return to the studio, she’s not sure whether she’ll work toward a classic pop album (as “Nothing” might indicate) or do something more dance club-oriented (like “Heartbeat Love”): “I haven’t decided on exactly where I want to go or what I want to do.”

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It’s another one of “these” stories. Yes, the sequel to The Dark Knight is coming, it’s just taking some time. And yes, they’re probably working on a script right now, even though Chris Nolan is still finishing Inception. Just this past weekend, David S. Goyer announced that he was leaving the ABC show FlashForward to work on “feature projects.” Although he directed The Unborn and was FlashForward’s showrunner, Goyer also put together the story for The Dark Knight and co-wrote Batman Begins, too. However, it shouldn’t be an immediate assumption that the “feature project” he’s working on instead is indeed Batman 3. Read on!

Here’s where things get a little bit skeptical. ComingSoon points out this quote from Nikki Finke’s article on Deadline Hollywood about Goyer leaving FlashForward. But I don’t think this is any confirmation at all.

Of course, Goyer’s feature career is really heating up, since he co-wrote Batman Begins, and penned the story for The Dark Knight, and is now writing the third Batman installment with Chris Nolan’s brother Jonah. (“As my feature projects have started ramping up again, I felt I was being pulled in too many directions,” Goyer said in a statement. “I’m proud of the show and excited about the relaunch. It’s in great hands.”)

It’s not that I don’t trust Nikki Finke, I do, but I think it’s just “assumed” that Goyer and Jonah are working on the script. Finke may have heard that Warner Brothers is paying them to work on it, which would make sense, but I feel like we hear that every other month. Like I said, yes it’s coming, but Chris Nolan wants to finish Inception first. Let him take his time, don’t rush him, and we’ll get a better move in the end. If this is indeed the case, and Jonah (or Jonathan as he’s also known) is working on the script right now with Goyer, it may be a sign that DC Entertainment is trying to step things up. Along with the great news we’ve heard about Green Lantern, too. Hopefully we’ll hear an official announcement soon? I doubt it, at least not soon.

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If you’re like me, then you’re one of a dozen people who’ve seen the indie comedy Rocket Science. If not, then toss it in your Netflix Queue or whatever and watch it ASAP, if for no other reason then to at least check out yet another fantastic performance from Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick. In addition, you’ll be familiarizing yourself with Jeffrey Blitz who has dabbled in narrative features such as this in addition to documentaries like Spellbound. Now Blitz has his eyes on superheroes as Collider discovered he has started work on a documentary about the history of DC Comics and plans to premiere it at Comic-Con this year.

On top of that, this project was actually commissioned and encouraged by DC Comics. However, their involvement might turn this into an ass-kissing session whereas I would much rather see an objective exploration of DC Comics, especially their rivalry with Marvel. Blitz and his producing partner Sean Welch (who worked with Blitz on all of his previous features, including the film Lucky, a documentary about people who’ve won the lottery, which was just showcased at Sundance this year) just started shooting the DC doc a little over a week ago. Welch said:

“DC Comics contacted us and asked if we would do this.  Jeff and the director are comic book enthusiasts since they were kids and remain comic book enthusiasts.  So yes, we have access to their archives, their material, their covers, their panels, the creatives and the executives in the DC world.”

So this is going to come together pretty quickly in order to premiere by July’s Comic-Con. Hopefully it doesn’t feel rushed and contains more than moving stills and voiceover like a half-ass History Channel feature. Spellbound was proof that Blitz knows his way around the documentary, but Alex absolutely hated Lucky, so I’m not sure what to expect. If it does premiere at Comic-Con, you can be sure we’ll do out very best to check it out and let you know the verdict.

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