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Since the Black Eyed Peas emerged as a pop behemoth in the early ‘aughts, frontman will.i.am has been everywhere on the music scene; from pairing up with Usher and David Guetta to speaking on panels about the importance of technology in today’s ever-changing music universe, the man gets around. So needless to say, will’s made quite a few contacts along the way. And now he’s bringing out a slew of talent for his forthcoming fourth solo release, #willpower, which drops this fall. The multi-talented star revealed in a recent interview that he’s roped in the likes of Britney Spears, LMFAO, Chris Brown, Mick Jagger Ne-Yo, Eva Simons and more for his latest release.

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Simons, the Dutch singer who shines on the album’s first single, “This Is Love,” has caught will’s eye, in particular. “She is the next big star,” he says. “The next singer-songwriter are the people that know how to write the songs, sing the songs and come up with their own sound and produce their own stuff. And that’s Eva Simons.”
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Naturally working with Jagger on the album’s first single, 2011’s “T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)” was quite the thrill for Will. “A lot of times you tell someone, “I want to do a song with such and such.” And the manager tries to track that artist down to figure out some swap,” he says. “But I actually called Mick on the phone and he was like, “Come down. I want to hear the song.” It was also exciting for legendary producer Jimmy Iovine, who shockingly had never worked with the Rolling Stones frontman. “Jimmy Iovine was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never worked with Mick Jagger before.” Jimmy was like, “When I was younger I wanted to be Mick Jagger. What A Tribe Called Quest is to you, that was Mick for me.” We are talking about someone who has produced everyone and their mom from John Lennon to Bruce Springsteen. So I asked Jimmy, “Why don’t you produce Mick’s vocals?” When was the last time Jimmy produced? I was like, “Let me bring you out of retirement.”
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The album was something that will says he did not want to rush. “I didn’t want to force this album,” he explains. “A lot of times an artist can overthink things. You get to the point that you are so wrapped up in your music that you feel like you can just put buffalo knuckle sound effects on a track [laughs]. It’s like, “Yo, you seriously making buffalo knuckle noises on a beat and you think that’s hot?”
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Watch the music video below for will.i.am’s new single featuring Eva Simons, “This Is Love.”
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This Is Love

will.i.am | Myspace Video