Natalia Kills Collaborating with Madonna for the Queen of Pop’s Next Album…

Natalia Kills is having a royal moment…

The 27-year-old half-Uruguayan singer-songwriter, whose real name is Natalia Cappuccini, recently spent time in the studio with Madonna.

Natalia Kills & Madonna in the Studio

The Queen of Pop shared an image on Instagram late in the evening this week with the caption “Working the midnight shift with Natalia Kills. 2 girls on a couch… don’t it taste like Holy Water? #artforfreedom #rebelheart #revolutionoflove”

In the photo, Madonna is seated next to Kills, in front of two microphones. In the foreground is Martin Kierszenbaum, the founder and chairman of Cherrytree Records (Kills’ label) and senior executive of A&R for Interscope Records.

Among his many credits, Kierszenbaum A&R’d Lady Gaga‘s debut album The Fame, and co-wrote and produced four of the songs on the set. He also did A&R for Gaga’s The Fame Monster EP.

Madonna’s next studio album will be released on Interscope Records.

Her collaboration with Kills comes shortly after Madonna confirmed that she had worked with DJ/producer Avicii in March.

Back in February, Madonna said that “plans” were “in the works already” for a new album. Her forthcoming set will be the follow-up to 2012’s MDNA. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and has sold 536,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Kills, meantime, released her second album, Trouble, in September 2013.

Pitbull Releases Official World Cup Song “We Are One (Ole, Ola),” feat. Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte

Ole. Ola! Pitbull has released “We Are One (Ole, Ola),” his easy, breezy World Cup song.

The 33-year-old Cuban American rap superstar’s new track – the official FIFA song for the upcoming World Cup – was released Tuesday in advance of the official FIFA 2014 World Cup Brazil album.

Pitbull

“We Are One,” which includes a whistling melody and stadium chants, features Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte.

Acoustic guitar sets up a beachy backdrop for “We Are One” before Pitbull launches into some easy motivational rhymes to a marching dance beat. J.Lo comes in with a more aggressive run, peppered with a few words in Portuguese, and Leitte’s muscular vocals briefly demonstrate why she is one of Brazil’s most popular singers.

“Show the world where you’re from, show the world we are one,” goes the chorus.

Pitbull, Lopez and Leitte will perform the song at the World Cup opener in Sao Paulo. A video shot in South Florida is set to debut later this month.

The track is the first single on the 17-song album, which will be released on May 12, exactly a month before the tournament kicks off.

Shakira, Ricky Martin, Sergio Mendes, The Isley Brothers and Baha Men are included on the list of Brazilian and international artists who perform on 17 tracks.

One Love, One Rhythm, the World Cup album, released on FIFA partner Sony Music Entertainment‘s RCA Records, will also include the official anthem, “Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way).”

Carlos Santana, Avicii and Alexandre Pires are set to perform that theme at the World Cup closing ceremonies in Rio on July 13.

Buyers who pre-order the album now on iTunes receive a free download of “We Are One.”

‘One Love, One Rhythm: The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Album’ Tracklisting:

1. Pitbull feat. Jennifer Lopez & Claudia Leitte – We Are One (Ole Ola) (The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup TM Song)
2. Santana & Wyclef feat. Avicii & Alexandre Pires – Dar Um Jeito (We Will Find A Way) (The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup TM Anthem)
3. Arlindo Cruz – Tatu Bom De Bola (The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup TM Mascot Song)}
4. Ricky Martin – Vida (Spanglish Version)
5. David Correy – The World Is Ours
6. Psirico – Lepo Lepo
7. Sérgio Mendes & Carlinhos Brown – One Nation
8. Shakira – La La La (Brazil 2014) feat. Carlinhos Brown
9. The Isley Brothers – It’s Your Thing (Studio Rio Version)
10. Bebel Gilberto and Lang Lang – Tico Tico
11. Adelén – Olé (Stadium Anthem Mix)
12. Magic! – This Is Our Time (Agora e’a nossa horra)
13. Baha Men – Night & Day (Carnival Mix)
14. Rodrigo Alexey feat. Preta Gil – Go, Gol

Santana to Perform “Dar um Jeito” at World Cup Closing Ceremony

It’s closing (ceremony) time for Carlos Santana at this year’s World Cup…

The 66-year-old Mexican American musician and guitar legend has joined forces with Swedish electro DJ Avicii, Brazilian Latin Grammy winner Alexandre Pires and Haitian-American rapper Wycleff for a special World Cup performance.

Carlos Santana

Santana and the other artists have been picked by FIFA, the World Cup’s governing body, to perform “Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way),” the closing anthem for this year’s international soccer tournament, the world’s most-watched live televised event.

The track comes from the pen of two-time Grammy-nominee Ash Pournouri.

“In Portuguese Dar Um Jeito means to find a way around obstacles and impossibilities,” said Pournouri. “With this track, we wanted to send a message of optimism and opportunity with the music and the words.”

Santana, Avicii, Pires and Wycleff will perform the song live at the World Cup closing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on July 13.

The closing anthem is just part of the World Cup’s growing musical accompaniment and will form part of the official 2014 World Cup Album alongside the official World Cup song, which Pitbull debuted for an audience at SXSW earlier this month.

 

The Miami-based rap superstar will perform the official song, “We Are One,” in Brazil together with Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte.

“FIFA and Sony have been working hard in developing an album that brings the sounds of Brazil to life through a variety of creative tracks,” said FIFA’s Marketing Director Thierry Weil. “Santana, Wyclef, Avicii and Alexandre Pires are true musical icons and I am thrilled they will be part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup closing ceremony.”

“It is an honor to take part in the 2014 FIFA World Cup,” added Santana. “Along with my brothers, Wyclef, Avicii and Alexandre Pires, we look forward to performing the song in Rio de Janeiro in July and sharing this message of light and hope on the FIFA World Cup stage.”

Other tracks to be included on the 2014 World Cup album are “Vidafrom American songwriter Elijah King, the winner of FIFA’s online SuperSong competition, which will be recorded by Ricky Martin, and the official mascot song, which Brazilian singer Arlindo Cruz first released in 2012.

Blacc Earns Two iHeartRadio Music Award Nominations

It’s a nice Wake (Me) Up moment for Aloe Blacc

The 35-year-old Panamanian-American singer, songwriter is the leading Latino finalist for the first-ever iHeartRadio Music Awards, which will air live on NBC on May 1 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Screen Shot 2014-03-27 at 12.21.55 PM

Blacc earned two nominations for writing and performing vocals on Avicii‘s “Wake Me Up,” which has charted at #1 in 22 countries.

Blacc, who is set to perform at the upcoming Nickelodeon‘s Kids’ Choice Awards, is nominated in the EDM Song of the Year and Best Lyrics categories.

But Blacc isn’t the only Hispanic artist nominated…

Pitbull and Ke$ha picked up a nomination for Best Collaboration for their chart-topping hit “Timber.”

The 32-year-old Cuban American rap superstar reached the summit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as the Pop Songs chart. It has sold more than 2.5 million downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Meanwhile, Demi Lovato is nominated in the Best Fan Army category. The 21-year-old part-Mexican American singer/actress has 21.5 million followers on Twitter, as well as 4.4 million followers on Instagram.

The iHeartRadio Music Awards telecast will feature “this year’s biggest artists and songs” along with “live performances, never-before-done duets and collaborations,” including performances streamed from other venues in Los Angeles.

Nominees for the awards were based on results from the newly introduced iHeartRadioChart, which compiles airplay-based listener feedback and performance data, digital streaming data from the iHeartRadio platform and sales, social video data and tags from Big Champagne and Shazam. The data was compiled by Mediabase based on data from the past 12 months.

Here are this year’s nominees:

Artist of the Year:
Imagine Dragons
Justin Timberlake
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Maroon 5
Rihanna

Song of the Year:

“Hold on We’re Going Home” – Drake ft. Majid Jordan
“Mirrors” – Justin Timberlake
“Radioactive” – Imagine Dragons
“Stay” – Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko
“The Monster” – Eminem ft. Rihanna

Best Collaboration:
“Holy Grail” – Jay Z ft. Justin Timberlake
“Stay” – Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko
“Suit & Tie” – Justin Timberlake ft. Jay Z
“The Monster” – Eminem ft. Rihanna
“Timber” – Pitbull ft. Ke$ha

Best New Artist:

Florida Georgia Line
Icona Pop
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Passenger

Country Song of the Year:
“Boys ‘Round Here” – Blake Shelton
“Highway Don’t Care” – Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift
“It Goes Like This” – Thomas Rhett
“Mine Would Be You” – Blake Shelton
“That’s My Kind of Night” – Luke Bryan

Hip-Hop/R&B Song of the Year:
“Blurred Lines” – Robin Thicke ft. T.I. & Pharrell 
“Hold on We’re Going Home” – Drake ft. Majid Jordan
“Holy Grail” – Jay Z ft. Justin Timberlake
“Pour It Up” – Rihanna
“Started From the Bottom” – Drake

EDM Song of the Year:
“Get Lucky” – Daft Punk ft. Pharrell
“Stay the Night” – Zedd ft. Hayley Williams
“Summertime Sadness” – Lana Del Rey ft. Cedric Gervais
“Sweet Nothing” – Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch
“Wake Me Up” – Avicii feat. Aloe Blacc

Alternative Rock Song of the Year:
“Demons” – Imagine Dragons
“Do I Wanna Know?” – Arctic Monkeys
“Pompeii” – Bastille
“Royals” – Lorde
“Safe and Sound” – Capital Cities

Best Lyrics:
“Wake Me Up” – Avicii (Vocals by Aloe Blacc)
“I Love It (ft. Charli XCX)” – Icona Pop
“Say Something” – A Great Big World
feat. Christina Aguilera
“Same Love” – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
“Wrecking Ball” – Miley Cyrus

Best Fan Army:
Arianators – Ariana Grande
Little Monsters – Lady Gaga
Lovatics – Demi Lovato
Mahomies – Austin Mahone
Rihanna Navy – Rihanna
Swifties – Taylor Swift

Blacc to Perform at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards

Aloe Blacc is set to make his first appearance at the 2014 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.

The 35-year-old Panamanian-American singer will perform at the March 29 fan-voted awards ceremony, which will be hosted by Mark Wahlberg.

Aloe Blacc

Blacc, best known for his single “I Need a Dollar,” will perform a medley of his recent hit songs “Wake Me Up,” which he co-wrote with Avicii, and “The Man.”

“Wake Me Up” has charted at No. 1 in 22 countries.

“Looking forward to my very first Kids Choice Awards performance. Can’t wait to sing ‘Wake Me Up’ and ‘The Man’ with all my fans,” said Blacc.

Blacc’s most recent television appearances include The Voice, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Dancing with the Stars.

Mars Announces Dates for the Second Leg of His “Moonshine Jungle” Tour

Bruno Mars is ready for a little more Moonshine

The 28-year-old part-Puerto Rican singer, who will be performing at this year’s Super Bowl with the Red Hot Chili Peppers as his special guest, has announced plans to launch the next leg of his popular Moonshine Jungle tour — and on select dates, he’ll be joined by fellow hitmaker Pharrell Williams.

Bruno Mars

Mars will kick off the newest set of concerts this May, following two April shows in Mars’ hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. Pharrell, a music producer and featured artist on two of 2013’s biggest songs, Robin Thicke‘s “Blurred Lines” and Daft Punk‘s “Get Lucky,” will join Mars in five cities — Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal — while appearing behind his upcoming solo release with Columbia Records.

Panamanian American soul singer Aloe Blacc, best known in U.S. as the vocalist on Avicii‘s “Wake Me Up,” will open for Mars for majority of dates where Pharrell will not perform.

The Moonshine Jungle tour’s next leg will begin May 27 at Fresno, California’s Save Mart Center, running over 40 total dates before concluding Aug. 17 in Englewood, Colorado at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre.

Mars, Billboard’s Artist of the Year in 2013, is touring in support of his sophomore album, Unorthodox Jukebox, which was released in December 2012. The album has spawned two No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Locked Out of Heaven” and “If I Was Your Man,” as well as the No. 5-peaking “Treasure” and “Gorilla,” which hit No. 22.

He’s also received multiple nominations at the Grammys later this month, including nods for Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “Locked Out of Heaven.”

See the full list of tour dates at Mars’ official site.