Jennifer Lopez Dropped From Sony Records?

Certainly you can't believe everything you read. So certain stories that I reproduce here that I'm not so sure about will feature a question mark in the title post.

Jennifer Lopez has had a tough time reemerging after taking some years off due to having twins. It's never easy staging a comeback especially nowadays. Personally I think Jennifer should just stick to movies but whatever.

The news is that Jennifer Lopez has been dropped from Sony. Read below to find out more as well as stories on Ashanti's latest record deal and Rihanna's next album!

Jennifer Lopez has been dropped by her record label, Sony’s Epic Records, according to a report from Deadline.com’s Nikki Finke. The once-hot singer-actress had begun to stage her musical comeback late last year when she released a new single, “Louboutins,” and then fell while singing it at November’s American Music Awards. (See: the photo at left.) Now, if this latest report is to be trusted (and EW has calls/emails in to her management, label, and personal reps to confirm), Lopez’s seventh studio album, LOVE?, will not hit stores in April as was previously the plan.
Finke cites insiders who said that Lopez’s last two singles (“Louboutins” and “Fresh Out the Oven”) fulfilled the contract she had with Epic Records and LOVE?—which was said to feature productions by everyone from The Neptunes to Darkchild—was never even finished. Lopez’s manager Benny Medina confirmed the split via statement to Finke: “Jennifer had a wonderful relationship with the Sony Music group, and they have shared many successes together, but the time was right to make a change that best serves the direction her career as an actress and recording artist. She is grateful and appreciative to everyone Sony for all that they accomplished together.”
Apparently, Lopez is in talks with music industry heavyweight L.A. Reid to join his Island Def Jam label. Plus, she’s still set to host Saturday Night Live this coming weekend. Although, now it seems she doesn’t even have an album-in-the-works to pimp during the monologue. Should she possibly just pursue a talk-show gig instead? Weigh in below, Music Mixers.

Ashanti's Signed To Aftermath?

Ashanti is alleged to be signing with Aftermath Entertainment after spending time working in the studio with Dr Dre on her fifth studio album. The legendary rapper is believed to be producing a heavy bulk of the project and the 29-year-old is currently in negotiations to link her publishing company Written Entertainment with his Aftermath record label.

Rihanna Talks Next Album!

Rihanna has had a difficult past 12 months in the aftermath of her assault by Chris Brown. But the “Hard” superstar has endured, by being both outspoken about her experience in hopes of helping others and by channeling her experience into Rated R, her most rounded effort to date. She told MTV News last year that she “vented” on the project.

Don’t expect her next album to be as dark as Rated R, though.

Rihanna said the follow-up, which has no timetable set yet, will be less intense. “Rated R, I love the sound of it, in terms of the bass,” Rihanna explained. “I really like the bottom, the grime of it. But if I were to combine that with more energetic, up-tempo pop records, then I think that will be a happy marriage. And that’s where we’ll probably go next.”

Rated R was inspired mostly by Rihanna’s ordeal in the wake of her and Brown’s breakup. The singer was the subject of media headlines worldwide. She kept away from the spotlight after a brief reunion with Brown following their altercation. But when Rihanna returned, she had an album that chronicled her months away from the glare.

“This album is an expression of all those feelings that I went through in the last eight months, just different emotions,” she said shortly after Rated R’s release. “All of it isn’t angry, all of it isn’t dark and sad, ’cause I didn’t go through that the whole time. That was part of it. It was really a roller coaster, and you get that when you’re listening to the album.”

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