The past few years have seen professional and personal highs for the soulful 27-year-old artist, as well as some lows. Around the time he was writing material for his third LP, James’ father passed away. “It was very hard to get through most writing days without shedding a tear,” he says.

Still, he persevered, and the result was his second chart-topping album in the UK, The Awakening, which has sold over half-a-million copies worldwide since its release in September. Head below for our chat with the award-winning Brit!

Before you made it big, you’d take part in local open-mic nights in Derby. Describe the importance of the bar Ryan’s early in your career.
JAMES MORRISON: That place helped me get comfortable playing live. Most of the time, the songs I would play were spontaneous and so it helped me feel comfortable ad-libbing.

You gave a beautiful performance of Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror” last year at London’s Tower Bridge, which was broadcast live here on CBS’ Early Show. What influence has Jackson had on you, personally, and your songwriting?
JM: Michael Jackson is just pure energy, fun, rhythm and funk! Passion for what you’re singing about is the main thing I’ve learned from MJ — not to underestimate dance moves! [The Awakening single] “Slave To The Music” was inspired by MJ.

James Morrison covers Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror”

Did you find it difficult to write new material for The Awakening after your father passed away?
JM: Of course it was difficult, but I had no choice but to write about something that’s on my mind. I did find it therapeutic. Still, it was very hard to get through most writing days without shedding a tear.

How did you come to collaborate with Jessie J on “Up”?
JM: I asked if she wanted to do it with me. But she said, ‘I’ll only record a song with you’. So we did “Up”.

Well, that’s a nice consolation prize. Will you be coming over to the States to play some gigs in support of The Awakening?
JM: You know that — ‘course I can’t wait. I’m coming over to the States for a week in January, but then again for three weeks in April for a small tour.

James Morrison — ”I Won’t Let You Go”

So, is your three-year-old daughter a fan of your music?
JM: Yes, now she is. But she has said that she likes Jessie J more. She’s her favorite.

Ouch! Speaking of which, you’ve collaborated with Jessie J, obviously, and other artists such as Girls Aloud and Nelly Furtado. Who else is on your wish list to work with?
JM: No one — they are all a nightmare! Only joking. I enjoy collaborating, but for now I’m good with working just with Jessie J.

Last question: you cite Stevie Wonder as a big influence. What’s your favorite Stevie album, and why does it resonate so well with you?
JM: My favorite Stevie Wonder album — hmmm. It’s hard to choose, but if I had to it would be Songs In The Key Of Life. It’s got everything you want from an album.

The Awakening, which contains the singles “Up” and “I Won’t Let You Go”, is available now.

Ahead of that, we had a chat with the 11-year-old singer about what music and which artists she considers to be her favorites. (You might be surprised at what we found nestled on the energetic pop tart’s iPod!) We also discovered that, when it comes to style influences, Willow turns to one person: herself. “I kind of go off what I think is cool,” she told us.

Head below to catch our Q&A with the youngest diva on the Roc Nation roster.

What album or artist were you most into over the past year.
WILLOW: Probably Man On The Moon 2: The Legend Of Mr. Rager, from Kid Cudi. I like it because it’s different, and it has a lot of feeling. He’s not just writing songs to write songs. He’s writing songs that are about his life.

Did you catch any concerts that blew you away in 2011?
W: Actually, I haven’t seen any live performers this year except for Jessie J on The X Factor, and she was really awesome! She has an amazing voice.

When you’re not working on your budding music career, what do you get up to?
W: I dance. It’s my favorite thing to do. I’m in a company. Miss Adriana is my dance teacher. That’s what I like to do on my downtime.

Your parents have been in show business for several decades now. What advice have they given you, as far as your career?
W: The only thing that they tell me is to have fun. That’s all that matters.

What’s one song that you personally find to be influential?
W: Let me check my iPod — everything is on there! Probably Goldfrapp, “Horse Tears”.

Willow’s down with Goldfrapp! Along those lines, name an artist or album you listen to that would maybe surprise your fans?
W: Probably James Blake’s Air & Lack Thereof.

So, when did you first realize that you wanted to pursue a singing career?
W: When we were in China and Jaden was doing [The Karate Kid]. I told my dad that I wanted to sing, and I told my mom that I wanted to sing. It just came along from there.

Speaking of Jaden, both you and your brother have over a million followers on Twitter, but I couldn’t help noticing you have a slight edge over him. Do you ever bring that up when he’s teasing you?
W: No, we don’t really do that kind of thing. We’re in the same boat. It doesn’t matter how many fans I have. We have a great connection. We love each other, that’s all that matters.

When you recorded “Fireball”, did you go into the studio with Nicki Minaj?
W: No, we recorded apart, but we got to see each other at the video shoot. She’s really awesome. I’m a very big fan of her.

Last question: other than Nicki, are there any other guests on your album?
W: No, there are not.

“Fireball” is available for download on iTunes.

Last month Jay released his mixtape The Mistress. Up next for the Young Money star is his oft-delayed album Freeze Time, which he says will be out sometime in early 2012. Head below to learn more about Sean’s upcoming material, and to find out what he really thinks about the world ending when we change calendars in a few months.

IDOLATOR: What was the experience of the tour with Joe Jonas and JoJo like for you?
JAY SEAN: The thing about touring is you get to see the world, man. I got to see the United States. I went all around the East Coast, West Coast, down South. It was great to play to different audiences and to see all your different fans around the country with just cool, down-to-earth peeps. I think that’s the part [Joe Jonas and JoJo and I] enjoyed the most. There were no ego clashes on tour, just good times.

What’s next for you,now that the tour is over?
JS: It’s nonstop for me, man. I’m heading off to England for an awards show. After that I come back for a few more shows here in America. Then I’m performing with Paul McCartney and Britney Spears in Abu Dhabi for the F1 Grand Prix. And then the tour of England in December and the album coming out in the beginning of the year. It’s gonna be nuts.

Last month you released your mixtape The Mistress. Will some of those tracks wind up on the album Freeze Time?
JS: The reason I did the mixtape is so that people would know what to expect of the album. America so far has only heard my pop songs and the up-tempo fun stuff. They’ve yet to hear the slow jams, the R&B stuff I do. So this album is really going to be a mixture of R&B records much like the ones on The Mistress as well as some classic, beautiful pop songs, some ballads and up-tempo anthems. It’s just a real nice musical journey.

What’s the significance of the title Freeze Time?
JS: At the moment the significance of the title is that Freeze Time has been frozen in time, ironically. [Laughs] It’s been a problem to get it out due to messy, messy legal reasons. For me, I had to kind of put the album on the backburner for a while. I’m just really looking forward to pushing the album out when it comes, once we’re finally allowed to give it to my fans.

Are there any collaborations on the album that you can talk about?
JS: There are, but let’s keep it exciting. Let’s keep that a surprise. [Laughs]

Who’s a fellow artist that you find to be inspiring?
JS: Keane is just a really, really awesome band. I actually sampled one of their songs on my mixtape, a song called “She Has No Time.” They’re just really melodically beautiful. Hopes And Fears, their first album, is one of my favorite albums ever. Also, right now, the person who really influenced me, in terms of really loving music again, is Frank Ocean. He’s really focused on just writing great songs and melody as opposed to just writing for the sake of chart positions. I think Frank Ocean is really dope.

So let’s end by talking about the end of the world. Between your song “2012 (It Ain’t The End)” and Britney Spears’ “Till The World Ends”, the apocalypse seems like it’ll be one big party. What do you think we’re in store for next year? Obviously, you’re album comes out then.
JS: I don’t actually believe in the 2012 Mayan theory at all, but I thought it would be a really dope thing to write about. Songwriters, we’re always looking for new concepts, fresh concepts, and there are only so many ways you can talk about partying, really. Let’s be honest, you turn on the radio right now, and everyone’s talking about popping bottles and living like there’s no tomorrow. It seems to be like that’s the theme at the moment. Everyone just wants to have a good time. There are unfortunately a lot of bad things happening — the economy, natural disasters and all this rubbish. But I think the world just wants to relax and enjoy themselves and forget about their worries. That’s probably the reason there are so many uplifting house records and dance records out.

JoJo is now winding down her tour with Joe Jonas and Jay Sean. Last week we had the opportunity to hop on her tour bus after one of her gigs for a chat. “People have grown up with me in a sense, but they haven’t gone on the journey, because I haven’t been in the spotlight,” she told us. “So they haven’t gotten to see me maturing. For some people it might seem a little sudden. But for me, I’m testing it out and seeing how it’s being received.”

Plenty of you tweeted at us with questions for JoJo. Head below to read what she had to say to us — and you.

IDOLATOR: What has doing this tour with Joe Jonas and Jay Sean meant for you?
JOJO: It’s meant that I get to test things out. This has kind of been a safe place. Of course, there’s great importance in everything — every moment that you share with people, every time you perform: I got to see what works and what doesn’t work; what’s too much and what’s not enough; how the new material is received, and how this young adult JoJo is received. People haven’t necessarily gotten to see me.  The response has been really great. This tour has given me the opportunity to be comfortable with myself.

How was the experience of releasing the Can’t Take That Away From Me mixtape last year?
JOJO: That was scary. But the reason why we did it was because the people that support me had been waiting for so long, been so patient. And I just felt like, how could I keep asking them to wait? It wasn’t even my intention to have that big of a gap. But [my fans] deserved something, so I released music on my own terms, through Rap-Up, who I have a great relationship with. And I was able to take some chances and showcase my songwriting.

Here’s a fan question: @IceBlue_Eyed wants to know when the video for “Disaster” premieres. Also, what will the concept be?
[Note: Upon asking this question, JoJo's manager jumps in and tells me the video will arrive by the end of October.]
JOJO: Benny Boom directed it. The concept is, I wanted to show young, crazy love and how passionate it can be — how you get wrapped up in it, and it’s awesome and it’s fun and sexy. I also wanted to have a dangerous element, so my boyfriend [in the video] is a motorcyclist. This video is a little rock and roll. It’s colorful.

@GeMini_TeamJo asks if you plan on promoting “Disaster” and the rest of your new material outside of the US?
JOJO: Absolutely. We have plans to go overseas, hopefully after we’re done with this tour. We’re just scoping that all out because international presence is really important to me. And I really want to travel abroad more than I ever have before, because I was a minor [when the last album was out]. There were restrictions on how much I could work.

You recorded about a hundred songs while working on Jumping Trains over the years. @BrendanJAce asks what will happen to the songs that don’t end up on the LP? He says he can’t imagine them going to waste.
JOJO: It’s not necessarily that they’ll go to waste. I would love to maybe shop them to other artists or to perhaps put them on a mixtape or something like that. I don’t look at it as waste, because it’s like if you do a painting, just because it doesn’t sell, it doesn’t mean that it’s not art. For me, music is therapeutic. A lot of the stuff I was writing was autobiographical. It was just something that was flowing from me.

The one and only @DrewSeeley tweeted and asked if you’d be down to record a song with him.
JOJO: Sure!

@atlantictiger wants to know how your songwriting has changed throughout your career.
JOJO: I’ve become less afraid. I trust myself. I found myself, with this album, putting myself in situations or keeping myself in them just to see how many songs I could milk out of it. It might not be the healthiest thing. But my songwriting has changed just in the fact that I’m not afraid what people are going to think about me, or my truth. No one is perfect. Everybody does things that they’re not proud of, or that they’re embarrassed about. But I’m not afraid of talking about it. So I just think I’ve become bolder.

@DanComeau92 points out that you’ve said before “Elsewhere” is your favorite song on Jumping Trains. Why?
JOJO: That song is on my heart. And I had written down this word because I’d said it to somebody. He said, “Where are you going?” And I said, “Elsewhere.” To me, it was such a loaded statement. I’m not going to be with you! I’m taking all of me and going elsewhere, dawg. It doesn’t matter where. Not towards you. I was just so vulnerable at that moment. I worked with some of my favorite producers, Da Internz, who have a few records on my album. There’s so much passion on this song. It’s one of my faves.

One of the tracks on the album that stands out to me is “Lie To Me,” which is somewhat in the dubstep vein. What can you tell us about about the vibe of the song?
JOJO: There’s a song that Danja did that set the tone for other up-tempos on my record, because I didn’t want the up-tempos to sound like I was chasing a trend. I wanted something that was a little different. I didn’t want it to be a four-on-the-floor dancey type thing, but I wanted people to be able to dance to it. So, “Lie To Me” came from that. I heard the track — it was Da Internz — and I felt like there was tension to it. I felt like it was sexy and it was twisted. Of course, I can’t write about something unless it’s on my heart or I’m going through it, so I was like, okay, let me pull from where I’m at. If I’m in love with someone, do I really want to know if they’re doing other things? I don’t know if I do. As strong as I am and as much as I don’t take BS from people, sometimes you’re in a position where you just want to live in this blissful ignorance with somebody, because the truth is too much to handle. And I’m so crazy that, the truth just might not be what I need to hear! [Laughs]

You make lyrical reference to Michael Jackson in another song on Jumping Trains, “Sexy To Me.” Was he someone you grew up idolizing?
JOJO: Absolutely. Oh my gosh, yes. I had posters of him in my room. He’s incredible. I used to watch his tour DVDs. I think Dangerous was my favorite album of his at the time, and I loved his HiStory double-CD. I was fascinated by him. I mean, for an artist to say that they weren’t inspired by Michael Jackson — what’s wrong with you? He set the precedent.

@TheReignOfRyan tweeted and said that you love jazz. He wants to know if you’ve ever thought of recording a few jazz songs?
JOJO: Oh my god, I would faint at the thought of it — but faint from excitement! [Gasps] I love jazz! Yes, I would love to do that. I listen to jazz all the time. Jill Scott is one of my favorite artists. Not that she’s a jazz singer, but there’s a lot of jazz influence. She recorded this cover of “Good Morning Heartache,” which, there’s a small saxophone solo at the beginning, and I listen to that every day. Jazz makes me feel so many different ways.

Maybe you’ll end up on Tony Bennett’s next Duets album.
JOJO: You don’t understand! That’s like — [screams] — orgasmic.

Have you listened to his new album?
JOJO: I haven’t heard it yet. But trust me, it’s on my list of things to get.

We’ll end on this last fan question: @Sildeneb asks what the biggest personal change you’ve made in recent years is. Also, what is one thing you would like to change?
JOJO: It’s such a heavy question. If I could change one thing, I would just kind of go with the flow more. I wouldn’t be so anxious or aggressive. I’m just kind of on edge sometimes because I want things to be so right. So I would trust in the plan that is beyond even my seeing. As far as the biggest personal change, I believe in my place more. I’m a lot more comfortable on stage. I live more in the moment. I understand that that’s kind of going against what I just said, but when I’m on stage, I’m more able to enjoy myself. I’m not so afraid. I’ve come into myself a little bit more, but that comes with the territory of growing up.

“Disaster” is available now on iTunes and Amazon’s MP3 store. Jumping Trains will be out in early 2012. Above JoJo photos by Gino DePinto / AOL Music.

While recording Cole World: The Sideline Story, did you look to other classic albums as inspiration? If so, which ones?
JC: Yeah all the time: so OutKast, Aquemini; Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation [Of Lauryn Hill]; a lot of Tupac albums; Illmatic [by Nas]; Reasonable Doubt [Jay-Z]. I had certain periods of soaking in different albums, which of course I love, but I listen to differently now. College Dropout [Kanye West], Blueprint 3 [Jay-Z]. A lot of different things for different reasons.

What do you personally think makes an album a classic?
JC: The test of time. So like, the first listen you can get, you be like, “This album is a classic.” But you won’t know until three-to-six months later. If you still playin’ it, it’s a classic. A year later and you still playin’ it, it’s a classic. Five years later? Hands down, classic. So, really, little things, like if you’re taking a 10-hour road trip — if I’m gonna drive 10 hours from Fayetteville to New York, I’ve got about six albums I know I’m gonna play. Those are the classics. Hopefully mine is one of those that you gotta pop in on your road trips.

When we highlighted Cole World in our Fall Music Preview, you mentioned that the songs are sequenced perfectly. So you’re basically saying fans won’t get the same effect if they pick and choose certain tracks instead of listening to the record as a whole?
JC: Yeah, exactly. I understand that we’re in a day and age where people get their album and they pick their favorites and they just add them to their playlists, and they might never come back to that album again. But this album ain’t like that. I had the option of maybe putting 16 songs on the album, which I was going to do at the listening session. I’ve skimmed it down a little and dropped like two or three songs and turned them into bonus songs, which makes the flow so much better. You can really listen to it front to back without skipping.

Let’s get down to brass tacks: how many Krispy Kreme donuts did you consume during the recording sessions for the album?
JC: [Laughs] Not as many as you would think. I really don’t know the answer to that. I can tell you that yesterday before we had the first show in Vancouver, when I was coming to soundcheck, these fans were outside with a dozen glazed donuts while I was doing my rehearsal. I hadn’t eaten any food and ended up eating seven of them. I felt disgusting, and thought like, “Yo man, how did I just do that?” I actually got a little lightheaded. [Laughs]

Speaking of your tour, you’re going all over the world. How does it feel to watch people in other countries spitting your rhymes back at you from the audience?
JC: Yeah it’s weird. It’s definitely fuckin’ weird. Incredible. It’s just wild man. I don’t have an album out and it just shows me the power of the Internet. The Internet can break down borders, especially when it comes to music. It’s definitely a mixture of, I feel weird about it and confused, but also proud, like “Shit, I made it over here.”

Last question: Eminem was crowned the King Of Hip Hop by Rolling Stone over the summer. As a fellow rapper in the game, what are your thoughts on that? Much deserved? Or maybe not?
JC: I can’t say anything bad about crowning Eminem the King Of Hip Hop. I can’t say anything bad about them crowning Eminem the king of anything. It’s hard to argue that. It’s not like it’s not deserved. The man’s incredible and has been for years, so congrats to him.

Thanks for your time, and good luck with the album and tour. And stay away from the donuts!
JC: Alright, well I appreciate you.

Another one of her idols: Blake Shelton’s fellow coach on The Voice, Christina Aguilera. “I remember standing on top of my dresser that had a mirror on it and performing Christina Aguilera songs,” Cady said. Now, all these years later, both Cady and Christina share the same label (RCA).

Here’s our interview with rising star Cady Groves, on the set of her “This Little Girl” video:

Are you excited for the premiere of Cady’s first music video tomorrow?

You may best remember Hanson as the band that brought the world the non-word “MMMBop”, but the boys who hail from Oklahoma have been going long and hard at music for nearly two decades. (Pretty impressive for a band with two members under the age of thirty.) In 2009, brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac released their eighth studio album Shout It Out, and will soon embark on a Fall tour, with each night’s set list chosen by the fans.

Twenty-eight-year-old frontman Taylor Hanson took a break from working on new material in Nashville to speak with us about the band’s side projects, their longtime friendship with Weird Al, and their new one with Katy Perry. Plus, as a former teen heartthrob, Taylor had a few excellent bits of advice for today’s It Boy of pop, Justin Bieber. Check out our exclusive chat with the middle Hanson bro below.

IDOLATOR: You and your brothers recently made a cameo in Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” video. How did that come together? Is she a huge Hanson fan?
TAYLOR HANSON: She said she was a fan, and wanted to have us in the video. And we figured, that’s a compliment! It’s kind of a nice thing to be thought of. They were looking for a band that was known where you’d see them in a clip and go, “Is that… Yeah, it was!” And also somebody that worked for the attitude of the video.

What was it like on set?
Hung out with Kenny G, he was a gentleman, talked about music. He had his son with him. What a cool thing to have Kenny G be your saxophone player! Just hung out on the lawn a lot. All the extras were pretty tired at the end of the day, and at that point of shooting we started jamming and became the on-set house band. In between takes we were cracking jokes with the extras. We had a good time.

You and your brothers seem pretty tight with Weird Al – he even appeared in your “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’” video. When did this unlikely friendship form? Was it when you first appeared on The Weird Al Show back in the day?
We met several times early on… he had that show which lasted a couple seasons, and we all hit it off. We’re all fans of his, I feel like so many people have so much respect for him. He’s a genius. We became friends after he started a family. His daughter is my oldest son’s almost exact age. We’ve just been friends for the last ten years or so. Periodically he’ll come to our shows – he sat in for us the last time we were in LA. We had Robert Schwartzman, and Butch Walker and Al Yankovic, playing tambourine with us.

When we were doing that music video, the slightly longer version is that he asked me to play on his record, and I guested on his latest record on a tune. I played keyboard on a song called “If That Isn’t Love”. And he was like, Hey, if there’s anything you need me more, give me a call. And as we started doing the video, we thought of him to play this character, the tambourine player. But we thought, well, that’s too small of a role, and if we’re to have Al do something, it should be something super, focused on him, and let him go over the top. As the video was coming together, we just knew having him would put it over the edge.

You’re currently in the studio writing and recording. Who are you writing with?
A lot of guys who are friends who have written songs for people like Carrie Underwood and Bowling For Soup. One of the guys from Bowling For Soup, Jaret Reddick, we’ve written stuff with him, and we’ve known the guys in Jars Of Clay for a while, so we’ve been working on some stuff. A bunch of different people.

Is any of this for a new Hanson album?
It’s actually for other people’s projects. Playing the outside role. The idea of writing and working that isn’t ultimately the thing that you’re going to walk out on stage to do, it’s such different head space. But it’s great to do that. It’s something we want to do more of to get the creative juices flowing.

Can we expect another Tinted Windows album?
The first project was in and of itself kind of an epic one, it was just pieces of things that were done over the course of three years. And finally it was a “done” album. There probably will be another Tinted Windows album. But it’s a side project, so it has to stay fun. We don’t want to have to look at the clock and say, “Well, it’s been a year, time for a new album”… there hopefully will be something else.

You began your career when you were about 11-years old. How has writing and performing changed over the years for you?
When you’re starting anything you might have that feeling in your gut that you can do this, but you don’t have the experience to know what you can bring to the table as a writer, or a player, and as a singer. One of the ways writing changes is, at least for me, you begin to approach some things a little bit more like [you're] on a mission, especially when you’re writing on specific projects, when you know ‘I can do this style versus this style.’ You can see where the lines are drawn. The biggest change is that sense of reaching further in confidence and that you really do have those tools and experiences to pull from. For me, it’s only exciting if you’re pushing yourself to grow.

How does the music-writing process work between you and your brothers? Does one of you handle the lyrics, someone else the music?
We’re pretty unique in that we all write music and lyrics. People have their styles: I’m the most pop as a writer, I just lean that way… and I mean pop structure-wise than slickness. Isaac tends to tell more of an honest story in a song, and Zac like to layer things. Those tendencies take over depending what the song is. It’s not uncommon for somebody to say, “Hey, this is the song idea and a core piece.” Then everyone starts fiddling around. It’s honestly very collaborative.

You and your brothers were major teen heartthrobs in the 90s, and today we’ve got a new batch of teenage dreams, like Justin Bieber and Greyson Chance. What advice would you give to them during this stage in their career?
For one, you don’t make yourself a heartthrob or a hunk, that just happens or it doesn’t. Don’t cling to that. That is what it is, and just like people having an impression about an actor or a painter or anybody who does anything, you put it out there and people’s response comes back. The thing that you CAN hold onto is the actual music that you are making, or whatever it is you do. The main advice that we’ve stuck to is keep to the thing that got you into it and make sure that’ what you’re focused on. For Justin, he’s talented, he can sing and perform, so make that the thing you focus on.

All of you have children of your own. Have you been encouraging them to be musicians and teaching them how to play instruments?
My oldest is 8 and he has obvious musical tendencies, all of [my children] do. But we haven’t really sat them down and went, okay, here’s the plot – world domination. Making music is one of those things, it takes over – you either have to do it, or you can do it on the side. And if you can do it on the side, you probably shouldn’t. It requires that conviction.

It’s a little scary when you see your kids and realize they have something in the gene pool. My thought is to just give them the tools if they ask for them, and see if there’s that fire to then do what my parents did, which is be supportive, but not the crazy stage parents. You want to be there with the band ready to buy their first drum kit or take them to piano lessons, if that’s what they have passion for. But it has to be led by them, because it’s a hard business.

“MMMBop” is your first hit, and is arguably still your biggest. Are you sick of playing it yet?
[Laughs.] If we literally played only the song every night, yes. Short answer is no, we’re not sick of playing it. Obviously that song will always be one of the first things people think of, and it’s a song we wrote, a song we played in our garage, a song we kicked off traveling the world doing. And to be honest, it’s taken on a different feeling when we play it live… it’s sort of a sentimental thing. It has a certain quality that it survived a certain amount of time. We’re proud of it. Thankfully, it’s one of 70 songs.

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Check out Hanson’s tour dates at their official website, and follow them on Twitter!

After skyrocketing onto the scene by contributing the hook to Far East Movement’s “Like A G6″, Dev is ready to take the dance world on her own — well, with a bit of help by her producing team The Cataracs. The bass-loving electro-pop singer was in New York promoting her debut album The Night The Sun Came Up when we got on the phone to discuss her recent tour with Usher, recording her album in paradise, and those comparisons to other singular-named rap-singing dancefloor maven Ke$ha. Bounce your booty below for our exclusive interview with the 22-year old artist who’s about to pop.

IDOLATOR: You recently toured around with Usher and Akon on the OMG tour. What was that like?
DEV: It was absolutely amazing. Probably everything anyone could imagine. Usher was a sweetheart. He pulled The Cataracs and I aside and talked to us in his green room about his support for us and his tips and pointers, and it was great. Akon was just as nice. They showed a lot of support and love which was amazing, because we all grew up listening to them on the radio.

Are Usher and Akon big party guys on the road?
Actually, they’re so mature and they’ve been musicians for so long, that the tour wasn’t too hectic. Anything that anybody did that was scandalous was done on their own time. [The tour] didn’t provide tons of alcohol, it was kind of chill. You went there, you did the job, we worked out asses off, then we went to sleep and drove to the next city. It was actually kind of refreshing. I actually got to sleep!

Your “In The Dark” video has got this creepy/sexy feel. What was the concept behind the video?
The idea behind “In The Dark” the song was for me to make a sexy song. I’m a grown woman now. I’ve been working the with The Cataracs for the past three years and I met them when I was kind of young and from a small town. I was like, dammit, I’m gonna make a sexy song! So that’s what I did. And I wanted the video to be sexy as well. I wanted it to reflect all the dark aspects of the song, and initially we went in thinking that we’d have an Alice in Wonderland/Tim Burton type of feel.

Was it fun or kind of disturbing having all those disembodied hands around you?
While some of the hands are green screened in, the majority of them that are all around my body are real. The extras were amazing, they let me paint their hands and bodies, and they stacked on top of each other and did that for hours. For takes and takes and takes.

How did you hook up with Flo Rida for the “In The Dark” remix?
Remixes are always fun, they’re great for radio, they keep the songs refreshing. I wanted a remix with a rapper on it, because I thought it would suit it well. I know if I heard “In The Dark” on the radio with a rapper on it, I would probably enjoy it more. We went in thinking about who would be cool on the radio and who would fit the fact that it’s kind of a flavorful song and not really a hood rap song. Flo Rida fit, and he completely killed it.

You get compared to Ke$ha a lot due to you both being young females who rap-sing. Was that always your style when writing music?
When I first started, that’s what I did on my Macbook. I sang some pretty little stuff, but I also rapped. My guy friends always rapped, and I hung out with them, so that’s always what we did. Ke$ha came out and while I don’t like being compared to anybody — and that’s nothing to do with Ke$ha, I think she’s an amazing artist and she’s completely successful. But if anything, it pushed me to want to take my music to the next level and sing. And that’s why it was very important for me to sing on the majority of the album.

Did you ever have ambitions of becoming a straight-up rapper?
No. I love hip hop music and I went to a couple years of my life where I related to that more than anything, but I’m in a different place now and I think where I’m at, the album I just created, fits me perfectly. And I’d love for the next one to be more mature.

You’re featured on Timbaland’s upcoming album. What was it like working with him?
I worked with him for about three or four days in Miami in January. He’s a brilliant artist. He just goes into the booth and just freestyles, beatboxes, and makes his songs around that. And it was refreshing, because I’m a beginner. I have to be so literal about stuff and write everything down, think everything out, and I learned a lot just watching him vibe out. We ended up making some really great music.

Was Missy Elliott around? I feel like wherever you see Timbaland, Missy Elliott isn’t far behind.
[Laughs.] No, I didn’t get to see her, which would have been really fucking cool!

What makes The Cataracs the perfect producers for you?
I was always a fan of theirs. I love that they made really fun songs for kids on the radio and at the same time they were normal boys, eating burritos, chilling in Berkeley. That’s how I grew up – really sort of simple and kick-it. I appreciated that from them. And really, at the end of the day, all they want to do is make music, and that’s what I want to do. All the extra stuff is just extra stuff.

Your song “Booty Bounce” is sampled on the hook of Far East Movement’s “Like A G6”, which is also produced by The Cataracs. What was your reaction to that song’s success?
I remember when the Cataracs just made the beat and I would listen to the beat in the car, I just loved it so much. The next step was to make the hook, and the Cataracs and I just loved the bridge that we had just laid down for “Booty Bounce” so much, they were like, “We should put this over [Far East Movement's track].” And I was like, “If you guys wanna do it, I’m down.” It ended up being a massive song and gave me so much experience and opportunity and it was absolutely beautiful. Thank god I agreed to that!

What was it like recording your album in Costa Rica?
Beautiful. We stayed in this nice big house on the beach, it was like movie. I’m from a small town, and I couldn’t believe that I’m here and this is for me. We spent a lot of time in the studio, we made the whole skeleton of the album — we recorded 13-14 songs. But at the same time, we took breaks and went right in the ocean. It was completely rad and gave the album the most amazing vibe.

We hear you used to be a pretty great swimmer. Did you get to swim down in Costa Rica?
Yes, we had a pool. I swam a lot in the pool and in the water. I had to, it had been too long. I was on a city team from when I was 4 years old til about 11 that I did every summer and winter. So as a kid, I never had a summer off where you get bored – I had practice two times a day. And then once I was 11 til 18, I was on the US register team where we would travel for competitions, and you’d have to be a registered athlete for the state. And you compete against other cities and states. It’s funny now, I look back, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world. It was my favorite thing, I’m absolutely in love with it, and a lot of my friends have stayed with it.

You should swim in one of your music videos. Show off that skill!
You’re right, I might have to show that off!

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The Night The Sun Came Up drops September 20. Til then, follow Dev on Twitter, and hit up her official site. She’ll also be performing an acoustic set on Vevo in the next few weeks, so look out for that!

“There were some really talented people on that show. Fergie, of course, Mario Lopez, Shanice, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Rahsaan Patterson. Everyone was cool. They try to do these reunions occasionally but… we’ve all kind of moved along,” Martika, 42, reminisces. “The nice thing about being in the industry and is that even if you don’t see them it’s really easy to just turn the TV on or get online and see what people are doing.”

The above photo was taken at Martika’s house during a party to celebrate her 1989 single “Toy Soldiers” (which Fergie sang backing vocals on) reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song held Madonna’s “Express Yourself” from reaching the top spot, and Martika’s debut album spawned two other Top 30 singles. (”Toy Soldiers” was later sampled by Eminem for his 2004 hit “Like Toy Soldiers.”)

This pic was snapped in 1991, at the release party for Martika’s sophomore album Martika’s Kitchen:

After her string of hits, while other ’80s pop stars continued plugging away with diminishing returns, Martika turned her back on the pop world.

“[I] just pulled away from the spotlight, the jet-set pace at the time, and really needed to have a bit more of a personal life,” she tells us. “And that held me from the public eye.” The songbird went as far as changing her name to Vida Edit.  She admits, “I never performed another Martika set after I finished promoting Martika’s Kitchen.”

Happily for her fans, the girl born Marta Marrero has been working on a new album. Martika also recently joined Twitter. “I’m going for dance-pop, back to my roots,” she reveals. “We’re gonna be dancin’ a lot on this album!”

Perhaps the Dutchess can make a cameo on Martika’s comeback album?

[Reporting by Mike Wass]

“US fans are slightly more energetic,” Ellie said at Lollapalooza. “But generally, my audiences are really sweet and really lovely.” Funny, we could say the same thing about her! Watch our one-on-one with Ellie Goulding below.

Ellie is no stranger to people having a strong reaction to her music. In addition to winning the BBC Sound Of 2010 poll two years ago, the singer from Herefordshire, England, clinched the Critics’ Choice Award at the BRITs in 2010, and saw her debut LP Lights shoot up the US iTunes chart following a stunning performance on Saturday Night Live this past spring.

Shortly after, she performed for royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton at their wedding reception in late April.

“When people say that I’ve inspired them to become a musician or that I’ve gotten them through a really tough time at home — or with a partner or whatever — that’s really sweet, and I get that quite a lot,” Goulding told us.

Check out our interview with Ellie, where she also talked about the essential items she likes to have on hand while on tour, and Imogen Heap, Wild Beasts and the other artists who inspire her.

Did Ellie make you to want to hit the studio and record your own sure-to-be smash debut album? You’re going to need some instruments, so click here to enter to win a guitar signed by tons of Lollapalooaza artists!