Black Eyed Peas Tap Into New 'Energy'

The Black Eyed Peas are planning more of a "music diary" than a conventional album when the group releases "The END" in March.

Group leader will.i.am tells Billboard.com that "The END" stands for "The Energy Never Dies," which describes his model for a project that will be living and frequently updated throughout its designated cycle.

"It's a diary ... of music that at any given time, depending on the inspiration, you can add to it," the artist/producer/songwriter explains. "When it comes out, there'll be 12 songs on it, but the next day there could be 100 songs, 50 sketches, 1,000 blogs all (online) around 'The End,' so the energy really, truly never dies...

"I'm trying to break away from the concept of an album. What is an album when you put 12 songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs? That's not an album. There is no album anymore."

will.i.am -- who's been busy promoting the "Madagascar 2" film soundtrack, which he co-scored with Hans Zimmer, and his "It's a New Day" Barack Obama victory song -- says he and the other Peas have been working on "The END" throughout the year and that the follow-up to 2005's "Monkey Business" is "almost" done.
He describes the music as "a lot of dance stuff, real melodic, electronic, soulful. We call it, like, electric static funk, something like that." There are currently no guest features planned for the album.

The Peas will hit the road in May or June, and will.i.am says singer Fergie has told him that "our show needs to be f*ckin' ridiculous this time. We need to. put together a monster show.' So I'm gonna hold her to that and we're gonna follow her lead and really knock 'em out."

Besides his Peas and solo work, will.i.am has also been busy as a producer and guest, with contributions to recent releases by Usher, Estelle and Flo Rida.

He's worked on material for expected upcoming releases by Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and the Pussycat Dolls' Nicole Scherzinger and was recently in London working with U2 ("I'm not supposed to talk about that," he says) and has a role in the X-Men prequel "X Men Origins: Wolverine," which is due out in 2009.

Source: Billboard