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New Music Roundup: Britney Spears and Will.i.am, Nicki Minaj and Ciara, Bruno Mars

By | Published on November 23, 2012 | Updated on November 23, 2022 1:51 AM EST
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Thanksgiving didn’t slow down music this week, with several new releases dropping just in time for the holidays.

Britney Spears and Will.i.am released the week’s hottest new song, “Scream and Shout,” a club number featuring Will.i.am’s esoteric beats and confident vocals from Spears. In a fun twist, Spears dons a British accent and slips in a few iterations of “it’s Britney bitch,” the memorable refrain from her 2007 Blackout album.

The video will premiere next week on Fox’s The X Factor, where Spears currently serves as a judge.

http://youtu.be/d770w1mI6WE

Nicki Minaj and Ciara dropped another one of the week’s big collaborations, the feisty “I’m Legit.” The song appears on Minaj’s latest album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded the Re-Up, which was released earlier this week.

“I’m Legit,” which features a catchy hook from Ciara and sassy rhymes from Minaj, was a long time coming, according to Minaj.

“My fans had been asking me to work with [Ciara] for a long time so I thought it’d be kinda cute,” said Minaj in an interview with BoomBox. “She’s probably one of the best dancers that we’ve had in our generation, you know what I mean. So that alone just makes her very iconic,” the rapper continued.

This week also saw new music from Bruno Mars. “Moonshine” is the third single off his upcoming album, Unorthodox Jukebox, set to be released December 11. The soulful ballad features Mars’s signature emotive vocals, before building to a final chorus with disco and rock influences.

Chrisette Michele’s new song, “Fair Lady,” also features a rocker theme. “This is my show, so why are you the rock star?” she questions, accompanied by an electric guitar. The track features Guitar Slayer of Big Bang Band.

“Fair Lady” will be featured on her upcoming mixtape, Audrey Hepburn: An Audiovisual Experience, which drops December 8.

Rounding out the week’s new releases is “Fire We Make” from Alicia Keys and Maxwell, a slow jam that actually shows pleasant vocal restraint from both artists, who normally favor elaborate vocal gymnastics. Keys’s gritty tone blends well with Maxwell’s smooth stylings.

The track will appear on Keys’s 5th studio album, Girl on Fire, out November 27.

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