• So the Christina Aguilera songs you wrote—for the record, how many will there be?
  There are four of them. I think they’re called “I Am”—I called it “Lullaby” but she’s given it another name. But I think it’s called, um—[she starts singing]—oh, “All I Need”! And it’s “All I Need,” “You Lost Me,” “I Am” and something like “Stronger.” But I don’t think she called it “Stronger” in the end. That’s just what we called it. We just call it something while it’s in the working process and then she gives it it’s name. There are some where it totally lends itself to its name and there are others where it’s just like, “No, we had a song called ‘Fighter’ so we don’t want a song called ‘Stronger.’” But they’re all on there. She’s pretty awesome. It was pretty crazy when she sang at me for the first time.

• Were there any songs you two recorded that didn’t make it on the album?
  No, just those four songs. Then we did another one for her movie with Cher. So it’s been a really good collaboration, actually. We really got along great. We didn’t bin anything, which was good.

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• (x009) Candids in 2010: In Los Angeles – March 8

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• (x006) Candids in 2010: In Beverly Hills – March 8 [HQ]

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• (x001) Photoshoots in 2010: Billboard

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• (x002) Scans in 2010: Billboard

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• (x001) Burlesque: Posters

• You’ve also got Christina Aguilera’s new album Bionic coming up – how did you get involved with that, and what are you doing on it?
  The greatest thing about that is that we share one of the greatest engineers in the US, probably in the world, his name is Oscar Ramirez – I believe in him that much. He’s been a cohort in my career for years, and he’s been her vocal engineer and mixing engineer for years. And it just so happens he was like, “She’s doing an album and I’ll get you a connection.“ So I did it, she took some tracks and it was amazing. We did a song and an interlude together – it’s called ‘Sex for Breakfast’.

• So how do you work with her – does she provide a brief and you give her some examples?
  Well, the track was already done, so my job was pretty much done. But she was also working on the track with a writer by the name of Detail, who is a new writer, a crazy writer.

  Christina is a genius – she really is one of the greatest artists on the pop side ‘cos she knows exactly what she is looking for and is not afraid to tell you. She’s not afraid to show you some examples.

  It was the first project I’ve ever worked on where someone sent me examples and showed me the exact parts in the song they were looking for. She’s very particular and a perfectionist and I love it, and it’s awesome watching her work. But as far as the vocals are concerned I try to keep my input to a minimum because she knows what she is doing – I’m just there if she needs anything.

• And she’s got some UK electro acts like Ladytron and Goldfrapp producing stuff for the record. Do you think she could be starting off a new trend for US R&B-based pop acts?

  I believe that because her fanbase is so loyal anything Christina does is the start of a new trend. But no one’s going to do it like she does.

  I believe a lot of that stuff started coming in when people started going overseas, sampling it and bringing it over here. Like with Will.I.Am totally changing the sound of Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West changing his sound completely to what he is now. Now we’re sampling that, and they’re out there making new music.

So, I attended the Burlesque wrap party last night. Christina was there, and gave a little speech thanking the crew; she disappeared to the VIP area shortly thereafter (I think she must have heard of my plan to have a dance-off with her). Cher was a no-show, as was Kristen Bell. Alan Cumming arrived very late but hung out with people in the main area. Worst bar service in history, but the sushi was good. The best bit was at the end of the night when all of the dancers that were in the movie strutted their stuff on the dance floor (the DJ wasn’t the best, unfortunately). The biggest shock was that they played about 4 or 5 different musical numbers all night long on screens throughout the club...I was very surprised, as usually movies aren’t that far along into the editing process by the time of the wrap party, but I guess the shoot dragged on for so long they had time to get some of them put together. They played one of Cher’s numbers (I assume it was called “Welcome to Burlesque”, and it sounded like it could fit in on the first PCD album), one of Kristen Bell’s (she looked AMAZING in all the clips), one with Kristen/Christina/Julianne Hough, and I think three featuring Christina (one called “Express” that sounds AMAZING). As expected, Christina sounds amazing; unexpectedly, she actually looks quite lovely in it as well. Honestly, I was thrilled for this movie because of sheer camp value, but I was very surprised by how quality it appears from the clips. All the sets are gorgeous, the lighting/cinematography is really beautiful, the costumes are fantastic (K Bell’s is CRAZY sexy, and there’s one that Christina should wear on tour!),and the songs are much, much better than I expected. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bionic is being held until AFTER the Burlesque soundtrack is out, because there could honestly be 3 or 4 singles off of it.

Burlesque sounds a lot line Nine!

More like Showgirls meets Moulin Rouge. Clearly leaning more towards the Moulin Rouge side of the spectrum, thankfully!

Polow just played us a crazy new Christina Aguilera song written by Ester Dean, look out for that [Via Twitter]

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• (x004) Events in 2010: Burlesque Wrap Up Party – March 4