Rihanna says recording album was a cathartic experience
NEW YORK -- Rihanna says recording songs on her new album was such an emotional experience that she sometimes had to leave the studio to prevent herself from breaking down.
"I walked out the studio a few times just trying not to be in tears," she said Monday about recording her fourth studio album, "Rated R," to be released Nov. 23.
"It was about me, and so much so that songs got really personal to the point where it took three months for me to start recording it because it was too deep for me to even listen to," she said.
The CD comes nine months after the 21-year-old singer was attacked by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown. Rihanna said recording helped ease the pain -- giving her an outlet to express how she truly felt.
"I got to vent because I didn't really talk a lot. I didn't talk to a lot of people about anything I was feeling. I just did it on the record," she said.
Brown was arrested Feb. 8. He was accused of beating Rihanna after they attended a pre-Grammy party. Brown later pleaded guilty to felony assault and was sentenced to five years' probation, six months of community labor and a year of domestic violence counseling.
Rihanna says the new album's sound is "darker" than her previous ones because it reflects her turbulent year.
Restraining order issued for Lopez
LOS ANGELES -- A California judge has granted a temporary restraining order barring Jennifer Lopez's first husband from distributing 11 hours of home video footage from their marriage that the singer-actress claims includes sexual situations.
Ojani Noa and his manager Ed Meyer had planned to distribute the footage and proposed making a film, "The J.Lo and Ojani Noa Story." The Tuesday order also applies to Meyer.
Lopez wed Noa in 1997, but their marriage lasted just 11 months. In 2007, Lopez won $545,000 in damages and attorney fees in another lawsuit that blocked Noa from publishing a ghostwritten tell-all book.
Aerosmith looking for a new singer
NEW YORK -- Aerosmith's lead guitarist Joe Perry says the legendary rock band isn't breaking up -- although they may be in need of a new singer.
Perry said on the micro-blogging site Twitter late Monday that Aerosmith is "not splitting up" but "looking for a new singer to work with" amid growing speculation about the future of the band and the role of front man Steven Tyler.
Tyler has been quoted as saying he is considering a solo career.
Perry said Monday on WKXL, a radio station in Concord, N.H., that Tyler hasn't communicated his intentions with anyone in the band and that he found out about Tyler's solo wishes after going online.
The 61-year-old Tyler was injured when he fell off a stage during an Aug. 5 performance in South Dakota, and the band canceled the remainder of its summer tour.
"After the tour got canceled, he just kept drifting off and doing other things. We would hear things from different people. He wasn't talking directly to anybody in the band," Perry told WKXL, referring to Tyler. "So basically, he just made the announcement that he was taking some time off."
