What to expect from music this year

By Kaitlin MacRae

Blink-182
Title: TBA
Date: Summer 2011
Label: Geffen
At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Blink-182 fans everywhere rejoiced when the band publicly announced its reunion after a four-year hiatus.
In the years since Blink-182 released its last album, the band’s members — Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker — have each endured personal triumphs and tragedies. Hoppus, Barker and Delonge each formed new bands, +44 and Angels & Airwaves, respectively. In 2008, Barker and close friend Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) were the only survivors in a plane crash that killed four other passengers.

There’s no doubt that the new material will capture the last six years of the members’ lives — six years that saw loss, musical and personal growth, and the reunion we’ve all been waiting for.

Britney Spears
Title: Femme Fatale
Date: March 29, 2011
Label: Jive
In recent years, Britney Spears has become more recognized for her very-public personal drama than her career. Despite the personal blunders she’s suffered, however, fans and the music industry alike have been rooting for her from the very beginning.

Spears’ seventh studio album Circus debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 list in 2008 and offered a rare glimpse at the old Britney Spears. When Femme Fatale drops next week, the world will once again be re-introduced to Spears, whose personal life and music have, it seems, taken a turn for the better. Although her vocals on the first two singles from Femme Fatale are auto-tuned, shredded and computerized, the album is on its way to becoming a club staple.

All Time Low
Title: Dirty Work
Date: TBA
Label: Interscope
All Time Low is known for crafting catchy hooks tighter than their skinny jeans, and Dirty Work is set to be another hit factory that cranks out a dozen solid pop-punk confections.

In February, the band leaked the song “Time Bomb” from the forthcoming release, a tune as lyrically sharp as it is addictive. On April 5, the album’s first single, “I Feel Like Dancin’” will hit iTunes.
All Time Low recently embarked on The Dirty Work Tour featuring Yellowcard, Hey Monday and The Summer Set. Following in the footsteps of idols Blink-182, the band’s sets are full of inappropriate on-stage shenanigans, though luckily its live performances are just as good as they are recorded.

Lady Gaga
Title: Born This Way
Date: May 23, 2011
Label: Interscope
If Lady Gaga’s critically acclaimed music, controversial videos and whimsical costumes aren’t enough of an indication of her staying power, then the fact that she arrived at the 2011 Grammy Awards in an egg to promote her new album Born This Way shows that, not only is she crazy, but that she wants to be remembered.

According to an interview with RWD Magazine, Lady Gaga promises the album is the “absolute greatest work” she’s ever done. Although the first single from the CD “Born This Way” has been panned by some critics as a blatant Madonna rip off, the single is currently number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 and number three on the pop charts.