PENYANYI Avril Lavigne menelurkan single baru. Wish You Were Here, judulnya. Tidak seperti lagu-lagu terdahulu, Wish You Were Here lebih banyak bertutur tentang kepedihan, tapi agresif. Tembang itu, menurut Avril, ditulis berdasarkan beberapa momen sedih dalam kehidupannya. "Aku suka lagu ini. Aku menyukainya karena aku menulis tentang kehilangan seseorang dan sesuatu yang harus kita lalui dalam hidup," kata penyanyi 27 tahun ini. Dia menambahkan, "Aku melihat ke belakang dan mengingat saat kita harus berpisah dengan seseorang. Tapi, itulah hidup. Kita semua pernah mengalaminya, tapi ini pasti memiliki pesan positif." "Ini lebih pedih dan emosional, dan aku tidak menahannya." Tapi Avril gembira. Apalagi lagu ini dijadikan single berikutnya dari album Goodbye Lullaby. Dibandingkan What the Hell yang jadi single sebelumnya, dia mengklaim Wish You Were Here lebih mencerminkan album terbarunya.(contact/*****)

SHINee to release first album in Japan

MANILA, Philippines - Korean boy band SHINee will soon release their first full-length album in Japan titled “The First.” The Japanese album, which will be released on Dec. 7, will contain 13 songs: “Lucifer,” “Amigo,” “Always Love,” “Juliette,” “Better,” “To Your Heart,” “Replay,” “Start,” “Love Like Oxygen,” “The SHINee World,” “Hello,” “Seesaw,” and the bonus track “Stranger.” Depending on the album version, fans can also get a photo book, a calendar or a DVD. SHINee debuted in Japan this year and has released three singles. The boy band released their debut Japanese single “Replay” in June, which sold more than 100,000 copies and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). The five-member group also released “Juliette” and “Lucifer” in Japan. Last Nov. 3, SHINee performed in London at the opening of the 6th London Korean Film Festival. “The ticket reservation for SHINee’s opening gala concert went faster than the first day of reservation for the ‘Harry Potter’ and it was the first time the ticket reservation system went down,” SM Entertainment quoted concert venue Odeon Theater as saying. SM Entertainment added, “Britain’s largest theater chain’s reservation system went down just one minute after the ticket sales for this SHINee’s concert began and the whole reservation system was unavailable for five hours afterwards.” This was SHINee’s second time to perform in London. Last June, the group held a performance at the famous Abbey Road Studio, becoming the first Asian artist to perform at the venue, according to SM Entertainment. During the SM Town Live concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the New York Times newspaper praised SHINee for having good voices. “Of these groups, the relative newcomer SHINee was the most ambitious. From the looks of it, the group’s men are powered by brightly colored leather, Dr. Martens boots and hair mousse. Their music, especially ‘Replay,’ ‘Ring Ding Dong’ and ‘Juliette,’ felt the riskiest, even if it only slightly tweaked that polyglot K-pop formula; these vocalists were among the night’s strongest,” said the New York Times review written by Jon Caramanica. The prestigious newspaper likened SHINee to N’Sync and Backstreet Boys. “But SHINee came in a recognizable format, the same size as American groups like ’N Sync and the Backstreet Boys,” the review said.