May is usually a big month for Jordan Knight – he celebrates his birthday on the 17. But in addition to turning the big 4-1, the New Kids on the Block singer will also release two albums on consecutive weeks. The NKOTBSB collaboration with the Backstreet Boys hits shelves May 24. Knight revealed on “The Ralphie Radio Show” that his solo project, Unfinished, will be released the following Tuesday.

“I had to push the release date back to May 31,” said Knight, who called in from his Boston home. “It’s very typical in this business to kind of push the dates back, but it’s still in May.”

Yunno, Knight has done this once or twice before. The original date was May 3, and the extra couple of weeks afford the artist more time to organize what will be a hectic spring and summer. In addition to the two albums and 41-date arena tour with BSB, Knight will also be holding autograph signings and performing radio promo events in support of his new album.

“Like you were saying earlier, (saying that I’m) being busy is ‘a gross understatement,’” Knight noted, referencing my introduction to our chat on “The RRS.” “I’ll probably be doing an in-store (signing) or maybe a radio show here, and then have to rush back to the arena to do the actual 2 hour show that we’re doing with the Backstreet Boys.”

The first single from Unfinished is the up-tempo track, “Let’s Go Higher,” written by “What You Got” singer and the Lady GaGa “Just Dance”-featured Colby O’Donnis. The Grammy-nominated O’Donnis had “Let’s Go Higher” in the bank for a minute. He sent it to Knight despite the fact that Jordan was looking for ideas for a track already created for the album.

“That was about a year ago,” Knight said. He flew out to O’Donnis’ house to cut the vocals. “They have an intercom system in the house. His mom would call up – ‘Colby, dinner’s ready!’ and he’d be like, ‘Yo Jordan let’s take a break, dinner’s ready.”

The New Kid spent a couple days at O’Donnis’ crib and had nothing but great things to say about the experience, and the food. Knight felt like a kid again because when his band was first starting out – it was a similar situation. The guys would rehearse in Knight’s basement, break for food upstairs, and return for more recording.

Knight did not talk with the other fellas about promoting his solo project over the summer. He insists that it will not conflict with anything that New Kids or BSB are doing on tour – if anything, the complete opposite.

“With all the people that I’m working on with my solo project, I told them all, ‘(The album) cannot get in the way of the New Kids on the Block,’” said Knight. “I don’t want there to be any kinds of conflict. I only want each thing to enhance the other.”

The New England-native believes that the NKOTB comeback will help his album, but that wasn’t the primary motivating factor in the release of his fifth solo LP.

“The resurgence of the New Kids obviously gives it a lot more exposure,” Knight admitted. “I’m happy about that.”

Above all, it seems that Knight is just happy to be in the mix again – solo or with the guys.

“It’s going to be exciting,” he said of his upcoming summer. “We’re going back on tour and it’s a huge arena tour with another ‘boy band’ and the excitement, the music, the fans… it’s just all so much fun.”

If Yellowcard is taking another trip down Ocean Avenue with the release of When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes last month – the street has certainly changed a bit since 2003.

“I don’t even know that a record release is as relevant as it used to be,” admitted lead singer Ryan Key. The front man called in to “The Ralphie Radio Show” while on tour with All Time Low and Hey Monday in Tempe, AZ. “People are buying digital singles and things like that and the way you can talk to your fans online, through Facebook and Twitter… it’s so much more in your hands.”

Key was referring specifically to the delayed release of Lights and Sounds. The band hoped to release the record in ’05 – and had launched a tour to support the album based on that. However after Yellowcard hit the road, Capitol Records pushed back the date. Key cites this moment as one that not only soiled the band’s relationship with the label, but killed the momentum built from the previous album, which went platinum in the states.

Now in 2011, Yellowcard finds themselves back together, making music, performing live, and fulfilling radio commitments. Now the “elder statesman” on the road (at least on this tour: YC just announced a June co-headlining trek with Good Charlotte), its Key who is sharing his war stories with bands like All Time Low about the joys and pains of recording on a major label. Meanwhile Key’s band has found new life, not just with a new LP, but with a new audience.

“We don’t really get a chance to play for a lot of people who haven’t seen our band or heard our band before,” said Key. “This tour is a really great opportunity to do that because All Time Low and the other bands have younger fans. Yunno, their fans are the age that are fans were back in ’04, ’05 when our band was kind of taking off.”

But despite the age, err, generation gap – Key still finds a highlight every night on stage – performing “Ocean Avenue.”

“Especially on a tour like this, where that’s a really familiar song for a lot of people who never got to see a show or don’t have a record but they know that song,” Key explained. “That really brings the whole crowd together. It’s pretty amazing.”
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The next single from Yellowcard’s latest LP is “Hang You Up” and can be listened to above. It’s the only track on the album that Key wrote completely himself.

I love the 21st century way of announcing collaborations like this… both artists tweeting at each other over the weekend prior to Monday morning’s release of the track to radio. You don’t hear Britney Spears hopping on a lot of other people’s tracks – especially since the conservatorship. To me, I think this signified a bit more than two pop stars getting a little dirty on a song… perhaps this is Spears’ way of “passing the torch?”

Life changes when you go platinum. But you don’t have to tell Mike Posner that. The “Cooler Than Me” crooner recently noticed that his iPod was no longer working out of the right ear. Most of us would bring the device to the Apple store – maybe some would see if a friend could fix it. But when the iPod carries a ton of unreleased tracks belonging to both yourself and others, you don’t take any chances.

“I’d be the reason for this big music industry leakage,” feared Posner of if the broken iPod got in to the wrong hands. He sat down for an interview which aired Monday evening on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” “I had to destroy it.”

The verb “destroy” might be an understatement, as photos he later sent to Twitter followers showed the iPod classic completely dismantled. Posner described how he went about dismembering the music player.

“I was in a hotel room in Cleveland, and I took the couch that was in the hotel room, and I put the iPod under it and just smashed it.”

Something says he probably did not learn that technique while studying at Duke University. Posner revealed that the iPod contained collaborations with the likes of Bruno Mars and Wiz Khalifa. His sophomore album is already about six tracks deep – although the main collaboration that everyone is talking about these days is the “Bow Chicka Wow Wow” remix featuring Lil Wayne.

“When I was making the album, working with Wayne wasn’t a possibility, because he was incarcerated,” Posner noted. “So it was one of the first songs he did when he got out and man, I just feel super blessed and honored to have somebody as talented as Wayne jump on my tracks ’cause… he’s the mother-whomping man!”

The “whomp” reference was a nod to one of Posner’s favorite cartoons, “Recess.” The Duke-grad had a chance to kick it with Weezy while shooting the single’s music video – and came away with nothing but positive comments about the Young Money emcee.

Posner is in the midst of a spring college tour. 31 Minutes to Takeoff is in stores now, and the “Bow Chicka Wow Wow” remix featuring Lil Wayne can be purchased on iTunes… even if you’ve smashed your iPod.

I don’t like comparing new artists to already established musical acts but I think you could call Matches and Big Al the “LMFAO” of Houston. The duo is gaining buzz following the release of an EP, I Like 2 Party. The second single from the EP is an uplifting club jam called, “Alive.”

Matches and Big Al chatted about the track and the group’s Texan-roots on “The Ralphie Radio Show.”

Taylor said this is the last song she wrote for Speak Now. Allegedly it is about John Mayer – as it’s reported that both this and “Dear John” are about the same person. Swift says the inspiration came from seeing an ex-beau at an awards show and exchanging the silent treatment with him.

I’ve heard the story a many times… if you want David Guetta to work with you, then you work with him in return. He’s traded tracks with the best of them, from The Black Eyed Peas to Akon. When I heard he produced Flo Rida’s “Club Can’t Handle Me” – I had an idea of what went down…



Now, that track hits the net, Guetta featuring not just Flo Rida, but also Nicki Minaj. This has “Summer Anthem” written all over it.

While working with super-producer Danja Hands (who is tight with Polow da Don), he co-wrote Keri Hilson’s smash, “Knock You Down.” But like Keri and many others, Kevin Cossom now hopes to transition from songwriter to singer with his single, “Baby I Like It,” which features Fabolous and Diddy.


Cossom called in to “The Ralphie Radio Show” to chat about his single and why he believes songwriters are at an advantage to make the move from the pen to the microphone.

Morning show radio host, Las Vegas resident club DJ, network executive, TV personality, artist with a forthcoming album release… Nick Cannon is a man of many, many titles. But, things aren’t any less busy at home for the mogul, as he and wife Mariah Carey are expecting twins at any moment. Clearly time management is a priority for Cannon, but that isn’t the only trait that helps him get accomplish everything.

“Man, I just don’t sleep,” Cannon admitted in a phone interview which aired Thursday night on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” The conversation was taped Wednesday morning, as Cannon traveled presumably from his gig at New York’s 92.3 NOW-FM to TeenNick, where he serves as chairman of the channel. “Literally, this is my nap time right now, in the car going to my next job.”

But Cannon isn’t complaining about the long hours and copious amount of responsibility – if anything, it’s the exact opposite. The personality says he feels “blessed.”

“I’m too young to get burnt out,” Cannon believes. “I’m not out doing myself. I’m not tired or anything like that. I just love what I do. I always say, ‘My vocation is my vacation.’”

But the hours he puts in are far from vacation-like. Cannon revealed that his day usually begins well before the sun rises.

“On the average, I walk in to the house around 9 (p.m.),” said Cannon on the length of his usual work day. “From there it’s just quality time with the wife or the studio ‘til I’m back up at 2 o’clock in the morning.”

By “studio” you could only assume it’s of the recording variety (as opposed to the radio type), as Cannon readies not one, but two albums. Mr. Showbiz, a comedy LP, will drop May 14. The follow-up, Mr. Showbiz Sings the Hits, follows later in the year. The rapper says both are finished.

“It’s going to have ‘Famous’ on it and a bunch of other stuff,” Cannon noted of the music portion, mentioning the lead single that features Akon in the process. “I worked with Flo Rida, Snoop Dogg, Roscoe Dash, everybody… Cee Lo (Green)… it’s crazy.”

The first track is a tongue-in-cheek take on everybody wanting to achieve fame in this day and age. But Cannon isn’t knocking the notion.

“I love (fame),” Cannon quickly replied after I asked him if the notion of “celebrity” and fame is overrated. “You got to just know how to handle it. Everything’s in moderation. Some people get sucked up in to it, but I mean the perks that it comes with are beautiful.”

It seems these days, the only thing not in moderation for Cannon is the amount of work that he is willing, and more importantly able, to take on.

In addition to breaking the news on “The Ralphie Radio Show” that her next album to be released in the States will be called, ViVa, Kat DeLuna explained the inspiration behind the LP’s first single, “Dancing Tonight.”

The track was produced by EightySix, who DeLuna says she discovered when he approached her after a show with a demo!