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Black Eyed Peas leader will.i.am says he's "really excited and nervous at the same time" about becoming a solo artist with the Sept. 25 release of "Songs About Girls."

"I was like, 'How and why should I put out a solo project?' I could just do another Black Eyed Peas record," he tells Billboard.com. The hook, he says, was making "Songs About Girls" a semi-autobiographical conceptual piece "where all the songs could tell a story of falling in love, falling out of love, trying to get back in love, destructing love and destroying love and then starting a new situation. That journey is what makes this unique."

The first single from "Songs About Girls," a club track called "I Got It From My Mama," is currently on its way to Top 40 and Rhythm Crossover stations. The album features only one guest star, Snoop Dogg, on the electroclash-styled track "Donque."

Besides the album's 12 songs, will.i.am shot videos for eight of the tracks and stitched them together into "a movie about making a movie" that will accompany the CD. The album will also include a new digital platform developed by will.i.am and Interscope Record chief Jimmy Iovine that allows fans to share in revenues generated by sales and sharing of the player.

will.i.am plans to perform some of the "Songs About Girls" material live when Black Eyed Peas hit the road for a two-month international tour on Sept. 4 in Israel. The group will play in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and Mexico but not in North America. "There's no Black Eyed Peas record out," he explains, "and America's weird like that. If you ain't got nothing in the marketplace, (the fans) ain't showing up."

SOURCE: BILLBOARD.COM