Sean Garrett
Photo: Universal

Sean "The Pen" Garrett has the swagger of a boxer. Fast with a verbal jab, expert at talking an Ali-worthy streak of trash and prone to referring to himself in the third person, the fire-hot producer/songwriter (Beyoncé's "Diva," Fergie's "London Bridge," Usher's "Papers" and Mario's "Break Up") is planning to take some rare "me" time later this year to hunker down on his first solo album.

"Sean Garrett as an artist is what fans are missing," he said recently during a break from a workout at an Atlanta gym. "I'm making the kind of records Bell Biv Devoe and Bobby Brown made, songs you love and get excited hearing, with crazy beats and incredibly creative. I'm trying to be a little innovative and make songs girls will love. I'm pulling out all the stops."

Soon, he promised, he'll announce his new label deal, and by the end of December, he's penciled in six weeks or so of intense recording time — the first extended studio lockdown in his nearly decade-long career — to begin laying down the tracks for the yet-untitled album he hopes to have out next summer.

But, like any savvy boxer, Garrett knows when to pull punches and save some for the ring, so while he won't reveal too much about what guests he might have on the album, he did promise this: "I confirmed today that one of the biggest superstars in the world will be on it." Beyond that, he was not saying much.

Garrett released a Japan-only solo disc, Turbo 919, last year, but he said the upcoming album will be his true solo debut after more than half a decade of toiling behind the scenes for everyone from Ashley Tisdale and Amerie to the Pussycat Dolls, Jesse McCartney, Mary J. Blige and Chris Brown.

The first single from the album, the recently released Gucci Mane-featuring tune "Up in Your Heart," is a prime example of Garrett's skills: a hypnotic chorus over a sneakily insidious spare beat and a hook that instantly grabs your ears. "If people love [Mario's] 'Break Up,' they're gonna love my album," said the supremely confident hitmaker. "The biggest comparison I can make [as an artist] is to Kanye, because there's so much energy and so much to talk about, and I want to have so much fun on the record. People have tried to keep me in this songwriter/producer box, but I'm so much more of a bigger talent."

Working hard to make the album what he called "bulletproof," Garrett said despite his proven track record of hit writing, he feels like an underdog on his solo effort. That's why he's working extra hard to prove himself as he plans to continue his winning streak with a song on the upcoming Rihanna Rated R album, as well as tunes he's writing for Lady Gaga and Britney Spears, another single with Mario, "Stranded," and a new one from Jamie Foxx's upcoming album, "French Kiss."

"I have to take the same type of approach I take on the hit records I write: I can't rush it," he said. "I'm a f---ing superstar artist/writer/producer, and I will give my fans what they want and what they're asking me to give them: a phenomenal album. I'm the underdog, man, I can't go wrong. I got nothing to lose. Underdogs can't lose."

In the meantime, Garrett promised that he will also continue to be a presence on the radio and on the mixtape front, pointing to his current spot on the Gucci song "In My Business" alongside Drake.

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Sean Garrett
Photo: MTV News

Add Sean Garrett to the growing list of songwriters and producers set to work on Whitney Houston's comeback album.

The Beyoncé collaborator told MTV News last week that he's scheduled to record two songs with Houston shortly. Garrett said he recently met with Clive Davis to discuss material for her album. Davis, currently the chief creative director of Sony Music Worldwide, originally signed Houston and has been instrumental in her career ever since.

"She's sounding great," Garrett said of Houston. "I met with Clive yesterday in New York. She's gonna hear the records that I did for her this week, and we'll be getting in the studio cutting them. The records that she has are great. She's sounding great. She's definitely gonna be back."

A Houston track leaked onto the Web a few months ago. The midtempo song, called "Like I Never Left," was produced by Akon. There's no word whether the track will appear on her album, which is currently untitled and tentatively set for release this year.

In late 2007, Akon talked to us about working with Houston. He said the singer has a range of emotions she would be diving into on her project. "Her voice is strong enough to deliver any message she wants to sing to the world," he explained. "It's outta here."

Ne-Yo also said he would be working with Houston, as did John Legend, who said the process would be memorable regardless if the songs make the final project.

Garrett echoed Legend's sentiments. The songwriter, who has worked with Ciara and Usher, called the chance to work with Houston "the highlight of my career." He said the songs that he's heard so far, including numbers by R. Kelly, are excellent.

"Everybody is excited to be working on her album," Garrett said. "The camaraderie is great."

Houston is looking to move music to the forefront of her life again. In March 2005, the singer checked herself into rehab for a second time to deal with an unspecified abuse. Her ex-husband, singer Bobby Brown, whom she divorced in April 2007, claimed in his biography that his ex-wife introduced him to drug use.

• Sean Garrett
• Whitney Houston
• Clive Davis
• Beyoncé
• R. Kelly

Deluxe edition of Beyoncé's <i>I Am ... Sasha Fierce</i>
Photo: Sony

In therapy, the goal would be to unite a fractured personality — but in music, putting your alter ego on display is all the rage. Beyoncé is giving hers, Sasha Fierce, some serious attention.

I Am ... Sasha Fierce, due out November 18, is a two-disc set. Part one, I Am ..., showcases the singer's more personal material, her Beyoncé side. The second part, Sasha Fierce, is intended to contain the more daring dance tracks.

"We thought outside of the box and did something different," said Mathew Knowles, Beyoncé's father and manager, during a listening session for the album in New York on Wednesday.

"The new record is a double album and has two covers, like a magazine would have two covers," Beyoncé said in a statement (read her full statement and see both album covers on the Newsroom blog). "Half the record, I Am ..., is about who I am underneath all the makeup, underneath the lights and underneath all the exciting star drama. And Sasha Fierce is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side and more glamorous side that comes out when I'm working and when I'm onstage. The double album allows me to take more risks and really step out of myself, or shall I say, step more into myself, and reveal a side of me that only people who know me see."

But Beyoncé may have integrated these sides of herself far more than she realizes, for the I Am ... portion of her album is actually the more daring side, since it requires more bravery to step outside what she's known for — uptempo top-40 R&B — and try for a more timeless sound in a classic sense (perhaps the influence of playing Etta James in "Cadillac Records"?). And Sasha Fierce, fun though it might be, is mostly familiar-sounding dance tracks and doesn't stretch Beyoncé as an artist the way I Am ... does.

"If I Were a Boy" is the first taste of I Am ..., but as the only song on either album that Beyoncé didn't co-write, it's not very indicative of the rest of the tracks. Piano and strings dominate songs like "Halo," "Ave Maria" and "Broken-Hearted Girl," the latter of which she collaborated on with Babyface and Stargate. Her voice shows restraint, and singing in a lower register gives her more vocal power, even if it means that she sometimes sounds like Rihanna on the lush "Halo," the prospective second single from this side of the album (repeating "halo, halo, halo" makes the comparison even stronger).

"Smash Into You," co-produced by C. "Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The-Dream" Nash, and "That's Why You're Beautiful" — both of which will only be available on the deluxe edition — are the highlights of the set, taking it slow and easy, building Beyoncé's vocals gradually, with a grungy guitar riff driving "Beautiful" as if it were an Alice in Chains power ballad. On these songs, Beyoncé transcends genre.

But then comes Sasha Fierce, who cares more for beats than ballads. Whereas all the songs on I Am ... are meant to make you feel, Sasha just wants to make you kick up your heels, all the while expressing shallower emotions. "Radio," with its skittering beat, is about listening to the radio ("I fell in love with my stereo"). The thumping "Diva," a collaboration with Sean Garrett, is about, well, being a diva ("Diva is a hustla/ I'm a hustla"). Another Garrett collabo, the bass-heavy "Video Phone," as you might guess, is about snapping images on your handheld ("Press record and film me"). Only "Sweet Dreams," with its rock drive and slinky vocals, seems "fierce" — as Beyoncé (or is it Sasha?) dares the listener to dream of her, warning that it might be a "beautiful nightmare."

The bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of Sasha Fierce include the piano-driven "Hello," in which Beyoncé takes "Jerry Maguire" to heart, with a "You had me at hello" hook — "Ego," where she sings that she loves her lover's "huge ego"; and the synthy "Scared of Lonely," co-written by Rodney Jerkins and her sister Solange. These three tracks seem more like a meeting ground between the album's halves — musically, they're with Sasha, but thematically and lyrically, they're full-on Beyoncé: vulnerable, wanting to love and be loved back, caring perhaps a bit more about her significant other than herself.

"There's what I call defining moments in our life," Mathew Knowles said, "and when we look back, in years to come, I think this will be the defining moment in Beyoncé Knowles' career as a recording artist. And there's more to come [from] Sasha Fierce."

• Beyoncé
• Rihanna
• Sean Garrett
• Babyface
• Solange

Photo: MTV News

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