Britney Spears Will Go Deep On New Album, will.i.am Vows

Britney Spears will be wearing her heart on her sleeve on her next album — if executive producer will.i.am has his way.

Spears’ longtime pal has confirmed he will produce her next release and says he set up some strict ground rules with Team Spears before signing on to help shape the vision for the follow-up to Femme Fatale.

“I was like, ‘OK, look, guys, me and Britney need to have lunch four times a month for three months before I even try to go in the studio with her.’ Because we need to talk,” he explained to Rolling Stone, noting that they have been meeting for nearly three months and recently clocked in studio time.

He continued, “We need to talk about what she’s excited about in life. I gotta talk about the things that hurt her. I gotta talk about the things that make her concerned — she’s a mother. I gotta talk to her about all the things that her fans want to talk to her about. I gotta be the vehicle between her and her fans. We can’t do another song about going on the dance floor. Really? Didn’t we see a bunch of Britney doing that already? Don’t we want to see something that comes from her heart?”

With so few details confirmed about the release, will couldn’t offer up any insight into when something might drop, but did say it’s moving along. Hit-Boy, who is also attached to the project, shared that he wants to produce a “global sound.” Additionally, will.i.am noted that the former “X Factor” host “really liked Diplo,” but didn’t say whether the producer will play a part.

The Black Eyed Peas leader did, however, offer up some insight into how he became so involved. He said, “After I did a song on Femme Fatale — ‘Big Fat Bass’ — and then we did ‘Scream & Shout’ [off #willpower], she really liked the way we worked because of my approach. So they asked me to be involved in, not producing and writing every song, but to be an executive producer on the songs.”

Spears popped up during a Google hangout with will last week, where she revealed why she likes to work with him so much: “I think he gets our generation,” she said, adding, “His energy is just electric. He’s a charmer.”

Until Spears’ latest album gets a release date, there is some new music fans can look forward to. Spears has confirmed she will have a song on the “Smurfs 2” soundtrack. will drop sometime before the movie’s July 31 opening weekend.