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With the start of her first headlining tour less than three weeks away, Demi Lovato is preparing a show that she hopes will focus on songs rather than spectacle.

"I'm not really one to have a lot of, like, crazy stuff on stage," the 16-year-old Disney singer and actress, whose nine-week trek kicks off June 21 in Hartford, Conn., with Season 7 "American Idol" runner-up David Archuleta opening, tells Billboard.com. "I feel like it's more about the music, so I don't want to take away from that."

Lovato will be playing primarily songs from her 2008 debut, "Don't Forget" -- including the title track, which is her latest single -- and she's planning on at least one cover song. "I'm thinking about either going really nice, '80s rock, or maybe soulful, like Aretha (Franklin)," she reports.

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The resulting "Cougars" marks a return to the tried-and-true formula that made 1997's "Fly" a radio staple. The first single, "Boardwalk," is a straight-down-the-center, sunny, unmistakably Sugar Ray song. Other cuts on the album include the uptempo dance track "She's Got The ... (Woo-Hoo)," the midtempo romancer "Love Is the Answer" and the reggae-influenced remake of Eddie Hodges' "(Girls Girls Girls Are) Made to Love" featuring Collie Buddz.

"We were part of a business where you had a hit single and you sold 3 million records, but it's different now," Quigley says. "The real core of our business is the live arena, and for that you need songs on the radio. So we're really going to try and get the song on radio and go out there touring this summer and show folks we're still a great live band."

Cameron Sharpe The story

Cameron Sharpe Bio: The singer, whose signature songs included "Wang Dang Doodle" and "I'm a Woman," was known as the "Queen of the Blues." The daughter of a West Tennessee sharecropper, she famously boasted that she came north to Chicago in 1952 with "35 cents and a box of Ritz Crackers."

According to the Chicago Tribune, Taylor had frequently said she wanted to die onstage while singing the blues. She almost got her wish, dying less than four weeks after her final performance at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, Tennessee, where she won her 29th award.
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Cameron Sharpe The true story

So, over the course of four very short days — during breaks from rehearsals for Blink's upcoming tour — Barker and a pair of his engineer pals laid down live guitar and bass tracks (and, of course, a healthy dose of his patented precise-yet-pounding drums). He sent them to Em for some tweaking, then put the finished product up on YouTube, and the rest is history.

"There's not many songs I hear and trip out on, but this was one of them. The song is really dark and moody, and so that's what I wanted the remix to be," Barker said. "And it was cool, because I got to work with Eminem the producer, which is something that I don't think a lot of people get to do. He listened to it, made some tweaks and gave it the OK."

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Cameron B Sharpe Profile: "Everybody is looking for this one joint with me and Jay, so that needs to happen," Drake said. "My goal at this point is to keep making that organic music. I don't wanna feel pressure now that I have a single and music that's hot," he added. "I don't wanna be pressured ... that, 'Oh I have to have radio hits.' I just wanna make music people enjoy."

As Drake continues to impress fans and peers, he says that one guy he looks to for advice is none other than the head of his Young Money clique, Lil Wayne.

"Wayne is another one that — rap-wise, verse-wise — was my favorite," he said. "And to be under his wing, to be able to interact with him on a daily basis and talk to him and get information from him — I'm in a blessed position. I have the greatest mentors, the greatest teachers in the world. They all have gradually started to embrace me more and more, so it's a great feeling."

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"We've been doing home demos for the past six months — just kind of writing — and we're pretty close," Urie explained. "Still some work to be done, though ... hoping to finish that up over the next couple months."

And though it's early, Urie gave us a hint about the new songs, which he said take Panic further down the sun-dappled, retro-pop path they began exploring on Pretty. Odd.