"X Factor" Season 2 winner Tate Stevens performs during the show's December finale.

Credit: AP Photo/FOX, Ray Mickshaw

Tate Stevens, the winner of “The X Factor’s” second season, has signed with Syco Music/RCA Records Nashville.

The country singer, whose musical heroes are George Strait and Garth Brooks, is writing and recording material for his debut album, which will come out this spring. He began working on the album earlier this month.

Stevens was a member of L.A. Reid’s Over 25s team.

Melanie Amaro, the winner of the first season of “The X Factor,” is also expected to release her debut album, “Truly,” this  spring.  The is signed to Reid’s label, Epic Records.

“You’re in rock and roll heaven, man.”  That’s how The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards describes recording at Alabama’s  legendary FAME Studios.

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Rihanna

Credit: Ap Photo

With “Diamonds” still shining brightly on the Billboard Hot 100, Rihanna’s label has chosen “Stay” as the second pop single from “Unapologetic.”

The quiet, plaintive ballad caused a ripple when she debuted the tune on “Saturday Night Live” in November, bolstered by her stark performance.

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There’s a lot of information to parse from the 58-second clip Paramore released to tease the arrival of “Now,” the group’s new single out Jan. 22. The track comes from “Paramore,” the rock band’s next album —and first to feature them as a trio— out April 9. Justin Meldal-Johnson produced the album, the group's first since 2009's "Brand New Eyes" and the 2010 departure of founding members/brothers Josh and Zac Farro. The band is now singer Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York.

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Ingrid Michaelson accompanied by children from Newtown, Conn. and Sandy Hook Elementary school perform "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on ABC's "Good Morning America"

Credit: AP Photo

Grab your tissues. There’s no way you can get  watch students from Newtown, Conn’s Sandy Hook Elementary performing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” without tearing up.

One month after the shooting that claimed 26 lives at the school, 21 current and former students from the school sang the “Wizard Of Oz” classic on “Good Morning America.” Singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson accompanied the children ukulele on an arrangement of the song made famous by Hawaiian artist Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.

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Justin Timberlake

Credit: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

We weighed in on “Suit & Tie,”  Justin Timberlake’s first new song in more than six years, last night. We felt it was a good start and a nice, retro-soundng track.

And you are responding loud and clear as well: the song is on top of the iTunes Songs chart (in part because Timberlake’s label, RCA, is swatting the song down any time it appears on YouTube). The response at radio has been strong with many Clear Channel  and CBS-owned stations playing it hourly.  Billboard predicts the single could sell as many as 400,000 copies in its first week.

Here’s what some other critics are saying about the song, the first tune from Timberlake’s forthcoming album “The 20/20 Experience.”

The Los Angeles Times’ August Brown says: "We’re pleased to report that the results are quite sexy. "Suit & Tie" is a radiant, ramshackle song that's less of a coherent single and more of a coronation event. It grafts at least three different Timberlake settings -- the slow-rolling futurist, crisp-collared soul man and backseat driver to a rap kingpin (here, Jay-Z) -- into one strange track that comes off like a best-man wedding toast. It’s rambling and full of awkward transitions; yet occasionally finds its feet and ultimately heralds a joyful event:  Justin Timberlake making music again."

People Magazine’s Chuck Arnold give it a thumbs up: "JT goes for a more retro vibe on this suave single, which previews his much-anticipated third solo album, The 20/20 Experience, due out later this year. With its smooth, horn-kissed lushness, it recalls the '70s R&B of Marvin Gaye as well as Robin Thicke's modern-day take on old-school soul." 

PItchfork likes Timberlake, Jay-Z not so much. Writes Stephen M. Deusner: "While not quite as risky as "SexyBack" or as rewarding as "My Love", "Suit & Tie" is still one hell of a wedding reception jam, as bubbly as champagne. Timbaland creates a smooth beat out of a marimba roll and harp gliassando that Marvin Gaye must have left on the cutting-room floor, and Timberlake rides it with that fluid, effortless falsetto. "Let me show you a few things," he sings by way of seduction. Because it’s a song called "Suit & Tie", Jay-Z is on here, delivering the obligatory rapped verse like he's crashed a wedding. It's another in a string of uninspired cameos by Hova."  

Billboard’s Jason Lipshutz is Team Timberlake...with reservations: "Suit and Tie" is a good song, but it's not the artifact from another planet that we've been expecting, nor it is the ambitious experiment that Timberlake alludes to when he describes heading into the studio and "just creating with no rules." Comparing "SexyBack" with "Suit And Tie" makes the latter seem almost impossibly safe: it's a sumptuous, fairly straightforward love song with forgettable lyrics ("Love is swinging in the air tonight"?), a useless opening 40 seconds and a Jay-Z verse that dutifully penetrates the beat while offering nothing unexpected."

Rolling Stone’s Dan Hyman says "Suit and Tie," a horn-addled shuffler likely to inspire many new dance routines, finds JT waxing poetic about his love for dapper duds. "I be on my suit and tie shit/ Can I show you a few things, little baby?" he croons. Jay-Z later joins in with lines about "truffle season," wearing tuxedos for no reason and the trendy designer Alexander Wang

How do you feel about "Suit & Tie?" Hear it here.
 

Johnny Marr recently told The Guardian that The Smiths “invented indie.” I’m not so sure that he’s right about that, much less what that actually means.

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Beyonce wants us to know that she’s “a human being. I cry. I get scared. I get nervous, just like anyone else.”

In the trailer for her new HBO documentary, “Life Is But A Dream,” her voice over hints at how difficult it is to be Beyonce and that her struggles to balance a commercial life with her artistic vision: “I always battle with how much do I reveal about myself...how do I stay current. How do I stay soulful,” she asks.

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Credit: RCA Records

In his seven years away, it’s clear that Justin Timberlake has studied his masters.

His new single, “Suit And Tie,” is a throwback to old-school R&B. Leave it to Timberlake to represent R&B in a way that few contemporary artists are today (notable exceptions include Bruno Mars and Miguel). As ZZ Top noted, every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man.

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Adam Lambert

Credit: AP Photo

Adam Lambert and 19 Recordings  have “amicably” split.

The “American Idol” runner-up remains signed to RCA, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  To explain a little further, the recording division of 19 Entertainment has dibs on signing any of the “American Idol” finalists and then places them with a label. For the first nine seasons, 19 Recordings when through BMG labels --and Sony after the Sony BMG merger-- and then switched to Universal Music Group two seasons ago. For example, Carrie Underwood is signed to 19/Arista, Kelly Clarkson to 19/RCA, Scotty McCreery to 19/Mercury. The deal allows 19 to have a say in the creative direction of the artist's music, while continuing to profit from sales.

Lambert split from 19 Management  in August 2011 and is handled by Direct Management Group by the same team who manages Katy Perry. 19 Management manages such former "AI" contestants as Casey Abrams, Philip Phillips and Haley Reinhart.

No reason was given for the break-up by either side, though a representative for Lambert told THR, as one does in this situation, that the two parties split “amicably and with the utmost respect for each other.”

While signed to 19/RCA, Lambert has released two studio albums and several live projects. His second studio album, “Trespassing,” while critically acclaimed, did not do well at radio and spawned no major hits, even after debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

It looks like Lambert will stay on RCA direct for his third studio album. THR says conversations about the set have already begun.

Lambert, who has gone on Twitter spiels lately about “Les Miserables” and bullying, has been silent about the label changes.