The record-setting American Idol champion skipped the gospel lane and the crossover play, toured with Brandy and Monica, and called Tricky Stewart. His debut album, The Journey, is a grown R&B record.

The suit over Olivia Dean's "I've Seen It" is pleaded on melody, the one element courts still protect after Blurred Lines and Sheeran, and it targets the labels and publishers, not the singer.

Two years after her father died of cancer, DaniLeigh released With Love, From Dani, a 13-track album with Tink, Fivio Foreign and Olamide, written under one rule: her daughter had to be able to hear every song.

Tinashe's Popstar opened at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with 35,500 units, and more than 60 percent of them were straight-up sales. Twelve years after Aquarius peaked at No. 17, the fans she built on her own finally showed up on the chart that counts.

STRIKING arrives Oct. 9 under a stage name OutKast's company says Silas Wilson agreed to retire by July 15. Here is how the rollout and the lawsuit lined up, and what the case could mean for the album.

Mattie Music Group says Olivia Dean's "I've Seen It" copies the melody of "Just the Two of Us," but its suit targets UMG, Capitol, Sony and Kobalt instead of Dean. Here is what the complaint claims, what it leaves out and what writers can learn from it.

The Building the Band quartet that lost on Netflix just released its Atlantic debut. History says TV-made R&B groups burn fast, but Soulidified spent a year building its audience without a camera in the room.

After four albums with RCA, Nao is releasing Autumn on her own Little Tokyo Recordings on October 16, the first chapter of a four-album series that starts with jazz.

Yung Miami has put a date and some serious weight behind her first post-City Girls solo album. Watch Dis arrives October 23 with 20 tracks and guests including Quavo, Lil Baby, G Herbo, Kodak Black, Shenseea and Vybz Kartel.

Lucky Daye turns romantic distance into an invitation to reconnect on “Talk to Me,” the latest single from his forthcoming album ALOUD!, arriving October 16 via Warner Records.

Ari Lennox adds nine songs to Vacancy with Late Checkout, an expansion substantial enough to feel less like bonus material and more like another chapter of the album.

Guarantees, door deals, versus deals, merch cuts and commissions decide whether a first tour pays. Here is how the money moves, with the numbers on the record.