The Voice Australia 2013: Will.i.am To Perform and Promote New Solo Album
Will.i.am is set to appear on "The Voice" in Australia to promote his solo album. The Black Eyed Peas frontman will perform tracks from his #willpower album on the Nine Network programme on May 7.
#willpower debuted in the top 10 in the country this week, and the American music star hopes to further boost the sales of his record by appearing on the hit talent show. He is set to perform the track #thatPower without Canadian tween heartthrob Justin Bieber, his duet partner in the song.
He has recently hit out at critics who said that he stole the beats for his song "Let's Go" from Russian DJ Arty's 2011 track "Rebound," which he made with British DJ Mat Zo.
Will.i.am claims that he has reached out to the DJ for the use of the song. Arty allegedly responded positively on the invitation to collaborate with him, but he refuted that there was no final deal between their respective labels.
"If you look on the album, there is credit," will.i.am told the Associated Press. "You can't steal if you credited somebody. I'm based off our conversation. He and I communicated. He's excited in the email. So what do I know.
"I give it to legal. I'm not an attorney. I did my piece. I gave credit to the person who did it. It's not my fault he didn't tell me about the other guy. So who is to blame? I didn't know. I wasn't in the room when he made it. You should have told me you had a collaborator."
"Let's Go" features Chris Brown, and is also from #willpower.
Meanwhile, will.i.am, who is a coach on the UK version of "The Voice," has revealed that he has given away his fee to charity.
Speaking to The Big Issue, he admitted that he couldn't keep his £500,000 [approx. AU$748,000] fee from the BBC talent show for himself. He called it the "people's money."
"The Voice is the BBC, it's the people's money, so it didn't feel right," he explained.
Instead, the music singer and producer, whose estimated wealth is at $75 million, donated his payment to the Prince's Trust's Enterprise Programme, which supports disadvantaged people aged 18 to 30 in starting their own business.