Here are new promo photos, video and album cover art for Keyshia Cole’s forthcoming third studio album, A Different Me, in stores December 16, 2008.  The R&B singer-songwriter has had tremendous success in the last three years. Her first two albums, “The Way It Is” (2005) and “Just Like You,” (2007) both went platinum. In total, she has scored eight top 10 singles on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, including three No. 1 hit singles.

She is also the star of a popular TV reality show on BET, “Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is” and she was just nominated for two Grammy Awards (2009) for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song for ‘Heaven Sent.’

In a recent interview with Billboard, she discussed her forthcoming album which features production and songwriting from Polow Da Don, the Runners, Neffu, Kwame, Orthodox & Ransom and the Trackmasters.

“The first two albums were more . . . painful,” she says. “It’s a different me this time: a young woman who’s still growing and finding myself, exploring life through different routes musically and in other areas. I wrote more about other people’s situations than my own. I’m moving forward.” [...]

“When I hear something, I hear it — it doesn’t take me three, four, five times to hear a song and say, ‘OK, let’s write,’ ” Cole says about her songwriting process. “If I don’t write to it right off the bat, it’s not working.”

She’s reflective and coy on the melodic lead single “Playa Cardz Right” featuring a posthumous Tupac Shakur; the track originally appeared on his 2006 album “Pac’s Life,” but dressed up with a new verse and arrangement by Cole and producers Fair, Carvin Haggins and Ivan Barias.

Although she had an interest in music at an early age, she credits her mentors, MC Hammer and the late Tupak Shaker, for recognizing her talent and offering encouragement and opportunity.

“Other people recognized my talent before I did,” Cole says. “There were times when Hammer, Pac or other people from around my way would say, ‘That little girl can sing. Sing something.’ And I’d say, ‘You got $5?’ “

Cole says the idea of seriously pursuing a music career didn’t kick in until Shakur died — “he saw it in me,” she says. That sorrow — and heartbreak brought on by a cheating boyfriend — pushed Cole to Los Angeles and a renewed focus on her career.

Source: Keyshia Cole: Screen Siren

Here is the Keyshia Cole A Different Me tracklisting.

1. A Different Me
2. Make Me Over
3. Please Dont Stop
4. Erotic
5. You Complete Me
6. No Other Feat. Amina Harris
7. Oh-oh. Yeah-Yeah Feat. Nas
8. Playa Cardz Right Feat. 2pac
9. Brand New
10. Trust Feat. Monica
11. Thought You Should Know
12. This Is Us
13. Where This Love Could End Up
14. Beautiful Music
15. A Different Me

Source and photo source: Stuff Fly  People Like: The Way It Is!

In this video Keyshia Cole discusses the album, track by track, explaining her intentions and the meaning behind A Different Me.



Video via Only Keyshia Cole

Related posts:

• Music Video: Keyshia Cole “Playa Cardz Right” ft. Tupac Shakur (Official)
• Video: Keyshia Cole on Good Morning America 7-8-08 “Heaven Sent”
• Video: Keyshia Cole on “Late Show with David Letterman” 6-19-08 “Heaven Sent”
• Photos: 2008 BET Awards – Red Carpet Arrivals
• Photos: Toyota and Essence “If Looks Could Kill” Party 6-11-08

Keyshia Cole ‘A Different Me’ Album Cover Art, Promo Photos, Video, Tracklisting pictures