Let the leaks begin! With a hat tip to Paul over at FizzyPop, yesterday marked the first song to leak out onto the Internet from Shayne Ward’s third album in the form of “Crash“. It is a slow-burning ballad that sounds great, but definitely doesn’t scream “first single”. That honor is supposed to go to “Tonight”, and according to @shaynetward on Twitter yesterday, the record label is gearing up for the promotional push on his upcoming releases. Speculation is that “Crash”, reportedly produced by Stargate, and Darkchild-produced “The Way You Are” are just hype leaks designed to get the masses talking about Shayne again, and it appears that it worked. Not that some of us ever stopped talking about him, but you get the picture.

While we are talking about upcoming projects, another album that is supposed to drop later this year is the fourth release from Jesse McCartney. Rap-Up.com posted an interview with “How Do You Sleep” producer Sean Garrett, where he described hooking Jesse up with some “swag”:

“I wanted to give him real songs, but also give him some shit that has some real swag to it. Girls will be like, ‘Damn, I need to call up Jesse. He’s somebody I need in my life.’ And not just from a corny pop perspective, the Mr. Cool song, but more so like, ‘Damn, I need to see dude.’”

Jesse himself has been a bit tight-lipped about subject matter, but he’s lived a lot since Departure first hit, including weathering a nude photo scandal back in January. Who knows what direction it will go, but while he’s writing material for himself, is he also writing for an American Idol? Here’s his thoughts on season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert:

“I think he’s so talented. I would like to work with him one-on-one and find a focus for him, ’cause he’s dope,” McCartney offered. “I feel like he tried to make a statement with what he did. I would really like to write something for Adam.”