When the 15-year-old Aaliyah first appeared on the scene in 1994 with the smash hit "Back & Forth," she was already a confident, cocksure young woman with an incredible sense of melody and a penchant for deceptive sexuality. She seemed to debut fully formed, which is why it seemed like she was around for a lot longer than she actually was when she died tragically eight years ago at the age of 22. Aaliyah managed to be the bridge between two great R&B universes: The silky smoothness of R. Kelly's post-New Jack Swing groove (Kelly wrote and produced much of Aaliyah's debut album Age Ain't Nothing But a Number) and the futuristic stutter-funk of Timbaland (who treated Aaliyah like a muse and gave her some of his best beats, like "Are You That Somebody?"). In an era when R&B seemed destined to wallow in the rut created by stuff like K-Ci and JoJo, Aaliyah was a catalyst for looking to the future.

Though she only spend eight years putting out music, Aaliyah built up a pretty impressive greatest hits collection: The tough "Down With the Clique," the playful "If Your Girl Only Knew," the faux-psychedelic "Rock the Boat," the twitchy "More Than a Woman," the unnerving "4 Page Letter" — the list goes on and on. Since her death, the R&B world has stagnated a bit, with Missy Elliott's career on a downward slope and TLC derailed by the death of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. Even Timbaland doesn't seem like the same producer — just compare recent, too-busy stuff like "Throw It On Me" with the simple robo-burbles and computer tweets of 2000's "Try Again," which earned Aaliyah a Grammy nomination.

With autumn upon us, there are many things to look forward to: changing leaves, cooler weather, fun-size Halloween candy and, most importantly, huge album releases from some of music's heaviest hitters. It all shifts into gear Tuesday, when T.I. drops Paper Trail — and although it was leaked two weeks prior to its release, the album is riding high off the lead single "Whatever You Like."

Pink is preparing for her big comeback after her last two albums received a tepid response — and with her first #1 single, "So What?," already burning up the charts, Funhouse could bring Pink out of her slump.

Fall Out Boy's latest effort, Folie à Deux, hits stores November 4 — Election Day — kicking off a month full of big-name releases. Will fans swing by the record store on their way home from the polls? The Citizens For Our Betterment certainly hope so!

Christina Aguilera, T-Pain and Ludacris will have a three-way battle for chart supremacy November 11. Christina is releasing her first greatest-hits album, Keeps Gettin' Better — A Decade of Hits, while T-Pain's Thr33 Ringz and Ludacris' Theater of the Mind work to beat out classic favorites from the blond bombshell.

Speaking of bombshells, Beyoncé releases her yet-untitled album November 18. It's being reported that she's working with everyone from Justin Timberlake to Timbaland on the album. No word yet if she will collaborate with her hubby Jay-Z.

The Killers' latest effort, Day and Age, drops November 24, and the Las Vegas natives are hoping to hit the chart jackpot.

Considering what Britney has been through these past couple of years, it's no surprise she named her new album Circus. The record arrives in stores December 2, and the newly minted VMA champ could finally be ready to regain the pop-queen crown.

The year ends in a battle royale between 50 Cent (who releases Before I Self Destruct on December 9) and Kanye West (whose 808s and Heartbreak comes out December 16). Once again, the two MCs are — almost — going head-to-head. Last year, Kanye reigned supreme. So could 2008 be 50's year?

Like a lot of Soundgarden fans, I bit my tongue a bit (OK, a lot, like, until there was blood and maybe some permanent damage) when I heard rock god Chris Cornell was working on an album with Timbaland. I'm all for my heroes stepping out of the box and trying something unusual, because lord knows, three Audioslave albums was two too many. But now that I've heard the results, I'm not so sure.

Granted, I've only peeped about 30 seconds of a handful of songs Cornell debuted earlier this week, so it's way too early to make a judgment, but based on what I did hear, it's actually not unusual enough. Timbaland and Chris Cornell is kind of exactly what you'd expect: Cornell's meaty vocals over Timbaland's squeaky, freaky, stuttering beats, some of which sound like they might have been swept up off the floor from the last Justin Timberlake session. It's like they both came to the studio with their parts and then superglued their personas together. Read more...

· Timbaland married longtime girlfriend Monique Idlett on Sunday in a lavish ceremony in Aruba that was attended by Missy Elliott and Keri Hilson, along with hundreds of other guests. The producer, 37, and Idlett, his 33-year-old publicist, had been dating for nearly three years.

· Indie rockers the Shins may go even indier for their next studio album. The second-most-successful band ever signed to Sub Pop Records (after Nirvana) may release its fourth album on singer James Mercer's Aural Apothecary label.

· Legendary promoter Michael Cohl, the man who spearheaded megadeals between concert-promotion giant Live Nation and artists including Madonna and Jay-Z, has stepped down from the company's board of directors after clashing with LN boss Michael Rapino over the "360" deals.

· After traveling to Louisiana to attend the birth of 17-year-old sister Jamie Lynn's first baby, Britney Spears returned to Los Angeles on Friday and immediately made news when her entourage was involved in a scuffle with a scrum of more than two dozen paparazzi swarming around the singer.

So last week we posted a track-by-track reaction to the online leak of what we called "chunks of all [Hard Candy]'s completed songs." And boy, did the Madonna fans out there go ballistic.

Yes, we understand that the entire album has not leaked online. So let's really spell it out: these were reactions to the intro's and hooks of each track. So that means we listened to about one minute of every track and gave our "free-associative" response. Not an "official review," Madonna diehards. Dag, people!

And look, if you've heard the same snippets and disagree that much, write in and tell us why.

Well, the rumor mill has been running again for Ashlee Simpson and fiance Pete Wentz. And once again, the couple's being assaulted with the question "Is she pregnant??" I sat down with Ashlee just a few minutes ago -- mainly to talk about her album, but also, of course, to try and get a clear answer. (Hey, some of you want to know!)

"I just think it's an inappropriate question to ask any woman," Ashlee said -- after (ahem) already answering the question several times today. She did tell us a little bit about her engagement and even seemed receptive to the idea of a green wedding, in honor of the environment. And if she and Pete do have a green wedding, I’m taking full credit. No? Okay.

Ashlee and I talked about everything from dirty song lyrics to bad boyfriends and working with Timbaland. Oh, and Salvador Dali. No, seriously: she just bought a painting of his that depicts two girls chained to each other. Hmmm.

Others she worked with on Bittersweet World (due April 22nd) include Santogold's Santi White, Kenna, Chad Hugo from the Neptunes/N.E.R.D., and Tom Higgenson of Plain White T's.

More on Ashlee and her album coming soon at MTVNews.com.

We love Timbaland. Absolute genius. True innovator. Changed the landscape of pop music forever. But man, does he have some suspect taste in rock music.

Anyway, Timbaland told Ryan Seacrest yesterday that he’s producing the upcoming solo album from former Soundgarden/Audioslave howler, Chris Cornell, the singer's third.

Timbaland said it’s the “best work” he’s done in his career (of course it is). Meanwhile, Cornell – who gave props to “American Idol” cover coverer David Cook on Seacrest’s show earlier in the week -- also said this upcoming solo album, which could be released as soon as next month, is the highlight of his career (of course it is).

Yeah.

We don't mean to sound that cynical but really, what do you think - interesting or ridiculous?

Dispatch from Supervising Producer Sean Lee:

Note to Madonna’s A&R/Marketing folks: if you want to get a real opinion on Madge’s new music, don’t ask the MTV News execs graciously nodding their heads in your closed-door, super-secretive listening session. Ask us young, hardcore music geeks who are all gathered outside the big exec’s two-inch thick door, eavesdropping. Then you won’t have the cool kids, tastemakers and early adopters giving your baby less than its full due in blogs like this because it sounded all muffled.

Not that label reps of A-listers like Madonna really care about MTV’s opinion, per se…it’s sort of like big liquor distributors dropping off Hennessey at your local bar (oops did I just give my race away?). They aren’t asking if it will sell, they’re telling you where to position it for optimal lighting. And not that we can really give TOO much of an opinion anyway, because of the larger corporate issues still inherent in the “MTV” part of “MTV News.” Unless of course we’re talking about the Hottest MC’s in hip-hop…and thank goodness Madonna’s not attempting to rap these days because then I would truly be licensed to spank her still-amazingly well toned behind. Which she would probably like…but I digress. Or do I?

Album thoughts after the jump...

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We're a touch late with this but it's certainly worth recognizing. Singer and songwriter Stephen “Static” Garrett died Monday, according to his record label Blackground. Static passed away in his hometown Louisville, KY, and no cause of death was revealed. He was 33.

Static was well known in music circles, one of the talents behind Blackground's come-up with Aaliyah and Timbaland. He wrote such classics as “Pony” for Ginuwine and “Are You That Somebody” for Aaliyah. Most recently Garrett produced and co-wrote an upcoming Lil’ Wayne single called “Lollipop."

Back in the day, Static was part of the group Playa, though he was finally slated drop his own album, Suppertime, this year. The first single, already on the net, is called, “I Got My” and features, Weezy.

More here via Concrete Loop.