Ashanti

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ASHANTI'S 'DECLARATION' DUE IN JUNE

*June 3rd marks the arrival of Ashanti's new album "The Declaration," a collection of songs tied together under the theme "womanhood and empowerment," according to Billboard.com.

"It's been a long time coming for change, and the timing was just right," she tells Billboard.com. The album "touches on those low points in life that determine whether you're strong enough to go on. It reminds women that they can't let things get the best of them."

The Inc./Universal Motown project includes the first single "The Way That I Love You," which is currently No. 18 on Billboard's Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Robin Thicke, Jermaine Dupri, LT Hutton, Babyface, and Pharrell Williams are among the set's producers.

"Declaration" is expected to feature "Mother," inspired by Ashanti's close bond with her own mother, and "Click," which she says is "a relationship record done from a female point of view. It's about when you're trying to get in contact with someone you're seeing but he's not answering, and by the time he calls you feel like, 'I don't want to talk to you now.'"

Ashanti is also working on a teen-skewed lifestyle book titled "Ashanti Style" via Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, but no release date has been announced yet.