Marc Broussard talks 'Water,' preps new album

Soul singer Marc Broussard [ tickets ] isn't afraid to cash in on a little publicity. After his song "Must Be the Water" served as the theme for TNT's on-air promotion of the 2008 NBA All-Star festivities, he decided to name his new EP after the tune. "It was going to be the title of my next major-label big-release full album," Broussard said during a recent phone interview with LiveDaily. "But I wanted to capitalize on the advertising money that was being spent using my song, so we put out the 'Must Be the Water' EP." The EP, which was released Feb. 19, features five songs: the title track, "Try Me," "Someone You Know," "It's Over Now" and "Y'all Ain't Ready." It was produced by Justin Tocket, Broussard's former bass player, and Calvin Turner, his current bass player. "We recorded my last soul project together with those guys, as well," Broussard said. "We had a really great experience working on that record together. When I signed a new deal with Atlantic Records, I did everything I could to make sure that we would be able to work together again. It was really easy. Justin and Calvin both are really good at what they do."Justin's the guy who's going to get the sounds dialed up from twistin' the knobs on that console that is so huge. I have no idea what it does. Calvin is the music guru. He's a young Quincy Jones, if you will. He does all the horn arranging and string arranging. He's a genius when it comes to that stuff. They work really well together. They have very different takes on what they're going to be doing that day but, at the same time, they work really well together.""Must Be the Water" is Broussard's debut release for Atlantic Records. A one-time Island Def Jam signee, he left that label for Atlantic to reunite with the team that signed him at Island, including North American Chairman and CEO of Recorded Music for Warner Music Group Lyor Cohen. WMG is Atlantic's parent company."They're an amazing label," Broussard said. "Actually, from top to bottom, the same people I signed with at Island Records four years ago are at Atlantic. Lyor Cohen was the CEO of Island Def Jam when I signed my first record deal with Island. He left the company shortly after I signed, and subsequently the entire staff kind of followed suit. It was only natural for us to want to work together again."Three weeks ago, Broussard wrapped up production on his debut full-length for Atlantic, which tentatively is self-titled."We're just waiting on the thumbs up from the label to go ahead and finish mastering. Once that comes up, I would suggest the record dropping some time in July or August," he said.