Will.i.am is not one to rush perfection. After nearly 4 years, the singer is putting the finishing touches on his new solo album #willpower, which features superstars like Justin Bieber, LMFAO, Ne-Yo, and Nicole Scherzinger.

For the final version, due out this fall, will.iam managed to take the nearly 300 songs he had written over the last few years and narrow them down to the twelve best. Will even says his second solo album is some of his best work, rivaling the Black Eyed Peas 2009 album, The E.N.D. Though it definitely seems a lot harder to categorize.

“There’s classical s***, like just me and a guitar and an orchestra or me with just an orchestra and a kid’s choir,” he told Billboard. “There’s some ghetto, ugly, dirty stuff. And then there’s dance stuff, global world stuff and, like, avant garde, left-of-center, for-art’s-sake music that has nothing to do with getting played on the radio. I’m just art-ing out. It’s pretty diverse.”

Though the Black Eyed Peas are currently on hiatus, will.i.am says the group will put out another album, he just doesn’t know when yet. For now though, the singer is trying to figure out what a solo tour will be like without the other three.

“I can’t just go out with a bunch of background dancers to make up for the fact Fergie, Ap and Taboo aren’t there,” he says, “So I have to come up with a different idea and invent something to make people say, ‘Dang, that was better than what you were doing with the Peas!’ That won’t be easy, but if I can’t do that, I’m staying home.”

For a taste of what will.i.am’s new record might sound like, watch his video for his latest single, “This Is Love” featuring Eva Simons below.

- Shannon Carlin, CBS Local