Fantasia to
release sophomore album

American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino will release her second album, Fantasia, to stores on December 12. Her first single, "Hood Boy," featuring Big Boi from OutKast, has already logged almost 100,000 hits on her MySpace page.

Other collaborators on the project include Missy Elliott, who returns to work with Barrino on three songs, as well as Swizz Beats, Diane Warren, and Babyface.

Her first album, Free Yourself, spent 10 weeks in the top 10 on the Soundscan R&B chart, and its first single, "I Believe," debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first time in Billboard's singles chart history that an artist debuted at the top with his or her first solo record. Barrino has since been nominated for a Grammy, an American Music Award, an NAACP Image Award, a Soul Train Award, and a Teen Choice Award. (The Advocate)