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Madonna announced during an interview in Venice, Italy (where she is currently promoting her film W.E ) that her 12th studio album will be released in 2012!. The first single from the album will be out sometime in February/March. Madonna confirmed she started “a little bit of work in the studio for the forthcoming album” and “will continue recording in New York, until the end of the year,” when she returns to the United States. Madonna’s last release in 2008, Hard Candy saw her collaborate with Justin Timberlake & Timbaland.

But this time around she’s enlisted Black Eyed Peas songwriter/producer, Jean Baptiste Jouame to help her and rumour has it she’s been working with DJs-A-Track and David Guetta. We can’t wait to see Madonna back on on the music scene, especially since critics have bashed Madonna’s second directorial effort in W.E. In other Madonna news, before she took of for the Venice Film Festival she treated boy-toy Brahim Zaibat’s family with a £50,000 vacation at the Hotel Du Cap in Cap d’Antibes, France. She sure knows how to win over the family!