The pop trio LFO [ tickets ] is setting out on a 13-date tour to promote its J Records debut, "Life Is Good." Four of the shows are gigs opening for Britney Spears [ tickets ].

The tour begins on Nov. 29 in Dayton, Ohio, and wraps up on Dec. 19 in Los Angeles. Following the jaunt, LFO will remain in L.A. to film the video for the album's second single, the title track. Radio will hear two different versions of "Life Is Good"--one that features a guest appearance by the hip-hop group M.O.P., and the other with a rap verse from LFO's Rich Cronin that he penned after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The album "Life Is Good" is LFO's sophomore effort, but its first for J Records, founded by ex-Arista Records leader Clive Davis. The group's self-titled 1999 debut album was issued by Arista Records.

LFO's Devin Lima said that after Davis was ousted from Arista, the label stopped supporting the act. LFO asked to be released from its contract, but it could not immediately sign with J because of legal problems with former manager Lou Pearlman. (Pearlman managed 'NSync and Backstreet Boys until they sued to get out of their contracts.) As a result, LFO financed "Life Is Good" on its own.

"If we waited to record an album [using the label's] money, we probably would have started the album [this spring]. We had to take care of ourselves. We wrote the album--60 songs. I wrote here, Rich wrote there. Brad [Fischetti, the third LFO singer] wrote everywhere, everywhere," Lima said with a laugh.

The album is a marked difference from the light pop--namely the hits "Summer Girls" and "Girl on TV"--that appeared on "LFO." "Life Is Good" is more rock-oriented, with strong rap influences thanks to guest appearances by M.O.P. and De La Soul. "Erase Her," however, is an obvious nod to Duran Duran.

"I don’t know how we came about it," Lima said about the band's new sound. "I just tried to do different stuff on the album. We didn’t want to do 15 'Summer Girls....' We didn't know what was going to happen. We just wrote."

Besides the fall/winter concerts, LFO will also appear on Dick Clark's “New Year’s Rockin' Eve" on ABC, and at the National Cheerleading Tournament in Orlando, Fla., on March 30.