#1) Brandy Human
#6) Keyshia Cole A Different Me
#7) Beyonce I Am... Sasha Fierce
#9) Michelle Williams Unexpected In honor of Barbra Streisand, Beyonce performed "The Way We Were" at this year's Kennedy Center Honors, which aired tonight. Beyonce looked fabulous & sounded gorgeous.
The Pussycat Dolls "Top Of The World": This Pussycat Dolls track serves as the theme song for the new MTV series The City. It's right up their alley (no pun intended...) & very enjoyable.
Beyonce "God Bless The USA": Beyonce has recorded her very own rendition of this American classic. It's a very solid effort, as would be expected from her.
Click the single cover above to listen to Christina Milian's "Us Against The World (Jason Nevins Remix)," which will be released digitally January 20th. This is the remix of the first single off her forthcoming album Dream In Color. I'm guessing this is a move to spark some more interest in the song right around the video premiere, which is a good idea. Not to mention the remix is extremely hot! Btw, how is it that Christina manages to look even better as time goes by? I thought you couldn't improve on perfection!
Check out Ciara's cover of Beyonce's new single "Diva" above. The track will be featured on a new Fantasy Ride mixtape that Ciara is set to release as a prequel to her upcoming third album of the same name. Also included on the mixtape will be the "Slow Down" remix which features 50 Cent & can be heard HERE. I don't know about you guys, but I'll take it! Still, I can't say I prefer her "Diva" cover to the original. In related news, Ciara announces in the above video that her new single "Never Ever" will be released on January 5th. 2009, here we come!
As we approach January 27th, the release date of Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes' posthumous solo album Eye Legacy, the tracklisting for the set has surfaced:The never-failing vocals of Christina Aguilera are here to help close out 2008. During her Stripped era, Christina performed both "Dirrty" & "Fighter" at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. Not only am I a fan of her dark-haired look during this time period, I also quite like the way her material allowed her to show off her best asset: her voice. Christina dominated the stage with special guests Redman & Dave Navarro. Ah, reminiscing.
Keri Hilson performed "Can You Do It" (I'm not sure about the song title) as well as "The Way I Are" for Rolling Out TV. The former, which I like, is supposedly taken from her upcoming debut album In A Perfect World.... Considering the setting, Keri was very entertaining in this performance.
Ashanti performed "Shine" on Good Day New York recently. "Shine" is a track off her latest album The Declaration & is featured in the new Will Smith movie "Seven Pounds." All things considered, she sounded great.
UPDATE: Check out Ashanti performing a portion of her version of "The Christmas Song"--
Leona Lewis "Run"
The Pussycat Dolls "I Hate This Part"
Leona Lewis & The Pussycat Dolls perform their latest hits overseas ... I feel like I've already posted this. During the Christmas episode of Top Of The Pops, Leona Lewis sang "Run" & PCD performed "I Hate This Part." We may have seen it all before, but at least they did a good job.
Little Drummer Boy
Feliz Navidad/Joy To The World
Mandisa did a little promotion for her holiday album It's Christmas just in time for Christmas earlier this week. She performed "Little Drummer Boy" & her medley of "Feliz Navidad" & "Joy To The World." It's Christmas is surprisingly good & out now. Note: The "Little Drummer Boy" performance unfortunately cuts off at the end.
Mariah Carey ft. Jermaine Dupri & Lil' Bow Wow "All I Want For Christmas Is You (So So Def Remix)"
Destiny's Child "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer"
Mariah Carey "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (Anniversary Mix)"
Keyshia Cole performed her rendition of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" on last night's A Home For The Holidays special. She sounded & looked incredible! Keyshia's third album A Different Me is out now & her version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is currently available on iTunes. Note: The sound on the video isn't very loud, so I apologize.
One of my most anticipated releases of 2009 will come in the form of India.Arie's fourth studio album Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics (February 10th). The cover for the disc, which is featured above, is fitting. Its tracklisting has also surfaced today & is included below: 1. Intro: Grains
2. Therapy (ft. Gramps Morgan)
3. Yellow (ft. Terrell Carter)
4. Chocolate High (ft. Musiq Soulchild)
5. He Heals Me
6. Interlude: Grains
7. Pearls (ft. Dobet Gnahore)
8. River Rise
9. Psalms 23 (ft. MC Lyte)
10. Better Way (ft. Keb Mo)
11. Interlude: Grains
12. Long Goodbye
13. Ghetto
14. The Cure (ft. Sezen Aksu)
15. Outro: Grains
[Source]
The underrated American Idol contestant LaKisha Jones recently performed "The First Noel" on a special called The Spirit Of Christmas. She did an outstanding job. LaKisha is set to release her debut album on February 17th.
Check out this brand new trailer for "Monsters Vs. Aliens," the new Dreamworks Animation film that will be released in 3D on March 27th. The more I see on this movie, the more excited I am to see it!
Diva
Halo
Both Beyonce & Sasha Fierce bring us new videos today. Sasha is back in full force with "Diva." I really enjoyed the "Diva" video. The dancing is on-point. Beyonce has "Halo" to offer. Although I was pleased with the return of color, I found the video for "Halo" boring &, dangit, too bright! Also, what's with the actor anyway? We already have set in our minds that she's with Jay-Z, so I don't buy it. I will say, however, that I find these two single choices stronger than the first two. Check out their single covers below:
The Pussycat Dolls used the finale of The Hills as a means of starting promotion back up here in the States. PCD performed their latest single "I Hate This Part," which is taken from their sophomore album Doll Domination. Strange setting aside, I really liked this performance! I hope "I Hate This Part" brings them a bit of success again. It's a shame "Whatcha Think About That" didn't do anything for them, but at least we got a great video out of it!
The first single off Toni Braxton's forthcoming debut on Atlantic Records has finally surfaced. The Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins-produced "Get Loose" is a hot uptempo. It's so great to have Toni back--I just can't stop saying that! I look forward to seeing the video for this song & to her album, which is due early next year.
Here's a little something else to get you into the Christmas spirit. Paris Bennett was recently welcomed by the San Diego Men's Chorus to perform "Oh Holy Night" with them. A very excellent showing indeed. Paris' Christmas album A Royal Christmas is available now.
Britney Spears & her sons, Jayden & Sean, wish all her fans happy holidays again with this greeting card. I just can't help but find her kids adorable!
My favorite American Idol contestant ever, Vonzell Solomon, is featured among other Idol also-rans on the new holiday compilation album American Christmas. Vonzell covers "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" on the set. You can purchase her track as well as any from the other contributors just in time for Christmas by clicking the cover!
"Sidekick" is the new single from Natasha's upcoming debut album. Natasha initially came onto the scene a couple years ago, but her falsetto singing style didn't seem to catch on. Now, she's switched things up a bit in hopes of making it big. I had never heard of Natasha, but I looked into her & although her older material is alright, "Sidekick" is much better. She's also got moves, which I like. I find it interesting that Jive Records would sign an artist so similar to Ciara, but as long as Natasha finds her own, that's good enough for me.
On January 27th, Rihanna will release Good Girl Gone Bad: The Remixes, which is just that: remixes of songs taken from her latest album Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded. While I've included the cover (above) & tracklisting (below) for the set, those with good memories will recall that a deluxe edition of GGGB with a bonus remix disc has already been released. In fact, it appears that the majority of the material on this new remix album is identical to that of the deluxe edition remix disc. In any case, each track & its remixer is featured below:
Oh, she made it hot like fire. When Beyonce took the stage at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards to perform her brand new single "Ring The Alarm," no one knew quite what to expect. Like she always does though, Beyonce put on quite a show by lowering herself down from the ceiling, which has practically become a tradition, doing her now-infamous dance routine, & ending up back above the crowd. Beyonce is a rare combination of an excellent vocalist & a phenomenal performer, which is displayed very well with this performance. Not to mention I've always loved "Ring The Alarm."
Leona Lewis FINALLY performed something different as the musical guest on The Late Show With David Letterman recently. She sang "I Will Be," which will serve as the next US single off her debut album Spirit. Leona sounded incredible & I'm so glad we got to hear her perform an entire song for a change. These single choices they are making for us are still driving me crazy, but I guess you can't have everything. I also think it's funny that they schedule Leona to make the TV rounds everytime she releases a new single as if it can't be successful all by itself. I just have too much time to think about it ... I hate slow days.
And the long preparation process for Ciara's third album Fantasy Ride continues. The next single has been announced as "Never Ever," a track that features Young Jeezy. The song was produced by Polow Da Don & Elvis “BlacElvis” Williams. "Never Ever" is set to hit radio early in the new year, while Fantasy Ride will follow with a spring release. It's upsetting that "Go Girl" didn't light up the charts, especially with that hot video, but hopefully this new single will do the trick. I still have faith that Ciara can bring it.
It's just about time to start getting pumped about what 2009 will have to offer & India.Arie is making that easy to do. She already has another single out off her upcoming album Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics (February 10th). It's called "Therapy" (cover art to the left) & features Gramps Morgan. Both "Therapy" & "Chocolate High" are available on iTunes now & can be heard HERE. I really can't wait for this new project from her!
Beyonce stars in "Obsessed," a thriller opening April 24th, the trailer for which can be viewed above. The film, which also stars Idris Elba, Ali Larter, & Jerry O'Connell, looks like a winner. If ever there were a movie I'd wanna see with Beyonce in it, this might just be it!
Christina Aguilera covers the January issue of the Swedish version of Cosmopolitan magazine. She looks wonderful! I would like to take this opportunity to wish Christina a happy 28th birthday.
The Pussycat Dolls - Medley
Leona Lewis "Run"
The Pussycat Dolls & Leona Lewis performed overseas recently at this year's Royal Variety. The Pussycat Dolls performed a medley of "Don't Cha" (I really hate that song), "I Hate This Part," & "When I Grow Up." I really enjoyed their performance, but I just can't get into "I Hate This Part" when it's incorporated into a dance medley, ya know? It's a gorgeous song for Nicole, but it can't be fully appreciated like this. Nevertheless, Britney had better watch it on her upcoming tour because these girls can put on a show! By the way, the last minute or so of the PCD is pointless. Leona's performance was about the same as normal, but that's a good thing with her. You can really tell she gives her all while singing. I must say though: the whole royalty thing seems weird to me.
"Gotta Be Somebody" is the first single off Nickelback's already released new album Dark Horse. Yep, you read that right. Almost a month to the day since their ALBUM featuring this lead single was released, we have the video for the song. I am dumbstruck at the fact that they waited so long to release this video. I guess it's alright, but not really worth the wait.
Christina Milian covers one of the two sides of the new issue of Rap-Up magazine. She looks great as usual. Look out for Christina's new album in the spring."Sooner Or Later" is the third single off N.E.R.D.'s latest album Seeing Sounds. This isn't really the material I seek from them, but I like it. And I suppose the video is relevant.
Britney Spears performed the first single "Womanizer" off her new album Circus (out now) in Japan again at the NTV Best Artist 2008 show. I know nothing about the show, I still have no clue what's up with the English subtitles, & I couldn't tell you why she insists on continuing to perform "Womanizer," but I will say that people aren't giving Britney enough credit. She does a heckuva lot more than most people do on stage to begin with.
Check out the album cover for Coming Back To You, Melinda Doolittle's upcoming debut album (February 3rd), above. I like it & I bet it will fit the music.
"I Hate This Part"
Interview
The Pussycat Dolls continued their overseas promotion by performing their latest single "I Hate This Part" & doing an interview on Wetten Dass. This is easily their best performance of the song so far thanks to the dance break towards the end. What's with this show anyway? The performances on it are always top-notch. I do wonder though why we are down a Doll. Ah well, one less back-up dancer to teach moves to.
Part 1
Part 2
Britney Spears shot a segment for The Ellen DeGeneres Show last week with Ellen that aired today. The pair went door to door bringing holiday cheer to the neighborhood. Comedy at its best! Gotta love Ellen. Britney Spears' new album Circus is out now!
John Legend performed his second single "Everybody Knows" off his latest album Evolver (available now) again on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. It's pretty much the same performance we saw the other day.
A few new promotional photos of Melinda Doolittle have surfaced. She looks great! Her long-awaited debut album Coming Back To You will arrive on February 3rd.
UPDATE: Leona Lewis' latest UK single "Run" has now been released as a digital single in the US (most likely by popular demand). You can take advantage of this opportunity & click on the single cover to the left to download "Run" now!
The cover of Lily Allen's upcoming sophomore album It's Not Me, It's You (February 10th) is above. I like it. Somebody's flexible!
If there were ever one artist that brings it with every album, it's Keyshia Cole. Her ever-changing image & crazy family aside, Keyshia never fails musically. Despite the confusion caused by her unfortunate lead single choice of "Playa Cardz Right" with 2Pac, Keyshia does change it up a bit with her appropriately-titled new album A Different Me. For someone like me who loved both Keyshia's The Way It Is & Just Like You albums, it's a change that feels somewhat unnecessary. Still, I went into A Different Me with an open mind & it all thankfully worked out for the best."A Little Too Not Over You" is the second single off David Archuleta's self-titled debut album, which is excellent & out now. Look at him being all dramatic! I like the video & it tells the story of the song well. It's an amazing song too.
Britney Spears performed "Womanizer" on HEY!HEY!HEY! in Japan recently. This was one of her better offerings of the song, but I think it's about time to lay this one to rest & get on with "Circus." Is it just me or shouldn't the subtitles have been in Japanese? Anyway, make sure to pick up your copy of Britney's new album Circus today!
John Legend performed the second single "Everybody Knows" off his latest album Evolver, which is available now, following a short interview this morning on The View. It was a worthy offering vocally, but this is more the John Legend I don't particularly care for.
Beyonce "If I Were A Boy"
Craig David & Alex Ubago "Walking Away"
This year's Premios 40 Principales, or Top 40 Awards according to Google Translate, were held recently in Spain. Beyonce & Craig David both performed at the show. As for Bee, I guess big hair is officially back in! She sounded good though, as did Craig, though I can't say I understand the musical taste of Spain if you catch my drift.
Here's our first look at the making of Christina Milian's music video for "Us Against The World." Although it seems like the video should've been out for a while now, it won't premiere until the beginning of next year. I'm digging the many looks Christina has going on, so hopefully the video will be hot. Look out for her new album in the spring.
Heartless / Pinocchio Story
Love Lockdown
Kanye West was the musical guest on last night's episode of SNL. He performed the two singles "Love Lockdown" & "Heartless" off his latest album 808s & Heartbreak (out now). I will say that I liked how he incorporated "Pinocchio Story" into "Heartless."
I'll say it once, I'll say it a million times: no matter how much we may be too cool for them these days, there's no denying the entertainers the guys of *NSYNC were. Their vibrant performance of "Pop" at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, however, was more than just the usual song-&-dance. The boy band brought out none other than the King of Pop himself, Mr. Michael Jackson, to bust a move & show the youngsters how it's done. This made for what would become quite an unforgettable moment. And hey, I'd still take *NSYNC over Justin Timberlake any day.
If I Were A Boy
Listen (w/ X Factor winner Alexandra Burke)
Beyonce performed on this weekend's finale of The X Factor. She sang her UK #1 single "If I Were A Boy" off her newly released album I Am... Sasha Fierce & "Listen" with Alexandra Burke, who won the show that launched the career of Leona Lewis. I really like this arrangement of "Boy." Their performance of "Listen" was also top-notch. I haven't been a fan of Alexandra (or anyone for that matter) like I was when Leona was on the show, but she held her own in that duet. Congrats to her for winning.
Keyshia Cole discusses each track on her upcoming album A Different Me (December 16th) in the clip above. An interesting watch to say the least.
Lily Allen has covered Britney Spears' #1 hit "Womanizer." I really like it! Look out for Lily's new album It's Not Me, It's You to drop on February 10th.
Beyonce was a guest on France's Star Academy, where she performed her hit single "If I Were A Boy" off her recently released album I Am... Sasha Fierce. It's good not to be deprived of this woman's incredible talent for too long.
Finally, some promotional photos of Keyshia Cole have surfaced that are being used in anticipation of the December 16th release of her third album A Different Me. At least visually, this 'different' Keyshia is working out just fine. Booty shot aside, she looks incredible!
"Right Here (Departed)"
Interview
Brandy appeared on New York's The Morning Show With Mike & Juliet this morning. She performed "Right Here (Departed)," the first single off her new album Human, which I'm sure you've already purchased a copy ... or 3 of, & did a short interview. LOL at all the old people in the audience ... Brandy's for all ages, folks!
Looking for something to brighten your holiday? The incredibly talented & very underrated Brian McKnight has released his first Christmas album in 10 years & first studio album in two years with I'll Be Home For Christmas. The set features both classic tunes & original songs as well as collaborations with the likes of Josh Groban & Vince Gill, among others. Currently featured on iTunes' Discovery Download is the album track "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," which you can get for free HERE. If you like what you hear, make sure to purchase your copy of I'll Be Home For Christmas HERE today!
Usher & his wife Tameka (pictured) welcomed their second son on Wednesday. His name is Naviyd Ely Raymond & he was 5 lbs., 13 oz. He joins his brother Usher Raymond V, who turned 1 in November. My congratulations to the whole family.Brandy performed five songs during her BET special "Brandy: Just Human" last night. She sang "What About Us?" & "Full Moon" from the Full Moon album, "Long Distance," "Almost Doesn't Count," which is one of my favorite songs off her Never Say Never album, & "Right Here (Departed)." All of this was, of course, to promote her fifth studio album Human, which is out now & makes a wonderful gift for not only yourself, but (many of) your friends as well! I don't think I've ever heard B-Rocka perform anything off the Full Moon album, which is my favorite Brandy album after Human, & I was completely blown away. In fact, every single performance was flawless. Absolutely amazing. I'd just like to take a second to thank Epic Records for giving me (& countless other stars!) the best gift of 2008 by signing Brandy!
Britney Spears, along with her sons Sean & Jayden, sent out a very special Christmas message to all of her fans. Aww.
"Long Distance"
"Right Here (Departed)"
Interview
Brandy graced The Early Show with her presence this morning, where she performed both "Long Distance" & "Right Here (Departed)" off her new album Human, which is available now, & did a short interview. I'm really digging the live version of "Long Distance." I hope you haven't had enough Brandy yet because I sure haven't!
