MICHELLE WILLIAMS ‘WE BREAK THE DAWN’….

Michelle Williams premiered her new lead single ‘We Break The Dawn’ on People.com earlier today, taken from her August-scheduled album Unexpected:

[NEW PROMO PHOTOSHOOT FOR UNEXPECTED]

MICHELLE WILLIAMS: WE BREAK THE DAWN
Michelle’s latest musical direction is definitely cohesive to the album title because she exceeded everyone’s expectations with We Break The Dawn. The upbeat track moves into the crossing-over field with its catchy dance-pop rhythms and synthy beat. This is a good track in fact. Michelle really has surprised everyone, to come from the gospel framework and to move into this unexpected pop territory is definitely an “unexpected” turn in deed. Judging by this track, I think there are many surprises to be unveiled yet from the underdog known as the former Destiny’s Child singer.

MARIAH CAREY HANGS UP ON RADIO 1….

Mariah did an interview with Radio One recently and when the interviewer said she sold over 80 million records, she was deeply insulted and hung up:

LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!! They cut her amazing achievements by half, so I can definitely understand why she’d be irritated by that.

CELEB SPOTTINGS: R&B SINGERS OUT & ABOUT….

Earlier today, Mariah Carey arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel in Paris to do a spot of promotion for forthcoming album E=MC²:

That outfit is very familiar. Oh wait, isn’t that the VERY SAME outfit Mariah wore at The Hills premiere a couple of days ago? You wouldn’t expect that from someone like Mariah. This is the very woman that has over a thousand shoes in her closet but yet chooses to rehash the same outfit in under a week. Or maybe she really likes the outfit, especially that pink jacket. Mariah will also be traveling to the UK and Germany next week to do more promotion before flying back to the States for American Idol (she’ll be mentoring and performing). Can’t believe the album will be dropping in exactly two weeks, which means we’ll hear it within one week. The album leak release is drawing closer and closer.

Usher was spotted giving the paps the middle finger when he departed Barney’s in Beverly Hills:

He must have forgotten to change his tampon that day. We all know Usher is the biggest drama queen around these parts. The wicked witch of the west got him real good!

Last night, British Soul singer Joss Stone performed a concert at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino:

This week, it was reported that Joss will indulge in a lesbian kiss in British movie Snapper, in which she plays a Red-Coat-style entertainer at a holiday camp.

MARIAH CAREY UNVEILS NEW TRACK ‘LOVE STORY’…..

Here is Mariah Carey in the studio layering vocals for a song called Love Story, which will be featured on her forthcoming album E=MC² (out April 15th):

In the footage, Mariah gives us an exclusive synopsis of the song. The gorgeous midtempo ballad which is produced by Jermaine Dupri definitely sounds like a winner, and that’s after listening to the ROUGH cut. Just imagine how the song will sound once we hear the fully mastered studio version. The song is very reminiscent to her previous cut ‘Joyride’ which was one of my favourite tracks from The Emancipation of Mimi.

CELEB SPOTTINGS: R&B SINGERS OUT & ABOUT // INFO ON CHRIS BROWN’S RE-RELEASE….

UPDATE: ADDITIONAL PICTURES ADDED.

Since being struck down with flu a couple of weeks ago, we haven’t been seeing much of Janet Jackson but the youngest Jackson sibling finally coerced herself out of hiding to attend the Nickelodeon’s 2008 Kids Choice Awards held at the Pauley Pavilion on March 29, 2008 in Westwood, California:

Janet is taking me back to her ‘All For You’ days with this look, but it’s good to see her looking fine and well again. At the event, the singer and Josh Peck presented the award for ‘Favourite Movie Actress’ to pregnant actress Jessica Alba.

Rihanna was also at the Awards looking more stunning than ever:

Absolutely pure hotness especially the hair and makeup. And her outfit was cute, although her shoes are mad crazy with the toothpick heels. I can imagine how she looked like a street lamppost being that she is already a natural 5’9 in height. However, she has just the perfect frame to carry it off. In fact, Rihanna could even add a modeling career to her expanding resume. The singer wasn’t nominated this year.

Rihanna’s beau Chris Brown was there, and the two decided not to be pictured together at such a public event:

…. but he posed it up with Heroes actress Hayden Pantierre. He won under the category of Male R8B Singer. Chris is on course to re-release his platinum plus-selling album Exclusive. The first single from the re-released repackaged Exclusive is titled Forever and Chris will shoot the video for it next week. The song is one of few new tracks that will be featured on the re-release. The heart throb singer is also considering putting his US tour DVD on the re-release. The new single Forever was produced by Polow Da Don and was penned by Chris himself and his songwriting team, the Graffiti Artists. Chris describes the track’s musical direction as “European, techno, house-type feel” in his bid to crossover to the pop realm. Originally, the Kanye West-featured Down, was slated to be the next single but the new track Forever has taken is place. To be honest with you, I am sick and tired of all these damn re-releases and it’s definetely a kick in the teeth to the fans who bought the album the first time round. But the DVD of his US tour is a good look.

Jordin Sparks was also there as well:

She looked pretty…. and bright.

Others that also attended the event included R&B King Usher (um yeah, I think he’s since proven himself for that title), his family and Hollywood actor Will Smith who brought along his two adorable kids Willow and Jaden:

I heart Will Smith. Usher and fam look really happy. Well, if my hubby was Usher and I never had to pay for shit, I’d be happy too.

Rihanna also performed at Ruby Skye for Believe Charity and met her fans with the Variety Children’s Charity of Northern California in San Francisco on March 28, 2008:

Rihanna really has been a great ambassador as of late. Anyway, an interesting tidbit. Did ya’ll know that Mary J Blige wasn’t the only one to turn down her hit single Umbrella? The word just got out that the track was also offered to Britney Spears but she rejected it as well. Mary turned it down because it was too “mainstream-sounding”. And Britney’s representatives sent it back saying it didn’t work for her.

LEONA LEWIS: MISSES GLASS….

Taken from the US version of Leona Lewis’s latest album Spirit, Misses Glass is one of two new tracks that we can finally listen to:

LEONA LEWIS: MISSES GLASS
The Mad Scientist-produced track is an uptempo pop number, which should give the heavily ballad-driven album the charisma that it lacked. Surprisingly, I am liking the song. Polishing the album with new music is also a good move and was done to appeal to the hard-cracking American market. Leona did exactly that this week with Bleeding Love topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart. And there’s no doubt in my mind that when her album drops on April 8th, she will still maintain her continuing success.

CELEB SPOTTINGS: R&B SINGERS OUT & ABOUT….

Promotion for Danity Kane’s latest album Welcome To The Dollhouse remained unturned last night. The group had an official album release party at The Bank Nightclub at The Bellagio Hotel and Casino Resort on March 28th in Las Vegas, Nevada:

That CD is most definitely album of the moment and stays getting heavy rotation. I hope it doesn’t have a big drop next week and that sales remain consistent.

Post-pregnancy Jennifer Lopez looked magnificent when she was spotted leaving a hair salon in New York yesterday:

Can you believe this woman popped out twins just over a month ago and looking like the pregnancy didn’t even happen? WOWSERS.

Last night, Alicia Keys took her As I Am European tour to Paris on March 28th:

It has since been confirmed that Teenage Love Affair WILL be the third single off Alicia’s latest album As I Am. The shooting of the video starts on April 2nd in New York City. Great. I love Teenage Love Affair but I’m also hoping that Lesson Learned and Wreckless Love become future singles before she wraps up the album for good.

DAY26 PERFORM NEW SINGLE ‘SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE’ ON 106 & PARK….

Day26 performed their second single Since You’ve Been Gone on BET’s 106 & Park this week to do further promotion for their self-titled debut album which is set for the no 1 position next week.

The chair routine was kinda corny but they sounded great especially their harmonizing towards the end. As I mentioned in my album review, Since You’ve Been Gone is one of the strongest tracks on the album. So I’m quite pleased that they’re releasing this as the next single.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS FIRST SINGLE TO PREMIERE ON MONDAY….

The promotion for Michelle’s third solo album Unexpected is now underway. Her new single will officially premiere on Monday. Matthew Knowles already had an album listening party for Billboard.com where he played tracks from the new album. They described the album’s overall sound as “synth-y, driving bass samples, electronic keys and bopping drums” and it will go in a more mainstream-pop direction (it seems everyone is going that route these days).

Here’s the exclusive news bulletin taken from her official website:

Michelle Williams will be releasing her new album titled Unexpected this summer! The album includes her brand new single “We Break the Dawn” which will be premiering on People.com on Monday, March 31st. Make sure to listen out for her explosive new sound. [SOURCE]

I look forwards to hearing the song in full, and thankfully, we don’t have to wait that long. Stargate, Rico Love, the Heavyweights, Wayne Wilkins, Andrew Frampton and SoulShock & Karl have all contributed towards the album’s production. It appears that Mr Knowles is doing all the things that he didn’t do for Kelly Rowland and now wants to put things right. I actually think Michelle will end up doing really well.

BEYONCE SPEAKS ON LEAKED TRACK ‘BEAUTIFUL NITEMARE’:

Beyonce (who features in the April 2008 issue of digital magazine Jack, left) has put out an official statement regarding a recently leaked track. Beautiful Nitemare hit the net 2 days ago:

“Yesterday, ‘Beautiful Nightmare,’ a demo I’ve been working on for possible inclusion on my next album, leaked on some websites. I want to thank all my fans for the positive response to the song, but I want to tell you that this is just a work in progress.

It is not my time to put out new music. If you really want to hear some really great music now, you have to support my girls Kelly, Michelle and my sister Solange. Kelly just re-released her album digitally in the US, so check out Ms. Kelly: Diva Deluxe. Michelle is about to put out the first single, ‘We Break The Dawn,’ from her album and Solange’s single, ‘I Decided,’ is already one of my favorites.”

That statement sounds more like Matthew Knowles to me especially when he’s been gagging YouTube ever since the song leaked. Plus, Beyonce hasn’t seen a book in ancient times. I guess this really means this really is the sound she’s going for on her new album. Oh yeah, it’s good to know she’s promoting her pals and sister especially since Kelly can’t breathe without the need to promote her at every given opportunity.