R&B SINGERS OUT & ABOUT: MARIAH CAREY, JENNIFER HUDSON, CHRISTINA MILIAN, ALICIA KEYS, MICHELLE WILLIAMS, AUBREY, DONNIE, J.LO &TONI BRAXTON…..

Mariah Carey held a party for husband Nick Cannon‘s 28th birthday at PURE nightclub in Las Vegas. The two certainly were living it up in Vegas over the last couple of days getting their affection on:

They’ve been shooting the video for Mariah’s new single ‘I Stay In Love’. Nick appears hinged that he’s not the one getting close to his wife in the vid. Apparently, he told radio personality Ryan Seacrest: “Dude, it’s not the easiest thing to direct your wife in bed with some cornball”. Alrighty then!

Jennifer Hudson attended ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ Los Angeles premiere earlier this week:

CONGRATS to Jen on having the no 2 album on Billboard and for selling close to 250K in first week sales. But where was Alicia Keys? It’s not like Ms Keys to miss out on an all-important movie premiere is it?

She was spotted on Tuesday afternoon leaving the Gucci store in New York City:

ALICIA KEYS DAILY

The singer was absent at the premiere simply because she was hitting up all the morning shows to promote her latest single ‘Superwoman’.

Christina Milian stays looking cute when she spotted making her way to dinner at Beso Restaurant in Hollywood this week:

CELEBUTOPIA

Aw, how cute does she look? The singer was seen with her sister Danielle. Or Elizabeth. I couldn’t tell you which one exactly. They celebrated the premiere of Christina’s new single ‘Us Against The World’ which premiered on Myspace on Monday. I’m starting to realise what a fanatastic song it really is.

Michelle Williams was spotted on the red carpet of the “M” by Megu Lounge Launch Party in the NYC on Tuesday:

Does anyone realise that Michelle’s album ‘Unexpected’ actually dropped on Tuesday? No one finds it shady that Michelle had little promotion this week whilst Matthew Knowles went all out for Beyonce‘s single premieres yesterday? Hmmmm…..

Donnie Klang and Aubrey O’ Day attended the 70th Anniversary of Bowlmor Lanes:

Aubrey was also spotted getting lippy with her dog as she showed her support for Presidential candidate Barack Obama. She seems to be enjoying her ‘one-woman-show’ as of late.

Jennifer Lopez attended Elle magazine’s 15th annual Women in Hollywood tribute to honor seven noteworthy women in the entertainment business, earlier this week:

Looking older in the face but still glamourous and elegant.

Toni Braxton was spotted with husband Keri Lewis and her “DWTS” partner Alec Mazo at Mr. Chow restaurant in Beverly Hills. They all went out to celebrate the singers 42nd birthday:

GAWKER

Hmmmm, something doesn’t look quite right about Toni’s face. All the same, I’m rooting for her.

♫ THE NEW MUSIC ROUND-UP: TEAIRRA MARI, CRAIG DAVID, JENNIFER HUDSON, J. HOLIDAY, RYAN LESLIE, LLOYD & DONNIE KLANG……

Sooooo much new music has leaked over the last week or two and I don’t even know where to begin. So I’m going to have a new feature on here called ‘The New Music Round-Up’ which will comprise of a bunch of new songs that have surfaced.

In this post, I’ll sum up what I think of the tracks with one word: HOT, NOT or ON THE FENCE. “Hot” means that I totally feel the song. “Not” means that I don’t like it. “On The Fence” means I can’t decide whether I like the song or not. I’ll also give a bit of insight into the song and where it may come from….

♫ TEAIRRA MARI: THE TRUTH

HOT!

The song title is also the name of her forthcoming album ‘The Truth’ which will hit stores in early 2009.

♫ CRAIG DAVID: INSOMNIA

NOT!

Sounds too much like Chris Brown‘s ‘Forever’ which I hate with a passion. And there goes the dreaded vocoder! I’m disappointed because Craig is so talented so it kind of upsets me that he’d put out something so gimmicky to win some popularity. An alleged track taken from his forthcoming Greatest Hits release.

♫ JENNIFER HUDSON: FOR REAL

HOT!

This is a bonus track from Jennifer’s latest debut.

♫ THE WAY IT WAS: J. HOLIDAY

HOT!

J. Holiday is currently in the studio recording a new album. This is a nice track but it doesn’t beat ‘Fly’.

♫ RYAN LESLIE FEAT KERI HILSON: ADDICTION

HOT!

Keri kills Cassie vocally, but Cassie did the song more justice because this type of song is more her style than Keri’s. Cassie features on the official version.

♫ LLOYD: NOBODY BUT ME

ON THE FENCE!

This is a track that didn’t make the finalised cut of latest album ‘Lessons In Love’.

♫ DONNIE KLANG FEAT AUBREY: SUITE 22

NOT!

A rejected cut from Donnie’s latest album ‘Just A Rolling Stone’, and rightly so!

PERFORMANCE ROUND-UP: LEONA LEWIS & JENNIFER HUDSON…..

Leona Lewis performed a variety of songs from her album ‘Spirit’ for Clear Channel’s ‘Stripped’ series. We’ve never seen Leona perform ‘I Will Be’, so here’s the performance below:

For the very first time, Leona also performed her brand new UK single ‘Forgive Me’ which you can watch here. She also performed ‘Bleeding Love’ and ‘Better In Time’, but we’ve seen thousands of those already. She did a great job performing both songs live, but I actually prefer the studio version of ‘Forgive Me’.

Here’s yet another performance from Jennifer Hudson when she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel last week. This time she performed a new song called ‘If This Isn’t Love’:

A bit boring but nice performance.

PERFORMANCE ROUND-UP: ALICIA KEYS, LEONA LEWIS, JENNIFER HUDSON & DANITY KANE…..

Alicia Keys performed her latest single ‘Superwoman’ earlier this morning live on Regis and Kelly:

Niiice.

Danity Kane performed their smash ‘Damaged’ at the Declare Yourself event last month:

Remember to tune into Making the Band 4 Season 3 Season Finale tomorrow at 9 pm on MTV.

Jennifer Hudson performed her latest single ‘Spotlight’ Live on Jimmy Kimmel last week:

If I posted this already then mad apologies.

Leona Lewis performed ‘Better In Time’ last week on the talent show America’s Got Talent:

Yes. I know all about her brand new performances that she did for Stripped. I was going to post them but all the vids were taken off YouTube. I’ll post them once they become available again.

R&B SINGERS OUT & ABOUT…..

Jennifer Hudson paid a visit to 106 & Park earlier this week in NYC, where she did further promo for her new album which was released this week. It appeared that Jen was doing everything she could to show off her blingin’ engagement ring:

After the last set of hideous pictures, I have to say Jen scrubs up pretty well. But um, never allow somebody to see your wig lining. It’s never a good look when you can see the real hair tucked underneath. Other than that, she looked good. Then again, she did put in an appearance on TV. She was seen making her departure from the 106 studio’s and seems all smitten at her engagement: “It was a big deal… I got a beautiful ring and I got him. I had no clue at all… We went to the beach during the day and he blindfolded me… and he gave me a purple shovel, because purple’s my favorite color… and I had to dig. I ended up digging through all this sand. When I found it, it was like a bunch of beautiful cards… one related to the other, and the last one said, ‘Look around, take the moment in, turn around and I have a gift for you”. SOURCE. That purple shovel will surely come in handy when she’ll need to do further digging of her own one day. Things just seem to be happening waaay too fast. And no one is questioning why her relationship with regular ole boy came to an end considering that he was there before the fame and all. But date a suspect negro for less than a year and you’re ready to commit. Something’s not quite right there but congrats once again.

Keyshia Cole performed a gig at the Heineken Red Star Soul event this week, and looking really good in the process:

So when are we going to hear this new single? I’ve read countless times that Keyshia’s album is set for a late 2008 release but we’re in October now and Christmas is 11 weeks away. Wow, did I just say 11 weeks? I think I just did. Anyway, on the forthcomig project, Keyshia has worked with Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins, as well as songwriter Sean Garrett on the new album. In a recent interview, Keyshia says her new album will be more uplifting than the heartbreak music we’re use to hearing.

Mary J. Blige and Musiq Soulchild were seen shooting their brand new video ‘If You Leave’ in New York:

I love that song and I’m glad it’s getting the single treatment. The track is featured on Musiq’s forthcoming album ‘On My Radio’ which is set to drop on November 25th.

Yesterday, Solange Knowles was spotted in Paris enjoying the nightlife. She has been in the city of Fashion and Romance to participate in the festivities surrounding Paris Fashion Week’ 08:

Seems she’s over the fact that her latest album ‘Solange & The Hadley Street Dreams’ isn’t doing so well chart-wise. After being released 5 weeks ago, she’s strugging to even hit the 100k mark. Being Beyonce‘s lil sis was never going to be easy….

Usher was also spotted in Paris this week for Paris Fashion Week’ 08:

Usher’s latest album ‘Here I Stand’ may not have been the business but he certainly brought on the sexual swagger that made him who he is today in that new video of his. Only a video as good as ‘Trading Places’ can make you wanna have sex straight afterwards, lol.

Yesterday, Bad Boy artists Day 26 hit up the BBC Radio 1 studio’s in London:

It seems they’re trying to launch themselves over here. I’m not quite sure if they’ll be a success in the UK. I can’t even remember the last time we had a young black male R&B group dominate the chart. Not since Damage anyway. But I’d like to see them achieve over-the-pond success because they’re really talented….

JENNIFER HUDSON & ALICIA KEYS COVER ‘EBONY’…..

As part of their heavy promotional blitz for forthcoming movie ‘Secret Life of Bees’, R&B heavyweights Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson pose it up with their co-star Queen Latifah on the latest issue of ‘Ebony’. The photoshoot has an interesting heading that reads: ‘The Voices of America: A New Movement is taking over as stars and real people turn out to make history and change the world’…..

This issue appears to heavily follow up on the historic Presidential election in the next couple of weeks or so. Time is so creeping up like a snail on steroids. I sure hope as young voters, many of you took the time out to vote. Even if you haven’t voted in your life, educate yourself and vote, before it’s too late. Make a difference and be a part of history. Make your voice be heard. No presidential candidate is a guaranteed frontrunner and your vote can make all the difference. Don’t allow other people to decide for you and then you start to have regrets when your preferred presidential candidate doesn’t pull through. Can we do this? YES WE CAN!

THE ULTIMATE JENNIFER HUDSON POST…..

Jennifer Hudson released her self-titled debut album today, and the 27-year-old has been on her promotional rounds last week as well as this week. She was also spotted at JFK Airport this week and showed off her new engagement ring. Jen recently got engaged to reality TV personality David Otunga, better known as Punk on the VH1 competitive reality show I Love New York:

WOW. As for that frightening last pic (well, they’re all scary but that particular one is EXTRA skuuurrry) it looks like she just found out someone pissed in her cornflakes and she wanted to throw up in her mouth. Some folks should never leave the house without their slap. You just don’t know what damage you’ll cause, but hey, she got a man who loves her (or her money, lol) so I’m sure looking a H.A.M is the least of her worries. But damn! Check her out on her promo roll after the cut.

THE VIEW: INTERVIEW

THE VIEW: ‘SPOTLIGHT’ PERFORMANCE

JAY LENO: INTERVIEW

JAY LENO: ‘SPOTLIGHT’ PERFORMANCE

JENNIFER HUDSON: ‘JENNIFER HUDSON’ [ALBUM REVIEW]…..

Many American Idol singers who fail to take the coveted crown of America’s biggest talent search often record one album and disappear without trace. I actually watched that very season when Jennifer Hudson was kicked off half way through the live heats and there was a huge outcry. Folks were crying foul and declaring that the show was rigged as well as it being based more on popularity than actual talent. Whilst Jen had similar vocal chops to a younger and more poised Whitney Houston, her persona wasn’t conveyed enough or she didn’t allow it to come out in her performances which is probably what got her prematurely kicked off (she secured herself a seventh-place finish on the third season of American Idol in 2004). However, getting kicked off and not winning obviously worked in her favour. Had she won, she’d have been stuck in a shitty ass American Idol contract, would not have been cast for Dreamgirls and won that Oscar. As a result of that Oscar win, she would not have been in popular demand for a slew of high profile other movie roles (Secret Life of Bees, Sex In The City, Winged Creatures, etc). After her musical career took a backseat to her acting, the 27-year-old is finally releasing her self-titled debut album next week via J Records…..

The Ne-yo written single ‘Spotlight’ starts off the album on an extremely high note and is one of the album’s main highlights. The song is mad catchy with an ear-engaging piano melody and straddles with the concept of no longer wanting to be overshadowed by someone else. At first, I thought the song was kind of safe. I always assumed Clive Davis would try and mould Jen into having a similar sound indicative of his protege Whitney Houston during her heyday. That was pretty much accomplished with the song and the throwback feel that it has. I really wasn’t expecting this album to impress me in any way because the songs that ended up leaking prior to the album’s release date are songs I’ve ended up despising except for the heartfelt Robin Thicke-written ‘Giving Myself’. This particular track impressed me and finds Jen singing her heart out and pouring all her soul into the powerballad, like a woman truly touched by love. Matter of fact, it’s pretty compelling. Songs like this are cool provided that they’re restricted to one or two. Any more after that is tailing the line, at least for me. A ballad-heavy album full of love slush doesn’t really sit well with me and all in all would have been waaaay too predictable. But she does switches up, thankfully.

‘Pocketbook’ is definetely indicative of change and variation. The song is co-produced by Timbaland and Jim Beanz and features rapper Ludacris. That’s kind of funny and contradictory considering that Jen said she wouldn’t work with rappers on this album. I guess she had to succumb to what would give the album more commercial appeal sadly. But on the beatboxing production, Jen incorporates humour into the lyrics when she warns: ‘Don’t make me hit you wit my pocketbook’. The song is one of the weaker offerings on the album despite its wit and humour. As much as I tried to get into the song, it just didn’t capture me. And the Tim-contribution was one of those I was excited about the most. The Polow-Da Don-assisted ‘My Heart’ is also a cool midtempo but nothing overwhelming. ‘We Gon’ Fight’ sounds like a big R. Kelly/Syleena Johnson gospel-edged production. It’s a cool track but overall, I was feeling the lyrics most of all: “Like gangsters we gon’ strap up for this war”. Not what you’d really expect from Jen or on a song like this for that matter.

I totally love ‘Invisible’ though. It’s starts off with a nice piano-build up and then opens up into this huge bassy midtempo cut. Very Mary J Blige-esque that has that cross-over appeal about it as well. Another song that captured me was ‘Can’t Stop The Rain’ with it’s acoustic jangly guitars. All I know about it is that it’s Ne-yo‘s second written contribution to the album. I’m not sure who produced it but it definetely sounds like your typical overly-recycled Stargate production with the acoustic instrumentation and sparse handclaps. I could definetely over look that since it’s a nice song. But I was quite baffled at the T-Pain duet which lies in the album’s catastrophe, appropriately titled ‘What’s Wrong’. Ironically, collaborating on a ballad with T-Pain’s vocoded vocals was always going to be a recipe for disaster. I always thought Jen was better than this and didn’t think she’d be suckered in by T-Pain’s popularity to even have him on her album, never mind an actual album track.

Another song that I couldn’t really listen to for long was Jen and American Idol champ Fantasia screaming over their duet on ‘I’m His Only Woman’. The bluesy oldskool track is very reminiscent to Shirley Brown‘s ‘Woman to Woman’ but to me, there were just too much overly vocal saturation. However, she did come through for the R&B classic powerballad ‘You Pulled Me Through’ which she vocally nails. ‘If This Is Love’ is sounding like a more polished version of Keri Hilson‘s ‘Energy’ or the type of song that Energy should have been with its sparse piano riffs and nice melodies. Overall, it’s a gorgeous song. I wasn’t particularly understanding why ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’ was featured as a main album cut. It should have been a bonus track since it’s the song that was the huge momentum in the movie Dreamgirls two years ago as well as it being on the soundtrack. After all, the song is played out as hell and it’s not like we don’t know Jen can belt the hell out of a song. There are songs on the album that already display that. ‘Jesus Promised Me A Home’ pretty much emphasises what Jen is all about and the gospel uprisings was what has remained with Jen from day one. Overall, an inspirational yet powerful way to close off the album.

This album certainly shocked me because I was ready to trash it. There were SOME stunners and few lack luster tracks but the tracks that overwhelmed me outweighed those that were considered weak. Jen proved that she’s a true powerhouse and can take on a range of different musical directions. I was certainly expecting the album to be one dimensional. Having said that, this is a pretty strong and enjoyable debut from the American Idol alum and Oscar winner that Simon Cowell was once so quick to critisise.

Rating: 3.8/5

R&B SINGERS OUT & ABOUT + MARIAH CAREY TO RELEASE ‘I STAY IN LOVE’ AS NEXT SINGLE…..

Earlier today, Mariah Carey and husband Nick Cannon were seen arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport:

MARIAH DAILY

I am ecstatic to learn that my favourite song off Mariah’s latest album E=MC² is set to be released. That favourite song is ‘I Stay In Love’. It seems there was a change of heart after ‘Migrate’ was ditched at the last minute. The track is scheduled to go for adds at Top 40/Mainstream radio on Tuesday, October 21st. I actually saw this news this morning but was waiting on the very highly creditable MARIAH DAILY to put up the info.

Rihanna spent the last couple of days in London promoting latest single ‘Disturbia’. Here she was spotted on two occasions yesterday – leaving the ITV studio’s and the BBC studio’s after an interview on Radio One:

RIHANNA DAILY

Rihanna is missing boyfriend Chris already. The singer will shoot the video for T.I‘s latest single ‘Live Your Life’ during the first week of October in Los Angeles.

Solange Knowles has been spotted on several occasions in Milian, Italy. She attended the Giorgio Armani – MFW Womenswear Spring/Summer show as well as the Emporio Armani showcase:

She was seen posing it up with Giorgio Armani at the Katy Perry Showcase At D&G showroom yesterday in Milan. Solange is the official Armani Jeans ambassador. I have to say this is the best Solange has EVER looked.

Blu Cantrell, who has become the latest dosser lately was spotted at the Fox Tail Nightclub over the weekend:

Somebody, hit her up style so that she can bag herself another hit. Lawd knows whenever that was.

Kelly Rowland was also spotted lapping it up during Fashion Week in Milan this past weekend:

Not feeling Kelly’s garb.

Michelle Williams poses it up with Terrence Howard at the Niche Media Michigan Avenue Launch Party in Chicago over the weekend:

Michelle performed songs from her new album ‘Unexpected’, set to be released on Oct 7th.

Last week, the newlyweds were spotted leaving the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York after watching the hit musical In The Heights:

MARIAH DAILY

Wow. Mariah looks preggers. Fo real. But she’s looked like this before so I’m taking it she’s been eating good but wow, her face looks really bloated and her body is looking very stocky.

Newly engaged Jennifer Hudson was seen leaving the Newseum in Washington, D.C., where the singer performed her new single “Spotlight” live on Good Morning America last week:

Still rocking clothes that don’t accentuate her shape. The Oscar winner’s upcoming self-titled album is out Sept 30th. I’m not really that hyped after hearing the 4 songs that have leaked.

R&B SINGERS OUT & ABOUT: ‘AN EVENING OF STARS TRIBUTE TO PATTI LABELLE’…..

Yesterday, I posted the performances of Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia Barrino tributing the legendary Patti Labelle at ‘an evening of Stars Tribute to Patti LaBelle’ which went down at the Kodak Theater on September 13th, 2008 in Hollywood, California. R&B chicks were looking fly that night. Here’s a couple of flicks:

Letoya Luckett and Raven Symone looked nice. Raven looks like she’s losing weight again. Even Letoya looked cute. I guess this was one of her better days because lawd knows this chick isn’t very photogenic.

Fantasia Barrino and Jennifer Hudson were spotted before taking to the stage:

They totally rocked it. If you didn’t catch it, click here and if you have yet to listen to their latest duet, click here.