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

Janet Jackson attended the Alexander McQueen Boutique opening in Los Angeles, last night. The singer showed up wearing a Japanese Kimono inspired gown, which coincidently contained the colours of her Def Jam label mate Mariah‘s latest album E=MC²:

The audacious dress that Janet wore is an actual Alexander McQueen creation. However, I don’t think the look quite works on Janet. The sleeves are waaaay too flowy and long and it just didn’t look right. Janet has also been locked in rehearsals for her forthcoming Discipline tour which will kick off this coming September.

Last night, Beyonce was spotted leaving Madison Square Garden after watching Kanye West‘s show. The singer tried to get with the summer blues with her neon yellow nails and Girl Scout-inspired green outfit:

She looked a hot mess, but then, this is Beyonce we’re talking about. Still, the singer was all smiles. I guess the high-waisted skirt will further fuel the rumours that she’s expecting her first baby. Kelly Rowland has meanwhile denied that Beyonce is preggers but her father won’t deny or confirm. Hmmmmm….

Chris Brown had a 19th birthday celebration at Rebel in New York City last night. The party was attended by girlfriend Rihanna and pals Teyana Taylor and Lil Mama amongst others. Dawn from Danity Kane was there with her man Que from Day26 as well as Day26 singer Willie:

Chris has really let himself go. And he really needs to sort out his lil skin problem. I know he must be thrilled to bits that he’s sleeping with Rihanna so as a result, I assumed that it would have given him more reason to keep himself neat and well groomed. His appearance in the past was never so ragged. He was always fresh from a sharp haircut and he always looked clean and well put together. He use to care. Now it’s like, he doesn’t care at all. I adore Chris but he was looking like a right tramp at his own party. If this is the effect Rihanna has on him, maybe they’re not so good for each other after all.

Yesterday, Rihanna and Chris were seen heading back to their Manhattan hotel after she spent the evening rehearsing for an upcoming show:

As usual, Rihanna is soooo put together and stylish and fashionable.

Anyway, yesterday night, Chris joined Rihanna on stage at the Glow In The Dark tour, where they both performed the Umbrella remix:

Cute. Beyonce and hubby Jay-Z really enjoyed the show.

Mariah Carey REALLY has new hubby Nick Cannon all sprung like a dog on a lead. It’s no secret that Mariah has a bathroom in her NY home in dedication to the furry kitty collection HELLO KITTY. Apparently, Nick was spotted in a Hello Kitty store buying the goods for his beloved wife Mariah in Beverley Hills yesterday:

I laughed really loud at seeing these pics. Very romantic I guess. Most men wouldn’t even be seen dead in a HELLO KITTY store but …. in the name of love I guess. I’ve noticed this dude is CONSTANTLY in a suit now. He obviously wants to appear all smart and conservative since being married to Mariah. This is the kind of effect that should take place with ANY man in love with his lady. You change, grow up and do what it takes to meet certain standards.

Last night, Danity Kane‘s Aubrey and D. Woods attended Entertainment Weekly/Vavoom Upfront Party which went down at the The Bowery Hotel in New York City:

Something about D. Woods irks the shit out of me. I just can’t put my finger on it. Aubrey stays looking like ….. Aubrey.

Diddy also attended Kanye’s Glow In The Dark after party last night. So did his rumoured jump-off chick Cassie:

Things are REALLY hotting up in deed. They even wore matching brown leather jackets. On Diddy’s expense I s’pose.

WENN // SPLASH // WIREIMAGES // INFDaily

WHY DIDN’T THEY SELL?

I look at today’s record industry like the trappings of a loan shark to being in debt. You get a budget but the record label is hoping that all funds will be recouped back in record sales. It’s like taking a gamble really on both accounts. A gamble has already been taken the day you get signed, and then, when you’re given a budget, you have to gamble with certain decisions you make to ensure that it’s used wisely (the producers you pick, costumes, etc).

However, if that mission fails miserably, you get dropped and fade away and never become heard of again. In fact, it’s not all sugar and candy being a pop star. You’re no different to being a sales person knocking on somone’s door trying to sell something. You really need to have marketability prowess in your skill to sell a product. You really need to know how to sell yourself as a sales person, or, you just won’t sell and you’ll lose your job. Some people have the gift of the gab and others don’t. Take Rihanna for instance. Not the greatest of singers; I can admit that. But her beauty and cleverly marketed image and well-packaged pop songs have taken her far, and her promo has been groundbreaking. However, when the record label doesn’t put much effort into your promotion, well, what was the point? And that’s been exactly the case with poor Tiffany Evans who only sold 4,700 copies of her debut album last week placing her at #134 on the Billboard 200. It didn’t matter that the 15-year-old is much talented than her peers and that her album was stellar with some of the tightest producers in the game. Lack of promotion played a big factor why the album did triple toilet water. Estelle‘s album ‘Shine’ did get some promotion in the US. She’s done interviews and appeared on a couple of high-profile TV shows, but I guess the Americans didn’t see the appeal as she only pushed 14,000 copies this week and is now certified double plastic. Lil Mama did slightly better but also had crap sales only managing to shift 19,000 copies, now certified as aluminum. So the question is, why aren’t they selling and who’s really to blame?

CELEB SPOTTINGS: R&B SINGERS OUT & ABOUT [PRE-GRAMMY ACTIVITIES PT3]….

You’ve seen the Arrivals post. Now this post will concentrate on the Clive Davis pre-Grammy Party dinner and reception as well as the performances that went down and other pre-Grammy events that took place. At the dinner party, Rihanna and her rumoured boyfriend Chris Brown were inseparable as they ate and sat together:

At the dinner party, Rihanna hung out with Janet Jackson, Lil Mama, Alicia Keys and Fergie. It seemed like a really cool party. It all went down in Los Angeles last night and it was the hottest party in town.

Ashanti attended the dinner party with her boyfriend rapper Nelly and her mama Tina:

They look cute together.

Alicia was also honoured when she got to hang out with her idol and label mate Whitney Houston as well as the legendary Quincy Jones and Janet Jackson. She also hung out with fella Kerry Brothers:

Good times.

Other folks who was there included Solange and father Matthew Knowles who posed it up with Natasha Bedingfield and J Records artist Mario:

Who is the cutie with Lil Mama? Don’t tell me that’s her fella.

As for the performances, three diva’s from Clive’s label performed: Leona Lewis, Alicia Keys and Fantasia Barrino. Leona performed a live rendition of ‘Bleeding Love’:

Her massively successful international debut, “Spirit,” will hit US shores this spring on April 8th on J Records. It will be really interesting because she’ll be releasing her CD a week after the very woman she channels her whole career after. That is, if Mariah Carey sticks to her album release date for ‘That Chick’. The ‘We Belong Together’ singer is shooting the music video to “Touch My Body” over this weekend – February 9th and 10th in an undisclosed location in Los Angeles, California and the video will be directed by Brett Ratner who directed previous video’s such as ‘Heartbreaker’, ‘It’s Like That’ and ‘We Belong Together’. According to the countdown clock, we have 2 days and 2 hours left until we finally hear the song. And the song won’t impact radio until Feb 19th.

Alicia performed ‘No One’ and ‘Like You’ll Never See Me Again’:

I’m sure she rocked those performances and she’ll rock at the Grammys too.

Fantasia performed ‘I’m Here’ whilst Whitney got a new costume change and watched on:

Once these performances become available, they will be posted.

Last night, Nicole Scherzinger and Ne-yo attended Compound Entertainment pre-Grammy party in Los Angeles, February 9th:

Ne-yo should keep his hat on at ALL times. Other folks who attended include Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton, Chrisette Michele, Danity Kane’s D. Woods and Rihanna. Head on over to Wire Images for the full gallery.

LIL MAMA: SHAWTY GET LOOSE FEAT CHRIS BROWN & T-PAIN [NEW VIDEO PREMIERE]….

Here’s the new video of Lil’ Mama’s ‘Shawty Get Loose’ which features Chris Brown & T-Pain. The song is the 3rd single from her upcoming new album ‘Voice of the Young People‘ which is set to be released this spring:

Loved the video. It was very energetic. The video set was looking a lot like Janet and Michael Jackson’s Scream video. I’m not sure if that was intentional. We are talking about Chris Brown after all, the singer who patterns his whole career after his fallen idol. Lil mama could dance her ass off. I enjoyed their choreography at the end where they were dancing together. Pure hotness. Chris Brown and Ciara really need to do a dance video together. Now THAT would be timeless.