BEVERLY HILLS, California — Every year on Grammy Awards weekend, Clive Davis puts his stamp on the artist he feels will be the next blue-chip performer under his wing. The nod has become almost as important as winning a Grammy itself. This year, however, Davis’ biggest splash will be an act he discovered decades ago: Whitney Houston.

“She’s rehearsing around 9 p.m. tonight,” Davis said on Thursday afternoon, during practices for his legendary extravaganza at the Beverly Hilton. The music mogul — who has been Houston’s godfather figure as much as he has been one of the people guiding her career — hinted that Grammy-winning singer would have product in the marketplace sooner than we expect.

“You wait for the great songs to be written,” Davis said about the long-awaited comeback album from one of his most prized prodigies. “The great hits Whitney has given to the public for so many years — you keep encouraging and setting the bar. R. Kelly and Whitney just went into the studio with a great song called ‘I Look to You.’

“The same way her debut album took a while to put together, you just don’t do it by going into a computer. You wait for the material to justify a new album,” he added. “Pretty much, it’s come in.”

Davis said that Houston is going into the lab with hitmaker David Foster next week to record a ballad called “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.” {Source}

Roll on Saturday! Really can’t wait to see and, more importantly, hear this one…

MTV.com

In October, Diddy very publicly kicked Aubrey O’Day out of Danity Kane during the season finale of “Making the Band.” It had many fans wondering if O’Day would be back for another season of the show — but for now, O’Day says she doesn’t see it in the cards.

“You never know if I’ll be involved in the new season, but as of now, no,” she told MTV News. “I’d really like to just move past ‘Making the Band’ and start making my own career. But you never know.”

While she’s continued to make headlines with talk about her sexuality and rumors of a Playboy pictorial, her musical plans for the new year are more vague, so making a cameo on the show that made her a star may not be completely out of the question. “I have love and respect for the entire situation and if I should need to go back and give a little love and respect to ‘Making the Band,’ then so be it,” she said.

O’Day admitted that she misses her former bandmates.

“I’m sad,” she said. “I think that Danity Kane is an amazing group and I think that we made amazing music. We had great albums.”

She added that things that might not have made it into the show or into headlines made it difficult for the group to go on as it was. “There’s always tons that goes on behind the scenes and that’s usually the part that matters most.

“There’s not much you can do about that situation,” she added. “Puff needed to do what’s best for him, and so now it’s my time to do what’s best for me.”

As much as I like Aubrey, I can’t help but be a little sceptical about her future. A lot of what she’s been making headlines for saying and doing, don’t necessarily fit the mould of one looking to be a big (respected) solo star – something she has expressed her want to become.

About the mid-tempo track, I’m really liking the fact that Leona isn’t being pigeon-holed in the ballad-only category – the song is very ‘current’. Saying that, the song, though not bad, doesn’t really serve up much of substance; what’s more there is a distinct lack of chemistry between Leona and Cassidy on the track (his part feels kinda ‘phoned-in’). Decent, I guess.

Hit or Miss?

LISTEN: Nowhere To Go (ft. Cassidy)

“She’s great,” Rotem told PEOPLE at the BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills on Tuesday. “She’s like a master at what she does. She’s a lot more experienced than most people. She just has the ‘it’ factor that not every artist has. So it’s always nice to work with her.”

Although Rotem, who briefly dated Spears in 2007, would not reveal any details of the project, a Spears family source tells PEOPLE that the pop star is in the early stages of a follow-up to her last album Blackout, which was released last October.

“Britney is in the experimental stages of a new album,” says the source. “She’s trying to find the sound and direction she wants to go in, but nothing is set in stone just yet. She has been playing the piano a lot and just singing. She says she misses ‘just singing.’”

Producer Sean Garrett was mum on specifics but says that he and Spears, 26, have “a few things in the works.” At the BMI Pop Awards, Garrett told PEOPLE: “I’m just happy to see her back and recovering. She’s really shaping up and getting her whole situation back together. I’m really proud and happy to see her.”

Though recent media reports suggest she’s getting her life back together, I’m still, somewhat, pessimistic about her recording a new album so soon. The fact she wasn’t able to promote ‘Blackout’ essentially killed what was her best effort in years IMO. It would be unfortunate if the same occurred next go round. When she’s ready to resurface in terms of doing the media rounds, is when, I believe, she’ll be ready to release a new LP. Gone are the days when an artists name alone could sell an album; every last unit has to be hustled for.

The song’s bump is the second-best leap to No. 1 in Hot 100 history, trailing only Maroon 5’s 64-1 jump with “Makes Me Wonder” last May. Coincidentally, Rihanna is featured on the band’s “If I Never See Your Face Again” which will debut tomorrow at No. 57. With the lofty digital take, Rihanna now owns two of the top three opening week download tallies in chart history. Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” set the mark with 286,000 last month, surpassing the 277,000 moved by Rihanna’s “Umbrella” when it debuted in the June 9, 2007 issue. “Take a Bow” is one of four new songs on an expanded CD/DVD edition of Rihanna’s “Good Girl Gone Bad” album, due June 17 via Def Jam.

Call me a hater or whatever, but that is some garbage right there. Simple as. It’s very disheartening to see an artist put out any old rubbish (and ‘Take A Bow’ is rubbish IMO), and hit the top if the charts. In all fairness to Rihanna, even the best artists have had wack songs perform very well; but it’s getting a little worrying when the top spot seems to be occupied by whoever’s ’shove (insert artist name) down your throat…till you like it’ promo team did the best job. SMH…