Monday, December 17th 2007

That Grape Juice: End Of Year Awards

With 2007 rapidly coming to end, I felt it beffiting to acknowledge the releases, events etc that have made the last 12 months as memorable as they have been. What better way to mark this than to host the 1st Annual That Grape Juice: End Of Year Awards.

Voted for entirely by yourselves, the winners will be announced on December 30th. Below is the preliminary list of nominees. Please drop any changes, suggestions etc you have in the comments section. The final list will then be posted this Friday (December 21st) , when voting starts.

End Of Year Awards: The Nominees

Album of the Year

Alicia Keys – As I Am
Kanye West – Graduation
Mario – Go!
Mary J. Blige – Growing Pains
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
Kelly Rowland – Ms. Kelly

Single of the Year

Fantasia – When I See You
Alicia Keys – No One
Keyshia Cole – Let It Go
Rihanna – Umbrella
J. Holiday – Bed
Kanye West – Stronger

Best Video:

Kanye West – Good Life
Ciara – Like A Boy
Beyonce – Get Me Bodied
R. Kelly – Same Girl (ft. Usher)

Best Collaboration:

Chris Brown & T-Pain- Kiss Kiss
Kelly Rowland & Eve – Like This
50 Cent & Justin Timberlake Ayo Technology
Timbaland & Keri Hilson – The Way I Are
R. Kelly & Usher – ‘Same Girl’

Best New Artist:

Amy Winehouse
J. Holiday
Tiffany Evans
The Dream

Best Female Artist:

Alicia Keys
Mary J Blige
Keyshia Cole
Kelly Rowland

Best Male Artist

Chris Brown
Kanye West
Mario
J. Holiday
Jay-Z

The Kelly Rowland Underrated Artist Of The Year Award

Amerie
Mario
Tamia
Trey Songz

The Please Go Sit Down Somewhere Award

Rihanna
Nicole Scherzinger
50 Cent
Souljah Boy

Most Overrated Artist:

Rihanna
Beyonce
Fergie

Worst Single Of The Year:

Chris Brown – Wall to Wall
Nicole Scherzinger – Baby Love
Souljah Boy – Crank That

Flop of the Year:

Kelly Rowland
Jennifer Lopez
Will.i.am

Most Shocking Event of 2007:

Bobby and Whitney Divorcing
Beyonce Falling Down Stairs
Britney’s Shambolic VMA Performance/Going Crazy

Best Reality TV Show:

Making the Band 4
Runs House
Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is
I Love New York 2

Best TV Show:

Girlfriends
Everybody Hates Chris
The Boondocks
The Game

What do you think of the nominee list?

Posted By: Sam

48 Comments

Saturday, December 8th 2007

Movies Rock 2007 Performances

CBS aired the first annual Movies Rock! special yesterday. Taped at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, performers on the night included Beyonce, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige and Chris Brown. Check out the performances below:

Beyonce – Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Jennifer Hudson – Somewhere

Usher – Singing In The Rain

More performances:

Fergie – Live & Let Die

Chris Brown – Jailhouse Rock

Mary J. Blige & John Legend – As Time Goes By

Nicole Scherzinger – Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend

Will.i.am, Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J & Eve – Theme

I really liked the concept of the show and enjoyed most of the performances – most notably Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson. Usher’s rendition of ‘Singing In The Rain’ was pretty good too.

What do you think of the performances?

Posted By: Sam

34 Comments

Thursday, December 6th 2007

50th Annual Grammy Award Nominees

The nominees for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards were announced just a few short hours ago and it’s rapper Kanye West and UK singing sensation Amy Winehouse who lead the field. West notched up eight nominations, whilst ‘Rehab’ singer Winehouse clocked in with an impressive six nominations. The news is likely welcomed by both artists, who have each been through a difficult few months – West losing his mother and Winehouse’s much documented drink and drug issues.

Both West and Winehouse are nominated in the coveted ‘Album Of The Year’ category for their ‘Graduation’ and ‘Back To Black’ albums respectively. Winehouse is also nominated for ‘Song Of The Year’ and ‘Record Of The Year’ for her smash ‘Rehab’. In the latter category, Winehouse faces competition from Beyonce’s ‘Irreplaceable’, Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ and Justin Timberlake’s ‘What Goes Around Comes Around’.

Click here to see the full list of nominees

Winners will be announced at the live show on Sunday February 10th 2008. The show will take place at Los Angeles’ Staple Centre. Keep it locked here for all the latest in the run-up to the big day.

What do you think of the nominations?

Posted By: Sam

13 Comments

Monday, November 19th 2007

2007 AMA: Performances

The 2007 American Music Awards took place yesterday at the Nokio Theatre in Los Angeles. A host of stars from the urban music world performed on the night, check out their performances below:

Beyonce & Sugarland – ‘Irreplaceable’ (Remix)

Chris Brown & T-Pain – ‘Kiss Kiss’

Rihanna – ‘Umbrella’/'Hate That I Love’ (w/Ne-Yo)

Mary J. Blige – ‘Just Fine’

Alicia Keys – ‘No One’

Additional Performances:

Will.i.am // Nicole Scherzinger // Fergie

The performances, to me, were kind of a mixed bag….

I mean, though it’s understandable why Beyonce would perform ‘Irreplaceable’ (it’s the song she was nominated most for), she performed the very same track at the 2006 American Music Awards; the country twist was a nice touch, though.

IMO Chris Brown took it to the next level tonight – in terms of stage spectacle. However the fact that he was lypsynching was painfully obvious. It’s 2007, lipping to the CD version of a track isn’t cutting it -he should have used pre-recorded vocals (See: Janet Jackson).

Call me a hater or whatever, but Rihanna’s voice was extra nasal tonight and the lack of depth in her vocal ability really showed through. Ne-Yo, on the other hand, was great.

In what was the first televised performance of Mary J. Blige’s new single ‘Just Fine’, I felt she did just that. Though kinda off at the start, she picked it up from the middle onwards and did her thing.

Performance of the night IMO goes to Alicia Keys. Vocally, she was as-ever, on-point. Moreover she switched things up with the remix and the surprise blasts from the past i.e. Chaka Demus and Pliers. Great stuff.

What do you think of the performances?

Posted By: Sam

22 Comments

Sunday, September 9th 2007

2007 MTV VMA: Performances

*MTV / Dailymotion are on a rampage removing the vids. Keep checking back as the links will continue to be updated*

Timbaland (ft. Justin Timberlake & Nelly Furtado) – Medley

Kanye West (ft. T-Pain) – Good Life

Rihanna – Shut Up & Drive

Alicia Keys – No One / Freedom

50 Cent & Justin Timberlake – Ayo Technology

Chris Brown – Wall to Wall, Umbrella & Kiss Kiss

Britney Spears – Gimme More

Nicole Scherzinger – Whatever You Like (Pre-Show)

Terrible. This basically sums up 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. I was already sceptical about the show considering the so-so line-up of performers, but it was a complete mess.

Setting the tone for the night was opener Britney Spears. With all that’s gone on, I was hoping she’d silence the naysayers, but this was a complete and utter and trainwreck. A combination of poor lipsyching, stiff choreography and an outfit that revealed her out of shape body, Britney’s performance will no doubt have many saying her career is over. It will be if she doesn’t find a way to redeem herself from that mess.

Most of the night’s other performers offered little of interest. Although I must give Rihanna props for doing her thing during Chris Brown’s so-so performance and later on during ‘Shut Up & Drive’.

The show wasn’t all bad, though. Alicia Keys’ performance was a standout. She nailed ‘No One’, making me like the song all the more. I wasn’t initially all that hyped for her performance, but she was definitely the highlight of what was a mediocre night (at best).

MTV really need to step it up and the show has been on a downward spiral for years. I was thinking it was all award shows, but the BET Awards this year really showed out – beating this mess hands down. SMH…

What do you think of the performances?

Posted By: Sam

23 Comments

Saturday, September 8th 2007

Fashion Rocks 2007 Performances

As reported, the Fashion Rocks 2007 concert took place in New York City this week. A host artists performed at the star-studded event including Usher, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson. Check out some of the performances below:

Usher & Mary J Blige.

It’s A Man’s World, Respect & Do I Do

Jennifer Lopez

Do It Well / Waiting For Tonight

Jennifer Hudson

Come Together

Alicia Keys

The Thing About Love

For the first time in the longest, I felt everyone did great. One of the standouts, for me, was Usher & Mary’s performance. With the way Usher was nailing the James Brown choreography I was left thinking ‘Justin who?’. Jennifer Hudson was also a standout; it was good seeing her sing something different. She really has a great stage presence too. I was pleasantly surprised with J. Lo’s performance – she is far from a great vocalist, but her live singing has improved a lot.

What do you think of the performances?

Posted By: Sam

13 Comments

Friday, September 7th 2007

Fashion Rocks 2007 Pics

Stars from both the fashion and music industries were out in full force yesterday for the 2007 Fashion Rocks concert. The event, which took place in New York City, saw performances from Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Usher and Jennifer Lopez. Visitors from the US can catch the show when it airs, tonight at 9pm ET/PT on CBS.

{Click pics to enlarge}

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{Click pics to enlarge}

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What do you think of the pics?

Posted By: Sam

4 Comments

Thursday, September 6th 2007

Alicia Keys Joins VMA Line-Up

R&B star Alicia Keys has been added to the list of performers at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. The Grammy Award winning singer is slated to perform her new single ‘No One’ at the Las Vegas event. Keys joins previously announced performers 50 Cent, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Common, Nelly Furtado, Akon, Soulja Boy, T-Pain and Cee-Lo (of Gnarls Barkley). {Source}

Though Alicia always delivers with her performances, I can’t say I’m too hyped about this one. I like ‘No One’, but can’t help but feel she could have come a bit harder than she did with that track. Still, with the line-up kinda lacking any performers of real interest, Alicia is good addition.

Any thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

7 Comments

Tuesday, August 21st 2007

New Performers Added To VMA’s

Lil’ Wayne, T-Pain, Cee-Lo (of Gnarls Barkley), Common and Nelly Furtado have been added to the list of performers at this year’s MTV VMA’s. They will join previously-announced performers Kanye West, Chris Brown, Fall Out Boy. Rihanna, Foo Fighters and Amy Winehouse (TBD). The 2007 VMA’s will broadcast live from Las Vegas on September 9th.

The VMA’s have been slacking for years now and the BET Awards has become ‘the’ award show to watch. What happened to the ‘shock’ factor? I remember being in awe of Michael Jackson’s surprise performance with Justin and co at the 2001 show, as well as Beyonce tearing the house down at the 2003 ceremony. Since then it’s been kinda ‘blah’. I will be watching this year, though, and not because of any of the above performers. Like many, I’ll be looking out for the rumored comeback (or train wreck) performance of Britney Spears…that ought to be great television either way.

Will you be tuning into the VMA’s?