After setting fire to the X Factor stage on Sunday night, Fleur East is gearing up to the release the video for her feverishly hot new single ‘Sax.’
#2 on iTunes and rising, the track’s performance is especially notable because the Londoner is the first act to serve as a serious contender to Adele’s ‘Hello’ – which has maintained a firm grip on the top spot since its October 23rd release.
It also serves as a major coup for East’s debut album, ‘Love, Sax and Flashbacks,’ which arrives via SyCo/Sony Music on December 4th. [Click here to read our EXCLUSIVE preview]
Now, with the ‘Sax’ visual due imminently, the track (which has already been synced with a high-profile Christmas retail campaign) looks poised to explode even more.
Peep a sneak peek, via ITV1’s Lorraine show, below…
Roc Nation’s Rita Ora has her hands full these days, thanks to her role as a judge on The X Factor and the completion of her hotly anticipated album.
She’s also pounding the promotional trail in support of new Sigma single ‘Coming Home’ which she guests on.
The latter brought her to the Capital FM studios this week, where she playfully took on Adele‘s hit ‘Hello’ as well as Drake‘s ‘Hotline Bling’ in a game of “Instaoke.”
Toni Braxton certainly wasn’t a stranger in Moscow when she touched down in the city hours ago.
There, accompanied by some of her sisters, the ‘Spanish Guitar‘ chanteuse delivered an electric show at the Crocus City Hall for some of the fans who helped her cross reported global record sales of 200 million units.
Catch more of the ‘Breathe Again‘ vocal wonder after the jump…
Since the onset of Keyshia Cole‘s career, comparisons to Mary J. Blige have been a constant. Indeed, so rife has the chatter been that it birthed rumors of a rift between the R&B staples.
The climate wasn’t altogether helped when Cole said the following about “her idol” in a 2012 interview:
“I’m very happy to have been compared to such a wonderful woman, a strong woman. The only thing that I would’ve changed, that I am now here to do for those that come after me, is to lend a helping hand. I feel that even if it’s not me saying I’m gonna record with you, I’m gonna work with you or let’s go hang out or anything like that; we don’t have to be friends, but at the end of the day, being able to give advice or help somebody that is coming under you is an amazing gift to be able to have. I wish I would have had that from Mary, but I’m not Mary, I’m a different person and if K. Michelle ever call me or anybody for that matter, for advice, I would absolutely give it to them.”
Nonetheless, proving that there’s no bad blood, Keyshia and the Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul caught up backstage at a concert last night.
Clearly touched by the encounter (said to be their first), Cole captioned the snap:
While 2015 has brought with it explosive comebacks for the likes of Adele and Janet Jackson, it also saw a quiet, yet well-received return for Jazmine Sullivan.
The singer’s ‘Reality Show’ album was showered with praise from critics and fans alike, but didn’t impact the charts as perhaps hoped. A point particularly notable given the five year gap between its release and that of its predecessor – 2010’s ‘Love Me Back.’
Still, hoping to build on the buzz of the LP and its accompanying tour, Sullivan is gearing up to return to the studio for what she’s billed as an “intimate” LP.
Christina Aguilera dripped all sorts of diva last night at the 3rd Annual Breakthrough Prize Award Ceremony in California.
The vocal force attended the event with fiance Matt Rutler, with whom she has a new daughter with. As widely reported, the couple welcomed baby Summer Rain last August.
Xtina, who clearly had an agenda to flash and flaunt her fierce curves, is gearing up for a return to the spotlight.
She’s set to resume her role as a coach on The Voice next Spring and is hard at work on her first album in three years.
Pending then, peep more pics of the ‘Your Body’ belter below…
Alicia Keys has found a friend in the soulful duo that is Lion Babe.
Yes, after catching wind of their rising buzz and the music that fuels it the ‘Samsonite Man’ singer/songwriter invited them to join her on stage at her ‘Black Ball.’
Coolio’s monumental mid-90’s hit ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ is this week’s ‘From The Vault’ pick.
Released exactly 20 years ago in 1995, ‘Paradise’ is one of modern music’s renowned efforts and undeniably rapper Coolio’s signature track
The song – which features singer L.V. – tells the tale of an African-American “gangster” and the reasons behind his deviant ways. With his choral background vocals and his infamous Bible-extracted opening line (“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”), it is heavily based on a sample from the mighty Stevie Wonder’s ‘Pastime Paradise’ from blueprint album ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’, reprising the melody of said track’s chorus to build its very own impressive one.
It served as the first single from Coolio’s sophomore effort, also titled ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ but most notably was included in the Michelle Pheiffer-led movie ‘Dangerous Minds.’ The song’s lyrical content fit perfectly with the film’s vision on African-American and Latinos youth in America.
A worldwide smash, ‘Paradise’ reached #1 in over 20 countries including the US, the UK, France and Australia. It is also the first ever rap single to sell over a million copies.
This song earned its banner act a Grammy Award as well as a Billboard Music Award.
Antoine Fuqua helmed the cut’s visual, which features Coolio in a dark room spitting his rhymes in front of an attentive Pheiffer (who reprised her ‘Dangerous Minds’ role). Footage from the movie is juxtaposed to great effect. Adding to the awards haul, the clip for ‘Paradise’ was rewarded with two MTV Video Music Awards.
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Two decades on, ‘Paradise’ remains potent both musically and lyrically. And though Coolio has been absent from the charts this past decade, he will forever be a figure in Pop Culture thanks to this honest take on what it means to be young and discriminated-against in the 20th century.
Fleur East returned to the stage that started it all tonight – ‘The X Factor UK.’ The fierce performer let out an almighty roar as she hit the stage to perform debut single ‘Sax.’
Already top 5 on iTunes following its release on Friday, the dynamite dance-floor jam looks set to blow all the way up after the show-stopping performance.
Watch the Londoner flaunt her X Factor after the jump…
