With R&B star Ne-Yo gearing up for the release of his third studio album ‘Year of The Gentleman’ (due August 5th), the LP’s second official single -‘Miss Independent’- has surfaced. While ‘Closer’ exhibited a more Euro-Pop sound, ‘Miss Independent’ is, no doubt, familiar territory for the singer/songwriter musically. The mid-tempo cut sounds like a progression of the sound Ne-Yo championed on his first (and IMO best) LP. Good stuff.

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The video for Nelly’s brand new single ‘Body On Me (ft. Ashanti & Akon)’ just went live on the St. Louis star’s official website. I’m totally liking this one; the clip captures the vibe the of the song really well and with summer right around the corner, the timing of this release has me thinking he may very well have a smash hit on his hands (the song is already receiving heavy radio play on all major stations here in the UK).

Look real interesting. Glad to see Janet and MTV on such good terms again.

Will you be tuning in to Janet’s new show?

She n-a-i-l-e-d it! Young talent at its best. Here’s hoping she goes far.

Tidbit: Would I be going overboard if I said this is one of the best alternate showings of the track to date?

Your thoughts?

The Britney Spears / Kevin Federline custody battle took a surprising turn yesterday when the Pop star opted to end her her battle to win back custody of her children, Sean Preston and Jayden James, from her estranged ex-husband. Check out the report via OK!:

In an exclusive interview with OK!, Kevin’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan says both Britney and Kevin reached and signed off on a settlement in their custody case today.

Kaplan tells OK!, “At about 8 p.m. PT, a final settlement in the Kevin Federline-Britney Spears custody case was signed. All parties have agreed to the following: Kevin will retain sole legal and physical custody of Sean Preston and Jayden James. Britney will continue to have visitation rights which may increase over time. The agreement will be presented to the court in the morning for approval by the commissioner.”

Kaplan adds, “Kevin is ecstatic and the boys are thriving.”

Britney, who remains under the legal conservatorship of her father Jamie Spears, lost custody of her sons to Kevin last October. At the time she had visitation privileges but they were severely restricted following her January hospitalization for psychiatric evaluation.

She currently has monitored visitation with her sons two days a week and one overnight.

Here’s hoping things continue to straighten out in Britney’s personal life. I’m sure many a fan are awaiting her return to the charts.

Your thoughts?

Review in a bit…

In the meanwhile…

What do you think of the video?

Granted she did exude more charisma than we’re used to seeing from her, watching this back really did have me asking myself ‘when the hell is Beyonce coming back?’ lol.

What do you think of the performance?

In Solange’s interview in the Summer 2008 issue of Rap-Up magazine (on newsstands now), she speaks on the burden of being a ‘Knowles’. Check out the extract below:

“At this point, it’s starting to hurt me more than help me because my family is sort of known as the new age Huxtables. We’re the clean-cut girls. But I got married at 17, had a kid at 17. Ever since I was younger, I always considered myself to be into more artistic things than [Beyoncé]. People just hear the [Knowles] name and they just put a stamp on it automatically.”

I’ve increasingly come to respect Solange’s genuineness over the last few months. It really is refreshing in an industry that sees much of its stars assume the media-savvy, plastic/wooden personalities. More power to her…

Any thoughts?

It’s pretty decent, I guess. To be honest, however, T.I. has yet to top his ‘Urban Legend’ LP material-wise IMO. it’ll be interesting to see what ‘Papertrail’ will be serving up.

Hit or Miss?

Peep this photoshoot Michelle Williams shot for MTV last month. She looks great! Click here to see more pics.