Making The Band 3 winners Danity Kane were spotted Friday night at a Diddy-thrown party at Mansion Night Club in Miami. I’m feeling some of the girls’ new looks; Shannon actually looks like she has a personality now and Dawn’s darker do suits her. D.Woods has had better days lol….
The group are currently in the studio recording their sophomore effort (due next year). Word has it that the girls will be featured in a joint season of Making The Band with season 4 winners (pictured at the party, below).

What do you think of the pics?

After much uncertainty, Kelly Rowland has embarked on a North American tour in support of her ‘Ms. Kelly’ album. That Grape Juice reader Brice attended the Philadelphia show at the House of Blues; check out their review of the show:

Kelly Killed it…………It was a little short but Kelly worked it out. She did a mix of songs from Work, Stole, Cant Nobody, Comeback, This Is Love, Like This, Bad Habit, and DC3 stuff like Say My Name, Survivor, Bug A Boo, Soldier and Bootylicious. The show was wonderful (and) during the song This Is Love Kelly broke down a little and told us that she was thankful for having a loving crowd like us and that for a while recently she didn’t know if she wanted to sing anymore and that her love for the music was burning again.

It’s good to know that Kelly is pressing on and isn’t letting the negativity force her out of the limelight. Saying that, it’s times like this that make me wonder how genuine talent like Kelly can be so overlooked in favour of some of the mediocre artists that populate the music scene at the moment. Hopefully things look up for Kelly soon….

{Click pics to enlarge}

Any thoughts?
R&B superstar Beyonce is to reportedly set swap her urban sound for a more dance-oriented feel on her next studio album. According to Female First, members of the singer’s team have approached dance duo The Freemasons – who remixed her recent hits ‘Deja Vu’ and ‘Beautiful Liar’ – to help Knowles achieve a more ‘international sound’ on the CD – which is slated for a summer 2008 release. The change in musical direction is being largely being attributed to the poor performance of Knowles’ sophomore album ‘B’Day’ – in comparison to her debut. {Source}
With the news last month that Timbaland had been enlisted to produce the majority of the album, this new info is hardly surprising. I feel the whole switching up of her sound as being much needed. Here’s hoping she doesn’t stray too far from her current sound, as, for all it’s shortcomings, ‘B’ Day’ had a few solid tracks i.e. ‘Get Me Bodied’ and ‘Upgrade U’.

Your thoughts?

As reported last week, Keyshia Cole appeared on the Tyra Banks show to promote her new album ‘Just Like You’. Here’s the performance she gave of current single ‘Shoulda Let You Go’ on the show – which hit the net shortly after the first post. I’ve had the song in heavy rotation for a while and am glad to see Keyshia doing it justice live. As with the track, though, the random rapper (Amina) could really doesn’t need to feature.

What do you think of the performance?

Kelly Rowland touched down in London yesterday for a series of PA’s across the city. She first performed a set at EA’s ‘Be The One – X League’ event last night in Trafalgar Square.
Woah is all I can say! The catwoman-esque outfit is definitely working for her. Ms. Kelly also made an appearance today at Virgin Megastores on Oxford Street to sign copies of ‘The Sims 2: Castaway’.
Like myself, you’re probably wondering why she’s signing copies of a game instead of her album?? Rumor has it, she has inked a partnership with EA Games – which would explain the performance at the showcase, as well as promoting their product.
In other Kelly news, the singer confirmed that she has recorded a track with Gym Class Heroes and the track will be released as a single here in the UK. Hopefully things start to look up for Kelly’s career from here on out.

Your thoughts?
With Alicia Keys’ current single ‘No One’ riding high on the charts, the next single from her new album ‘As I Am’ has surfaced. Produced by Timbaland, ‘Like You’ll Never See Me Again’ is a soulful slow jam which sees Alicia coo effortlessly over the beat. Though the track doesn’t seem to have ‘like upon first listen’ appeal, it is a definte grower IMO. It’s a welcome change to hear a Timbaland production that differs to a lot of what he has put out for other artists as of late. The video for the song was filmed earlier this month and should premiere in the coming weeks. Alicia’s album ‘As I Am’ drops on November 13th.

Hit Or Miss?

{Link Removed As Requested}

According to Mariah Daily, Mariah Carey is reportedly being lined up to perform at the 35th Annual American Music Awards. The event, which takes place in Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre on November 18th, will also see performances from Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Brown and Rihanna.
Here’s hoping she performs new material, although, in light of the album’s push back to February, that may not be likely.

Any thoughts?

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

With Jennifer Lopez’s new album ‘Brave’ seeing it’s US tomorrow (out now in Europe), the singer took time out from touring to hit up MTV’s TRL today to promote the CD. I’m actually anxious to see how the album does; reviews, so far, have been been pretty mixed and this album is seemingly make or break for her music career. A tidbit: she needs to admit the pregnancy already – she can only keep wearing those tent dresses for so long.

Your thoughts?

While R&B singer Mario is prepping the release of his third studio LP ‘Go!’ (due November 27th), yet another track from the serially delayed set has surfaced. ‘Skippin’, like much of the album’s material, sounds great. From Mario’s vocal delivery (he’s got that falsetto on lock) to Mad Scientist’s production, I’m really liking the track. I’m hoping for something to spark the project, as there doesn’t seem to be much (any) hype surrounding it; it would be a shame if the project was to tank, as it seems the album may be his best work yet.

 

Hit or Miss?

 

Link Removed As Requested
Apologies about the quality, Youtube are on a rampage taking the vid down!

Or

As you know, it’s not all that often you read about Britney Spears around these sides. However, there’s no denying that the premiere of her ‘comeback’ video ‘Gimme More’ is an event in itself. Made available on iTunes earlier today, I pity anyone who actually paid for this. It’s not as bad of a train wreck as I assumed it would be (see: set pics), but it isn’t good – at all. There is talk that this is only a promo video and the proper vid will debut Monday 8th October on MTV’s TRL. For her sake, I hope it’s true. Then again, the song is already a bonafide hit – currently sitting at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Digital chart (all without a video).

In other Britney news, the title of her new album been revealed. The long-awaited CD is called ‘Blackout’ and is still set to hit stores on November 13th – despite Spears’ much-publicised troubles. {Source}

What do you think of the video?

Apologies about the quality, Youtube are on a rampage taking the vid down!

Or

As you know, it’s not all that often you read about Britney Spears around these sides. However, there’s no denying that the premiere of her ‘comeback’ video ‘Gimme More’ is an event in itself. Made available on iTunes earlier today, I pity anyone who actually paid for this. It’s not as bad of a train wreck as I assumed it would be (see: set pics), but it isn’t good – at all. There is talk that this is only a promo video and the proper vid will debut Monday 8th October on MTV’s TRL. For her sake, I hope it’s true. Then again, the song is already a bonafide hit – currently sitting at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Digital chart (all without a video).

In other Britney news, the title of her new album been revealed. The long-awaited CD is called ‘Blackout’ and is still set to hit stores on November 13th – despite Spears’ much-publicised troubles. {Source}

What do you think of the video?

Apologies about the quality, Youtube are on a rampage taking the vid down!

Or

As you know, it’s not all that often you read about Britney Spears around these sides. However, there’s no denying that the premiere of her ‘comeback’ video ‘Gimme More’ is an event in itself. Made available on iTunes earlier today, I pity anyone who actually paid for this. It’s not as bad of a train wreck as I assumed it would be (see: set pics), but it isn’t good – at all. There is talk that this is only a promo video and the proper vid will debut Monday 8th October on MTV’s TRL. For her sake, I hope it’s true. Then again, the song is already a bonafide hit – currently sitting at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Digital chart (all without a video).

In other Britney news, the title of her new album been revealed. The long-awaited CD is called ‘Blackout’ and is still set to hit stores on November 13th – despite Spears’ much-publicised troubles. {Source}

What do you think of the video?

**