Well damn!

That’s basically all we could say once we copped a gander at Ebony’s latest issue, featuring the ever-so sexy cast of OWN’s breakout hit, ‘Queen Sugar.’

Dominating TV ratings with their second season, the ‘Bordelons’ – “Ralph Angel” (Kofi Siriboe), “Charley” (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) and “Nova” (Rutina Wesley) – have turned Wednesday nights on its head with their OMG-worthy dramas, family feuds, address of social issues, and so much more.

Now, to build even more awareness, the show’s cast are showcasing their fiercest poses for the good folks at ‘Ebony.’  See the pics below:

Make sure you pick up the issue when it hits stands later this month.

Your thoughts?

Much like her Destiny’s Child sisters, Beyonce and Kelly Rowland, songstress Michelle Williams is known for fiercely guarding details surrounding her private life.

Yet, despite a heart-tugging testimonial she posted to Instagram two months ago suggesting otherwise, it appears the ‘Unexpected’ diva is unexpectedly letting fans in on her romantic dealings – namely those with the famed minister Chad Johnson (not to be confused with the football player Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson).

Michelle’s new beau, the official chaplain for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is also known for his work in the same role for the Arizona Cardinals.  There, he performs pre-game and post-game prayer, hosts Bible studies and morning devotions, fellowship meetings with families, and more.

Taking to Instagram recently, the happy couple unveiled the news of their union on Johnson’s 40th birthday – a move that received a nod from the likes of Tina Knowles, Letoya Luckett, and thousands of well-wishers.

Looks like a match made in heaven to us…

Your thoughts?

Britney Spears fans were in a frenzy yesterday at news the pop princess was in line to headline the 2018 Super Bowl Halftime Show, sponsored by Pepsi.

A move that would’ve seen the songstress follow the likes of Madonna, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga, reports dominated the Web with “receipts” indicating next year would indeed see Spears lip syncing for her life on the world’s biggest stage.  And, if true, the announcement also suggested (like acts before her) the potential of her following the event with updates on a tour or new album.

Well, the dreams of all the aforementioned have been dashed.

Pepsi served members of the singer’s beloved #BritneyArmy a taste of bad news recently when an executive from the mega-corporation expressly denied Spears will be 2018’s headliner.

Source:

“I can tell you it’s not Britney [Spears],” executive Justin Toman told MAC Presents founder Marcie Allen, who asked for a hint about the next year’s music performer during a panel…

“We’ll reveal in due time,” he teased, adding that performer “rumors always start around this time.”

Earlier this year, Toman detailed the qualities sought in headliners:

“It’s one of those cases where you look at the small set of the people that could pull that kind of a show off,” he said.

“Sets up in seven minutes, it’s a 12-minute show, and they have to break it all down again in seven minutes. In those 12 minutes of the show, someone has to deliver power, punch, performance, singing, lights…. who has the reach, the social following, the album sales, who’s trending, who’s in cycle?”

Your thoughts?

Fifth Harmony have had an eventful 12 months – and are opening up about their rollercoaster in the newest issue of Billboard magazine.

Last year, the group broke new ground when their hit ‘Work From Home’ became the first top 10 by a girlband in almost a decade. However, controversy followed come the end of 2016 when Camila Cabello departed in dramatic fashion.

With comeback single ‘Down’ serving as a summer sizzler, the ladies are promising a fiercely personal housing album – a project they’ve written over half of.

Ahead of its arrival, the quad do away with the political correctness and wax candid about a whole host of topics.

Peep excerpts below…

On Camila’s Exit & The Aftermath:

“Try experiencing it,” retorts Lauren Jauregui. The rest of the group, as it so often does, rushes in to complete her thought. “I was literally going to say that,” Normani Kordei quickly adds. “I get to sleep at night knowing we did everything in our power as friends, bandmates and human beings” to make it work. Then Ally Hernandez: “You can’t change people.” And finally, Dinah Jane Hansen: “Let’s just say we’re in a better place now — there are no secrets in this circle.”

On Making Key Business Changes & Weathering Label Issues:

The long road to liberation began with 5H hiring outspoken music lawyer Dina LaPolt at the end of 2015. “I sat the girls in a hotel conference room and for five hours educated them on trademarks, copyrights and rights of publicity,” says LaPolt, who soon helped secure them new management with the preeminent firm Maverick (Madonna, U2, Miley Cyrus). “Then I educated them about every agreement they signed, which [were] the worst I’ve ever seen in the music business.”

LaPolt successfully transferred the Fifth Harmony trademark from Cowell to the group, meaning the women now own the name, along with the right to control how it is used and to profit from any deals. (The agreement — signed in April 2016, months ahead of Cabello’s exit — doesn’t name Cabello in the “Fifth Harmony Partnership.” “I don’t represent Camila,” is all LaPolt will say.) She then renegotiated 5H’s contract with Epic, which she characterized as “a very adversarial” process.

LaPolt and 5H stress that the group’s relationship with Epic is now good. The women count among their “saviors” the label’s senior vp A&R Chris Anokute, who came onboard near the end of making 7/27. “We raised our voices,” says Hansen, “and to have someone in our corner like Chris, who believes in us, is the most important element to make the wheels go.”

On Solo Ventures:

“Last year, we all learned a lesson about mental health and making sure you step away from something. It just makes this stronger,” says Jauregui. “Fifth Harmony is the home base,” offers Kordei, “where we always come back.” “Yasss,” says Hernandez.

Elsewhere, 5H reveal they have teamed up with the likes of Skrillex, Pooh Bear (Justin Bieber), and Harmony Samuels (Destiny’s Child, Ariana Grande, Ciara) on their third LP.

************

The complete interview definitely makes for a riveting read and provides ample insight into the fuller picture of the 5H narrative.

They definitely have a lot of mileage left as a four-piece, so here’s hoping their upcoming campaign hits the mark.

Your thoughts?

For as much mileage as the “Real Housewives” franchise still has, it’s often a struggle for newer branches to successfully bloom.

However, for ‘The Real Housewives Of Potomac’ it’s proving a task they’re up to.

A ratings success, the Bravo show has proven increasingly popular during its second season.

Paired for much of its run with the ‘Atlanta’ arm, the series has maintained over 1 million viewers – even after the Spring climax of its older sister.

This Sunday sees the final part of the season 2 reunion special air, with the ladies addressing a number of pertinent issues.

Per the sneak peeks below, Robyn‘s odd relationship with Juan is dissected the more, as are the marriages of Karen, Ashley, and Charisse. What’s more, with newcomer Monique reading Gizelle (for filth) in part one, it’s anyone’s guess what firework’s she’ll be setting off for the closing instalment.

Peep the previews…

Your thoughts?

[Photo credit: Heidi Gutman/Bravo]

With the July 21st release of Lana Del Rey‘s new album ‘Lust For Life’ drawing near, the songbird has hatched two new songs – both featuring rapper A$AP Rocky.

‘Summer Bummer’ sees the pair joined by Playboi Carti, while ‘Groupie Love’ sees the duo go it alone.

The dual roll-out continues Del Rey’s trend of pouring out a stream of material in a generous try-before-you-buy strategy.

Get all the way into new Lana below…

(more…)

The world of film awaits the February 16th arrival of Marvel’s ‘Black Panther.’

Directed by Ryan Coogler, the movie’s all-star cast is led by Chadwick Boseman in the main role [T’Challa], and also features Lupita Nyong’o [Nakia], Michael B. Jordan [Kilmonger], Forrest Whittaker [Zuri], Daniel Kaluya [W’Kabi], and Angela Bassett [Ramonda].

Following the debut of the much discussed trailer, Entertainment Weekly have provided a closer look at the action in their special Comic-Con issue.

Expanding on the plot, EW wrote:

“T’Challa’s homeland is the site of massive natural deposits of Vibranium, the near-mystical metal that comprises Captain America’s shield, is woven into his Black Panther, and has allowed the people of Wakanda to make technological leaps nearly a century ahead of the rest of the world. But as T’Challa learns upon ascending the throne, the minute others know you have something valuable, someone will try to take it from you. In self-defense, Wakanda has closed itself off from the other nations of Earth, maintaining a false front that it’s a mere third-world nowhere – full of mines, farms, and jungle creatures. The truth is, its mines produce the rarest, most precious metal on earth, its fields grows the Heart-Shaped Herb, a Vibranium-enriched plant that grants its leaders superhuman strength, and its jungle creatures provide inspiration for one of the sleekest superheroes to ever leap from the page to the screen.”

Peep pics from the highly anticipated action-flick below…

Yes, yes, and yes! This looks stellar! We all sorts of ready. Roll on February!

Your thoughts?

[Photo credit: Matt Kennedy/ Marvel Studios]

Say what folk will about Ciara, but there’s no doubt that she’s weathered the storm of the music industry and – despite obstacles – has retained relevance along the way.

This hasn’t been without hiccups though, including the loss of a number of potential hits.

Join us below as we countdown our top 5 underrated Ciara songs…

(more…)

In our quest to bring you a behind the scenes look at those who “make the magic happen,” the latest instalment of our ‘Meets The Makers’ feature spotlights Chokolate team.

Launched by Caroline Khouri and Guido Fabris, the agency has a multi-dimensional focus and has been instrumental in casting and creative direction for the likes of Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, and Paula Abdul. 

Boasting a wealth of knowledge and know-how, the pair have an impressive résumé – and it’s continuing to grow.

Read below as they reflect on their journey and drop a number of noteworthy gems for those looking to break into the industry.

*************

That Grape Juice: The Chokolate journey has been an amazing one. Tell us a little bit about how and why you formed the idea?

Caroline: We both came from a creative background, I was into dance and casting and Guido was into acting and production. When we met we got on really well and we just knew that we could do big things if we merged our skills together. We always dreamed big! We felt we were stuck at a certain level at the previous company we were working at and there was no room for progression or sharing of ideas, so we decided to set up shop on our own so we could have more freedom and do things our own way. We both have a passion for entertainment – whether that’s live shows, films, tv, music we love it all.

Why the Chokolate name?

Guido: Well we both love chocolate and we just thought it would be a memorable name rather than initials that you can never remember. Also chocolate isn’t something you’d automatically associate with fitness and dancers and models which we also liked, we wanted to stand out and be different.

Caroline: The K is a nod to my last name, there was nothing we could play on Guido’s name so he missed out haha.

Also with a name like that you can lend it to anything you want, Chokolate Films, Chokolate Productions, Chokolate Records, so on and so forth.

In embarking on the path, who were your influences respectively?

Guido: Well, business-wise, Richard Branson and his Virgin brand is what we had in mind. He ventures into all different kinds of areas with the name Virgin. Caroline calls me MegaloG because I want to build a Chokolate Empire.

Also the founder of Diesel jeans Renzo Rosso has always been a great influence for me, as he created a super successful brand from scratch. Plus he’s from my home town Vicenza, in Italy.

Campaigns like ‘Only the Brave’ and ‘Be Stupid’ for instance were/are very inspirational for us; I think we were always daring and pioneered into fields that our competitors are not interested in, that’s the niche market we love to explore and develop.

Caroline: Although it’s intended for us to be brave and to not be scared to do things differently, we did make some stupid mistakes but we learned! I always wanted to have a dance studio, I remember reading Debbie Moore’s book about how she started Pineapple Studios while Guido was reading Branson’s book. So we did end up building a dance studio from scratch and opened an office in West London. Otherwise we didn’t really have anyone from our business that we looked up to, we had to learn a lot on the way. The friends we thought we had in ‘the business’ didn’t end up helping us at all. So we did everything on our own.

Let’s discuss your relationship with Frank Gatson. How and when did you meet him?

Guido: That’s a funny story. We were booked on the MTV Awards in 2008 in Liverpool; we were looking after the creative director and all the dancers on the show and we knew that in order to grow we needed a big American choreographer on our books. An agent in the US suggested we look at Frank Gatson since he’d be at the show.

Caroline: We were new so we didn’t know who he was at the time, we just knew that he looked after Beyonce who I was obsessed back then, I told Guido if we could work with her I could die happy.

Guido: After the show was done, I saw a man hanging around her team so I went up to him and asked if he knew where Frank Gatson was and he answered “I am Frank Gatson” and proceeded to walk away, I started following him and explaining who I was and what we did but he didn’t seem too bothered. I gave him my card and he quickly left and that was that. We followed up with a phone call and invited him to come to London to meet with us, and crazily enough after a few months of stalking, he agreed; he admitted he didn’t like agents but liked us and the rest is history!

You’ve worked on a number of Beyonce related projects – what’s it like being a part of her process? What don’t we see that people would be intrigued by?

There were 2 very different eras to Beyonce; we were there when Mathew Knowles was in charge and we were helping on the surface and it was light and fun. And then when she started managing herself and we were more deeply involved. I think everyone knows this now, but she really never stops working. The process is very difficult. It’s a lot of work, there are changes happening until the last minute all in the search to make the show better or the end product the best it can be, whatever it is. There’s no complacency, you can’t be lazy, you have to be on top of it at all times. So much work and preparation goes into that 3 min performance.

Beyond Bey, you’ve worked with huge names such as Jennifer Lopez, Paula Abdul, Macy Gray, and Kelly Rowland. Which project/s have been the most rewarding?

The longer projects are more satisfying because so much work goes into them and then after the sweat and tears you can see the final product and the audience reacting positively to what you’ve worked so hard on. Probably the Jennifer Lopez NYE concert at Caesars and the Graphics for Paula’s tour and Beyonce’s ‘Run the World’ because of all the people we had to cast and it was part of a long campaign. Also Chris Grant’s music video because it was our first Chokolate production. Working with the genius Macy Gray as her Creative Directors and Directors is also very rewarding and gratifying, also her ‘White Man’ video has been nominated for the “Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival 2017”.

What would you say are the biggest misconceptions about show-business?

That it’s very glamorous and that we’re always at parties and it’s easy and always fun. People believe everything they read in the papers when a lot is set up and PR constructed . It makes you a little cynical. The reality is that you have to sacrifice a lot to get to where you want to be. As soon as you book a holiday, work comes in and you have to let your friends and family down constantly. But for all the backstabbing and awful people you meet you also meet the most amazing people and keep them close and you get to travel the world and see things you would never see and in the end the good outweighs the bad. Other people may look at what we do and think we’re masochists but you work in showbiz because you love it otherwise you wouldn’t survive!

As an agency active in the fields of casting, creative direction, and choreography, you’ve covered a lot of ground. What’s next on the agenda for Chokolate?

Well we’ve done Chokolate Vision and Chokolate Records so maybe Chokolate Films next? Our dream is to make a comedy movie. We love working on our own projects, they’re much more satisfying and fun. When you come up with an idea/concept and you see it come to life, that’s the best feeling in the world!

A proper Chokolate production that encompasses all our services is the ideal so the director, choreographer, make up, dancers, stage, graphics etc thats the aim.

Who’ve you yet to work with that dream to?

Caroline: It would be nice to a do another biggie like Madonna or Cher! Or Gaga, Bruno Mars or like Daft Punk. Although if I could do something with Larry David or Melissa McCarthy it would fulfill another side for me away from the music world.

Guido: Same as Caroline plus I’d love to add Sophia Loren, Martin Scorsese, Danny De Vito, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jonah Hill, Ryan Gosling, Damien Chazelle, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti.

And the list goes on and on.

What drives you?

Caroline: It’s like there’s a feeling inside that something big is coming and I can’t stop until I get there. I’m always looking for the next big thing.

Also any negativity from anyone else or lack of belief makes you want to succeed even more.

Guido: The will to do something great and meaningful through the channel of entertainment, at the end of the day Showbiz is an amazing, powerful and artistic way to express ourselves, to communicate something to the world.

Having worked with the best, what advice would you give to rising stars hoping to make a major mark?

If you believe in what you’re doing and you know in your heart that it’s all you want to do then you just have to keep going and not give up, be persistent. We know it sounds cliche, but there were so many times we felt like giving up but just kept pushing through and by doing that it got us to the next step and step after that.

To any artists out there, we’d say work hard, don’t think it’s magically going to come to you. You have to put the work in. Be nice to people! When you find someone you work well with that you trust, keep them close to you because they’re rare. Surround yourself with talented people who want the same things. Don’t let other people’s words keep you down, if you don’t believe in yourself no one else will.

Network too! Trust your instincts and sometimes you have to take a detour to get to the final destination.

***************
Want to reach out to team Chokolate?

Click here to drop them a line on Twitter!

***************

Your thoughts?

Rarri True, the young man who has risen to fame as the man at the heart of Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian‘s break-up, has rubbished cruel claims that he sleeps with men for pesos, pounds and pennies.

How said rumour surfaced? By way of the deeply troubled make-up guru Star Milan who took to Twitter to claim his pals had paid for Rarri’s services.

His baseless allegations have since been rubbished by several people associated with Rarri and Rarri himself.

She mad https://t.co/1NhummZRZu

— Creole PoundCake (@immaculate__Jay) July 11, 2017

Milan’s allegations come after he faced a scandal of his own.

 

Your thoughts?

MNEK is back.

Fresh from building hits such as ‘Hold Up’ for Beyonce, 22-year-old singer songwriter is re-affixing the focus on himself.

Case in point the arrival of new single ‘Paradise.’

Staying true to his love for nostalgia, the Londoner samples Ultra Nate‘s 90’s smash ‘Free’ on the flavoursome song.

Take a listen below…

We approve! Do you?

Your thoughts?

Brandy has pulled the plug on her relationship with William James Stokes (aka Sir the Baptist) after she discovered that he had been “sitting up in his room” with three different women!

A reliable source with direct ties to the singer unwrapped the details of the pair’s rocky relationship in a conversation with ‘The Shade Room’ and revealed that Baptist had been dealing with two ladies they would only name as Alyssa and Amal.

It gets worse, for he is also said to have fathered children with a third woman before meeting Brandy who stormed into a birthday dinner he threw in New Orleans weeks ago.

There, to the singer’s shock, horror and disbelief, she learned that Baptist was still seeing her!

TSR adds:

Baptist decided to go on Instagram Live where fans proceeded to inquire about where his girlfriend Brandy was. “I don’t know where Brandy at fam, she’s at home somewhere,” he said. “We good, you don’t have to ask about Brandy every time.”

Our source told us, “Once Brandy saw that IG live video, it was a done deal.” They added, “When she sees red flags, that means it’s time to go and that was one too many. She would rather be alone than…unhappy.

#PressPlay: oop! #SirTheBaptist was live on IG when he was asked about #Brandy– he had this to say. (Swipe)

A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom) on Jul 11, 2017 at 8:17am PDT

Your thoughts?