R&B star Ne-Yo is hoping for success with new single ‘Can We Chill’ – the third single to be released from his ‘Because of You’ album. Despite the initial good performance of the album’s first single (also called ‘Because of You’), things have somewhat fizzled since. I’m not too sure this song or video will help push the album any further. Why the label haven’t put out the more radio-friendly ‘Make It Work’ still confuses me.

What do you think of the video?

{Credit: Janet Media}

MTV’s Tim Kash managed to catch up with Janet Jackson at boyfriend Jermaine Dupri’s post-VMA party on Sunday. The ‘All For You’ singer reaffirmed that she is still in the recording process for her as yet untitled new album – her Island/Def Jam debut. She also confirmed Ne-Yo’s involvement in the project.

Janet must be back in MTV’s good books, seeing as they didn’t give a damn about her last two albums. Anyway, is it me or does it seem Janet is trying to keep ‘hush hush’ about the project (“I’m trying to do me”)? With JD’s comment about the album coming “soon”, it’ll be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming months.

Your thoughts?

Def Jam stars Fabolous and Ne-Yo stopped by the new look BET 106 & Park earlier this week to perform their hit collabo ‘Make Me Better’. Though the performance didn’t ‘wow’ me (which was expected) I thought they did pretty good; the track has grown on me a lot since first hearing it a few months back.

What do you think of their performance?

An on-going feud between Michael Jackson’s long-time rep, Raymone Bain, and Fox News reporter Roger Friedman has forced Bain to reveal details of the pop superstar’s comeback. In yet another of his weekly ‘Jackson Bashings’, Friedman alledged the singer fabricated claims of a new CD and is, indeed, ill -with an addiction to pain-killers. Along with denying the allegations, Bain outlined Jackson’s immediate plans for the future. Speaking to MJStar, Bain said ‘He [Michael] is going to release several singles prior to the album being released. He’s finishing up the first 3-4 now’, later adding that the singles will be released before the end of this year. Contributors to the album are set to include Will.I.Am, Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins and Ne-Yo.
I’m hoping Michael releases his new CD this year; it’s been too long. It’ll be interesting to see how he plans on dropping up to four singles prior to the album coming out. With the rumored release date being in November, his new material should start surfacing soon.

Can Michael silence his critics by making a big comeback?
Following the news, earlier this week, that Janet Jackson is currently recording a new album in Miami, Pharrell Williams has announced his involvement in the project. Williams, who has just finished work on both Britney and J.Lo’s new albums, told radio station Hot 97 that he is scheduled to go into the studio with Janet toward the end of July.

Janet’s new CD is shaping up to be pretty interesting. With likely contributions from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, JD, Ne-Yo, and now Pharrell, the album will hopefully propel Janet to the top of the charts again. The ‘All for You’ singer is reportedly now signed to Island Def Jam.

Does Janet have what it takes to be successful again?

R. Kelly – Same Girl (ft. Usher)
This track is apparently taken from R. Kelly’s upcoming ‘Double Up’ album (due May 29th). ‘Same Girl’ – which features Usher- is a great mid-tempo track, with an engaging storyline (kinda like a male version of ‘The Boy Is Mine’). The song has reignited my interest in the new album.

 

LISTEN: Same Girl (ft. Usher) {UPADTED LINK}

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Chris Brown – Wall to Wall

The Swizz Beats-produced ‘Wall to Wall’ is slated to be the first single from Chris Brown’s 2nd album ‘Exclusive’. It’s a decent club track but at the same time its kinda generic- any other standard R&B artist could have dropped this one. I’m sure it’ll be a hit for him, though.

LISTEN: Wall to Wall (HQ) {UPDATED LINK }


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Olivia – Missing You
After her departure from G-Unit, I didn’t think we’d be hearing much from Olivia any time soon. However she has, apparently, started her own label and is heading into the studio with Darkchild, Ne-Yo and Missy Elliott. This new track ‘Missing You’ has a very different vibe to anything I’ve heard from Olivia before and I’m liking it alot. The track has a real ‘grown R&B’ feel to it and her voice is well-suited to this kind of music.

 

LISTEN: Missing You
{Click images to enlarge}
As Rihanna gears up for the release of her third album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ (due June 5th), new promo shots for the CD have hit the net. She’s looking good…I’m liking the ‘look’ she’s gone for; it compliments the album title (which I still think sounds like a joke)….

In other Rihanna news, the official tracklist for ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ has been released:

1. Umbrella f/ Jay-Z
2. Push Up
3. Don’t Stop the Music
4. Breakin’ Dishes
5. Shut Up and Drive
6. Hate That I Love You f/ Ne-Yo
7. Say It
8. Sell Me Candy
9. Rehab
10. Question Existence
11. Good Girl Gone Bad
12. Lemme Get That

It’ll be interesting to see how these end up sounding. To be honest, I’m not expecting it to be anything special; I’m not really feeling ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Hate That I Love You’ sounds too much like a mix of Irreplaceable/Sexy Love. I’m still giving her a chance though, as the production credits are pretty impressive- Timbaland, Stargate and Ne-Yo. ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ drops June 5th.

Pop superstar Janet Jackson is set to return to the music scene later on this year. According to her boyfriend, Jermaine Dupri, Janet will release a new single in the summer – which will be featured on the Rush Hour 3 soundtrack. The single is set to be released and promoted by Island Def Jam, where Dupri is head of the Urban division.

After the flop that was ’20 Y.O’ (I really liked that album though), this can only be a good thing for her. Many blamed Virgin’s lack of promotion for the bad sales of ’20 Y.O’. However Def Jam are known to promote pretty well e.g. Mariah, Ne-Yo & Rihanna. As long as she comes correct, I see no reason why she can’t be a chart-topper again.

Fabolous – Make Me Better (ft. Ne-Yo)This track is from Fabolous‘ upcoming ‘From Nothing To Something’ album (due June 12th). As with most of Fabolous singles, there is a feature artist- this time it’s Ne-Yo. The Timbaland-produced song isn’t bad, however it’s not that good either. Ne-Yo’s singing on the hook sounds uninspired and the track doesn’t really go anywhere.

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Naturi (Formerly of 3LW) – Real Chick (ft. Lil’ Kim)

Some of you may remember Naturi from her time in R&B group 3LW; depending on which side you believe – she left or was kicked out. Whatever the case, Naturi was replaced in 2002. While it’s good to know she hasn’t disappeared altogether, she needs to go back to the studio if this is all she can come up with. After listening to this one several times, I still dunno what the hell she’s singing about. On the plus side, Kim’s rap is kinda good. I hear Naturi is working with Jermaine Dupri and Nelly, so hopefully her future material is better than this.

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Aaliyah – Girlfriends
This rare track by the late Aaliyah has only just hit the net. I’m unsure as to what time-frame it’s from. ‘Girlfriends’ is a nice mid-tempo song, however I can see why it was never included on any of her albums; it’s just not an album-worthy track.

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Nina Sky – Clothes Off (ft. Daytona)
One-hit wonders, Nina Sky are back. After the massive success of their 2004 song ‘Move Ya Body’ they kinda disappeared. ‘Clothes Off’ is rumoured to be the duo’s new single from their upcoming sophomore album ‘The Musical’ (due later this year). It’s a relaxed uptempo track and is pretty good.

{Link Removed As Request}
This is the full version of a new Ne-Yo track called ‘Make It Work’. I posted a snippet of this a few days ago, saying that I think it will be a standout track on his new album ‘Because of You’. After hearing the song in it’s entirety, I feel that Ne-Yo MUST release this….it’s fiyah, no lie. As always with Ne-Yo, the harmonies are ON-POINT and the hook is real catchy. I don’t think I’ve been so impressed with a Ne-Yo track since ‘When Your Mad’. ‘A-yo A-yo Oh’…you’ll know what I mean when you hear it LOL

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Rihanna has dropped a new mixtape in the lead-up to the release of her new album ‘Good Girl, Gone Bad’ (I still can’t take that name seriously). This track is featured on the mixtape and will most likely make the album’s final cut. The Bajan singer spoke about working with Ne-Yo not too long ago and this seems to be the finished product.
The track, ‘Hate That I Love You’ is guitar-driven and the harmonies are very similar to most of Ne-Yo’s tracks. Same with the instrumentation; I could have sworn I heard Ne-Yo’s ‘Sexy Love’ in this track. It’s a decent song and I can see it doing well in both the Pop and R&B markets. I’m still yet to hear a Rihanna track that will be relevant in the next 5 years though.

What you think?

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SZA may only have two albums to her credit, but in just 7 short years she’s lifted sales stats that rival some of music history’s biggest names.

With 10 Hot 100 top 10 hits and over 60 million singles sold in the United States alone, the GRAMMY-winning songstress has proven herself an undeniable force in music.

For those reasons and more, the Songwriters Hall of Fame has announced the R&B diva (born Solana Rowe) will be the recipient of one of its biggest honors at the organization’s forthcoming induction ceremony.

(more…)

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