As evidenced by her latest single, Alicia Keys is indeed “on fire”.  After a fiery unveiling of her new single with ‘Right Thru Me’ maestra Nicki Minaj at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards last week, the song has already flown to iTunes top 10!

Following this feat, Keys jetted across the pond for engagements that will see her across the U.K. and Australia.  The first of said engagements saw the pianist lend a lesson to a host of aspiring singers on the Australian branded version of hit reality talent show ‘X Factor’.

A day before you will get your first full peek at Britney Spears on ‘X Factor USA’, see Keys dish out advice on its Australian counterpart from today!

After rising to fame via a cover of Nicki Minaj‘s ‘Superbass‘, the adorable Sophia Grace & Rosie set their sights on chart topping starlet Rita Ora at MTV’s Video Music Awards last week.

Peep the little ladies meeting Rita for the first time, and covering her #1 single ‘RIP’ on the red carpet below…

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Despite reports that ‘American Idol’s long-standing judge Randy Jackson was leaving ‘the dawghouse’, reports today indicate the legendary bassist has had a change of heart.

Via ABC:

“Jackson’s presence on the show’s 12^th season seemed to be confirmed Monday night when former ”American Idol” judge Simon Cowell tweeted, “Just heard randy is back on idol. Right decision.”

On Monday night The Hollywood Reporter declared that plans to move Randy into a mentor role have been scrapped, and that he will return as judge. In addition, Fox reportedly has ended talks to bring Enrique Iglesias aboard as a judge, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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And there you have it folks! Look like the dawghouse is back and in full-effect!  The word on if Nicki Minaj will be joining the panel, however, has yet to be confirmed.

Your thoughts?

‘King of Hearts’ hitmaker Cassie has seemingly tired of her reign over Diddy‘s bedroom and is hoping to move her monarchy back to the top of charts.

Indeed, the model-with-a-mic may have strutted her way to shame with that fateful ‘Me & U’ performance, but the renewed songstress has returned with Rico Love-produced ‘Balcony’ – the second official single from her long ignored awaited second album.

Featuring the vocals of fellow non-singer Young Jeezy, get into all the action below:

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Fans apparently could not wait to get their sights back on NBC’s top rated reality talent show ‘The Voice’ if ratings reports are anything to go by.

Despite a small dip from its season 2 premiere ratings, the hit show still managed to top other shows in its time slot an rake in an impressive 12 million viewers!

But, with news the show plans on extending its reign into 2013 for its first Spring-showing, a certain ‘What a Girl Wants’ singer has expressed to Billboard that she wants out:

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(source: Vibe)

‘One Woman Army’ captain Ciara is looking to steer her latest project straight to the top of the charts and we’re not mad at her!  Taking to her ever-faithful C-Squad, the songstress lifted this snap to tease the release of her new album’s official first single ‘Sorry’.

And despite the single’s once announced August 20th due date, if the response Miss Harris has gotten so far is anything to go by, fans have accepted her apology.

We will reserve our judgment until the clip’s arrival on 106 & Park this Thursday, but it’s safe to say Cici may be onto a scorcher with this one!

Other shots await after the jump…

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Now is the time #Starz should get very excited.  For, via its Itunes unveiling for pre-order, ‘Put It Down’ diva Brandy has put forth what is set to be her forthcoming LP ‘Two Eleven’s’ tracklisting.

Featuring a Sean Garrett-production heavy list of tunes, other noted guest stars include Chris Brown, Frank Ocean, Bangladesh, and Rico Love.  Hitting stores on October 16th via RCA Records, find out what songs you’ll be jamming out to in just a month’s time by clicking below:

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As reported here, fans of R&B bad boy Chris Brown should look forward to seeing their fave afront screens very soon as he recently took to Twitter to tease his forthcoming single ‘Don’t Judge Me’.

And, while Brown did not confirm the exact date of when fans should expect the video, word has it we may get our full view before the week is out.

The snap drops hours after the ‘Run It’ hitmaker saw his name running atop headlines for a controversial tattoo that has been likened to former girlfriend Rihanna.

If you missed that, see it below:

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 ‘Bottom’s Up’ beau Trey Songz recently earned his first reign atop Billboard 200 with his latest effort ‘Chapter V’.  To ensure the continued success of the project, Songz continues his promenade of the promo trail – most recently jetting across the pond to Europe to build steam for the effort.

Now, shifting focus to his ever faithful followers, the ‘Heart Attack’ hitmaker is tugging at the heart strings of fans with the newly unveiled ‘Fanatic Five Interview’ series.

There, five lucky fans get the opportunity to ask Trigga anything (in Atlanta) while five international fans interview him via Google+!

Get your first glimpse at the outcome below:

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 ‘Criminal’ lip syncher Britney Spears joined media mogul Simon Cowell on the couch of ‘Ellen’ earlier today to discuss the highly anticipated second season of X Factor USA (September 12).

Spears, whose involvement in the show banked her a cool $15 million, kept it cool most of the interview letting the controversial Cowell do most of the talk – including lend comments on his frustration with ‘The Voice’ (which premiered last night).

When chatting about her kids however, the former stageblazer did light up (even if just a bit).  See what we mean below:

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In celebration of ‘Bad‘s 25th birthday, Camp Michael Jackson ready the release of ‘Bad 25’, a reworked version of the classic LP due out September 18th.

Ahead of its release comes a preview from the deluxe edition of the dvd set, which sees MJ deliver a rare rendition of his well loved ‘Human Nature’ during the ‘Bad’ Tour in 1988.

Prepare to be inspired below…

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“I love it- I love it- I love it when you eat it.“

“Stop at the light Imma jump out my Barbie dream car/Imma jump on it- Imma ride him like a theme park.“

It’s lyrics like these Cyndi Lauper may have been addressing, when she billed modern music ‘too sexual’ during an interview with ‘The Metro‘ recently.

Revealing that she shares her fans sentiment that much of today’s music is aggressive ‘Rape music’, the ‘She Bop’ belle had this to say on the matter:

“One young woman walked up to me recently at a concert and thanked me for my work ‘in the midst of all this rape music. I never thought of it like that, but so much music nowadays is about sex, sex, sex and is quite aggressive.

She called it rape music.I thought, ‘Oh my God, I guess she’s right’.

I just try to write music that connects with people’s conscience and make music for awake people rather than sleepwalkers”

So, considering ‘imagery’ endorsed by the likes of Marky Mark, Madonna and Adinah Howard in the 90s compared to outings by the likes of Chris Brown, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj today, we ask this:

Has Pop Music Become ‘Oversexualized’?

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