Check out these screenshots of Mariah Carey’s video for ‘Oh Santa’ which debuts tonight on ‘Access Hollywood’. The song is the 1st single from her highly-anticipated ‘Merry Christmas II You’ album (in stores on November 2nd). More images are available below via Mariah Connection:

What do you think of the pics?

To celebrate the release of Tyler Perry’s ‘For Colored Girls’, the ensemble cast grace not one, but two special edition covers of Essence magazine.

The ladies, led by the likes of Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, and Kerry Washington, feature on one cover; while Perry, Michael Ealy, among others, pose it up with the male members of the cast on another.

‘For Colored Girls’ hits theatres in the US on November 5th and in the UK on December 10th.

Your thoughts?

The second season of hit VH1 reality show ‘Fantasia For Real’ is drawing to a close. In traditional TV form, the most sensational parts have been saved till last; with last night’s episode depicting the R&B star’s headline-grabbing overdose two months ago.

The cliff-hanger at the end of the emotional episode also gives a nod to next week’s show also being unmissable.

Say what you will but this is TV gold.

Episode after the jump…

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Christina Aguilera performed at a mini concert at an exclusive Halloween party this weekend. The singer delivered renditions of several of her hits including ‘Genie In A Bottle’ and ‘Beautiful’ as well as covers of Etta James’ ‘At Last’ and Patti Labelle’s ‘Lady Marmalade’. Check out the footage below:

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Steph Jones has finally released the video for the Pascal Guyon-produced ‘B E A utiful’. The track is featured on his EP, ‘Imperfect Me’. Check it out below:

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Following her lethargic X-Factor showing last night, Rihanna sat down with Xtra Factor host Konnie Huq for a post-show interview.

During the otherwise mundane chat, the Bajan ear-drum slayer made quite the hilarious gaffe. See for yourself after the jump…

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MTV aired their latest episode of ‘When I Was 17’ this past weekend, with Hip-Hop heavyweight Nelly‘s teen adventures taking centre-stage. Check out the St. Louis native, along with his friends and family, reliving his earlier days (which saw him almost take up professional baseball, and dabbling in petty theft). A great watch.

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The official trailer for Beyonce‘s hotly anticipated ‘I Am…World Tour’ DVD crash-landed today. Set to air first on ABC this Thanksgiving (November 25th), the packaged-piece is inter-spliced with many an intimate moment from the 29 year old superstar. Markedly different to the DVD’s of her prior tours.

Trailer after the jump…

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Rihanna hit the stage on ‘The X-Factor’ today. In the spirit of Halloween the Bajan brought her frightening vocals to the UK for a performance of ‘Only Girl (In The World)’. Check out the show below:

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Pop diva Kelly Rowland rocked the stage at Fun Radio’s Star Floor extravaganza in Paris last night. The 29 year old’s co-headlining set featured performances of ‘When Love Takes Over’, ‘Commander’, and a remixed version of ‘Forever & A Day’.

Peep her live showings below…(the ‘Commander’ performance is a must-see!!)

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This week’s selection for From The Vault comes from Beyonce. ‘Work It Out’ served as the lead single from the ‘Austin Power in Goldmember’ film and was one of the singer’s first major attempts at solo success. However, despite the Tina Turner-inspired setup of the Mathew Rolsten-directed clip, and respectable promotion from her label, the song failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100.

By comparison, Beyonce’s bandmate Kelly Rowland’s duet with Nelly, ‘Dilemma’, was #1 on that tally for 10 weeks, initially climbing to the top spot without promotion and even before a music video has released.

Judging by the large disparity between the success of ‘Work It Out’ and ‘Dilemma’, it is quite puzzling that Beyonce’s label continued to focus on forging her solo career while almost ignoring Rowland altogether. In fact, it seems that Mathew Knowles ensured that his daughter’s first solo album, ‘Dangerously In Love’, was equipped with several of the industry’s then heavyweight producers whereas Rowland was given many of her leftovers.

Certainly this scenario provides ample evidence of the politics occurring behind the scenes at the Knowles camp. Indeed, why would they continue to emphasise only Beyonce’s endeavours but overlook Rowland who was, at that time, the more commercially viable act?

Imagine the kind of career that both artists would have had if given equal opportunities. Then again, they shoulda would coulda but didn’t. O well.

Thoughts?