The legendary Whitney Houston answered back her critics by giving a solid show at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia yesterday. Earlier this week, Houston, 46, hit headlines worldwide when a handful disgruntled fans left her Brisbane, Australia show early, claiming her voice ‘wasn’t there’.

However, clearly much more disciplined with her vocal technique, the diva gave a rousing climatic performance of career definer ‘I Will Always Love You’; which, though not ‘perfect’, reinforced the fact that she should not be counted out – at all. Check it out below…

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After a brief absence from the music scene, UK-bred/US-based singer Estelle is back with new single ‘Freak’.  Produced by hit-maker of the moment David Guetta, the Dance/Urban mash-up sees the Londoner embrace a markedly different sound to that of soulful R&B of her last LP, 2008’s ‘Shine’. The question however, is whether it actually works….

Luckily for Estelle, the answer is a ‘yes’…just about. Getting the ‘bad’ out of the way first, the production and overall busyness of the track may put off some of her Urban loyalists, while the Kardinal Offishal feature wasn’t really needed. That said, with ridiculously catchy hooks, including one which samples Soul II Soul’s ‘Back To Life’, as well as Ms. Swaray re-engaging with her rap roots while dually trying something new, this one is a winner.

Hit or Miss?

Rihanna is blazing her way along the promotional trail. This time the Bajan performed her new song, ‘Rude Boy‘, on the UK’s GMTV. The song has thus far peaked at #6 on the UK Singles Chart and #23 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

It’s safe to say that this was one of the better performances of that song date. Rihanna is slowly coming into her own as a performer and, as usual, her fashion game was on point. Her team has made solid decisions thus far with this album’s singles selections, unlike Rihanna’s idol and label mate, Mariah Carey. Timing is everything and ‘Rude Boy’ came out at the perfect moment.

Thoughts?

Leona Lewis made a guest appearance on ‘The Alan Titchmarsh Show’ today. The vocal mistress was had a conversation with the show’s host about several topics including her efforts to support Haiti, how she has dealt with success,  being a vegetarian and going on tour. Check out her performance of her new song ‘I Got You’ below:

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Check out this behind the scenes look at the making of  Alicia Keys‘ forthcoming ‘Freedom Tour’, which kicks off tonight in Canada. The Grammy award winner is then set to trek across the globe, with several stops in North America and Europe. Good stuff.

Will you be going to see Alicia live?

Seen her live before? Was she any good?

Beyonce has killed Sasha Fierce. Or at least that is what she told ‘Extra’ correspondent A.J. during a short yet tense interview where she shed some light on the direction of her future recordings. The superstar also spoke about how she plans to spend her vacation in the upcoming months but things got very uncomfortable after A.J. found a way to weave in questions about her husband Jay-Z, something that her press team must have clearly outlined as an off-limits topic.

It’s great to hear that Beyonce is ready to leave the Sasha Fierce brand in the past and experience further artistic growth. Regarding the rest of the interview…let’s just say that A.J. is a very brave man to pull a stunt like that.

Thoughts?

Rihanna was the guest performer on yesterday’s episode of ‘Alan Carr: Chatty Man’. The Bajan performed her new single ‘Rude Boy’ for the UK audience. To date, the song has peaked at #23 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on the UK Singles Chart. {*Video only seems to work outside the UK…ironic, huh? Will update link when new one becomes available*}

It looks like Rihanna’s gravel in a blender vocals weren’t the only things rude in that performance. She certainly looked like she was having a good time grinding her waistline for the crowd and I had no problems with that. She has a great body and although many may be offended by her microphone jerking near the end, all I saw was a young woman being in charge of her sexuality.

Check out another segment of the show below where Rihanna tried to teach Alan how to dutty wine (don’t try that at home because the neck movements have been known to kill people):

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Shakira debuted a new video today. The Jaume de Laiguana-directed clip was shot to support ‘Gypsy’, the 3rd international single from the sexy siren. The video was filmed in Barcelona, Spain and features tennis star Rafael Nadal. Peep the clip below:

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Rihanna sat down with ‘Talk Asia’ on CNN recently. The trendy star discussed a wide range of topics including how she was discovered, her thoughts on her career thus far, Chris Brown and the direction she plans to take on her next studio album. Rihanna also delved into a conversation about her childhood and witnessing her father using crack cocaine. Great interview.

Thoughts?

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Although it has been less than four months since the release of her Rihanna‘s ‘Rated R’ LP, fresh reports today are confirming that the model-turned-aspiring singer is set to release an entirely album ‘this summer’. According to insiders close to the project; after the tumultuous year the Bajan experienced during the recording period of her current LP (which was critiqued by some for being ‘too dark’), the 22 year old is keen to re-embrace a lighter-Popier sound, in the vein of previous hits ‘Don’t Stop The Music’ and ‘Disturbia’. {Source} {Source 2}

I can’t say I didn’t see this coming (a fact regular readers will know we’ve been calling out ever since ‘Rated R’ dropped). I mean granted ‘Rated R’ is probably Ms. Fenty’s best album to-date (which isn’t saying all that much), that dark (or as her folk would call it ‘edgy’) image she was trying to sell was just not cutting it with the masses – hence the so-so sales of the project despite 4 videos and an epic promotional push. I guess the current success of ‘Rude Boy’, the most playful cut on her record, has her label anxious to ‘go that route’ again. While I imagine they’re hoping it brings in the $$$, it kinda leaves me wondering still – ‘just what kind of artist is Rihanna?’ Four albums down the line and many still have not ascertained the answer to the question.

While I’m sure some will greet the news of more sheep-bleating on a CD with glee, I can’t say I share in that sentiment. Rushing through singles with the quickness and dropping a new album less than a year after the first was released (likely due to lukewarm sales) is on par with RiRi’s much critiqued re-release strategy (see: the 100 re-issues of ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’). I mean really. Saturation.com

To digest the absurdity of it all, one need not look further than Lady GaGa, who continues to enjoy chart-smashing success (BOTH ‘The Fame’ and ‘The Fame Monster’ are still in the top 10 on the Billboard 200), yet has only officially released one single since November – that being ‘Bad Romance’ – and has been on tour for the most part. I guess it goes to show folk will still buy records – if it’s worth their cash.

Still, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Your thoughts?

As the release of Kelly Rowland‘s hotly anticipated new album draws ever-nearer its May/June release, producer Rico Love has given fans a taster of what the LP will sound like. The hit-maker, who is co-producing Rowland’s entire project, previewed an instrumental of a confirmed album track on Twitter a few moments ago. Eager to get a feeler of what Ms. Kelly’s single is set to sound like? Check it out after the jump!…..

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