Since the tragic passing of the King of Pop Michael Jackson last month, I have made a particularly conscious effort to not indulge in the media circus and exploitation of what is a very sad situation. For this reason, the rumour of Michael having an unknown child wasn’t reported here.

However, in an interview with NewsOne, the ever-controversial Joe Jackson revealed that the child (now a man) in question is in fact Michael’s biological son!

While I will reserve judgement until the facts surrounding this surface, this really is quite shocking.

Check out Beyonce’s latest promotional shot for her and her mother’s ‘Dereon’ clothing line. This particular campaign is for their new ‘Sasha Fierce Is Dereon’ range.

Say what you will about the clothes, but Beyonce looks great here.

Whitney Houston and her team are not playing with this ‘comeback’ of hers. Feeding off the intense buzz surrounding Houston’s ‘I Look To You’ album, Arista have made the rare move of the pushing UP the release date.

Sounds exciting, eh? Well it’s only been pushed up by one day, so will now hit stores August 31st in the US instead of the previously announced September 1st store date (it was always due in shops Internationally on the August date). Sources close to That Grape Juice are claiming that the new date has just as much to do with the high public interest and an extra day to add to the first week sales as it does the Grammy Awards. The cut off date for nomination eligibility for the 2010 Grammy’s is…you guessed it…August 31st. I really can’t fault Arista for being on top of their game with the orchestrating of Nippy’s comeback; after all there is no grander stage than the Grammy’s for Whitney’s comeback to be a done-deal – big performance and/or award clean-up – than at the biggest show of them all. Roll on January!

In other Whitney news, it has been confirmed that the song ‘I Look To You’ will also serve as the first single from the album along with the Swizz Beats produced, Alicia Keys penned ‘Million Dollar Bill’. As a gift to fans, ‘I Look To You’ is available to download free from Ms. Houston’s official website. {Click here to download}

R&B star Ciara posted this Twitter video moments ago updating her fans on what she’s been up to as of late. During the clip, Ms. Harris breaks out into song, giving an interesting rendition of Estelle’s 2008 smash ‘American Boy’. She did g-o-o-d. Go CiCi!

As some of you may know, we announced a few months back that you can now follow That Grape Juice on Twitter! Adding to the ever-expanding ways to be apart of the That Grape Juice community, our Twitter page allows you to receive up-to-the-minute updates about the latest posts on the site as well as what’s happening in the Urban Pop Culture world more generally.

What’s more, you, as well as the thousands who have already joined, will be able to keep up with me, ‘Sam’, while I’m on-the-go. I’ll be making use of Twitter’s cool SMS feature which allows me to let you guys know what I’m up to via my mobile/cell. That means everything from checking in with you guys while on location at an artist interview to complete randomness from the wackiness that is ‘my world’. So what are you waiting for…

The That Grape Juice Facebook Group launched last year, as I’m sure many of you will know. Work, school, college, home, wherever; I’m sure many of you – like myself – spend a ridiculous amount of time on Facebook. Yes, it’s ‘that’ addictive.

Hard at work on the promotional trail for new album ‘Battlefield’, Jordin Sparks performed the title track on The Wendy Williams Show yesterday. As with all the performances for the song, Jordin smashed it. Good stuff.

Tidbit: There’s a lil’ interview at the end too.

According to our friends over at Rap-Up.com, Mariah Carey has been added to the performer line-up at the MTV Video Music Awards 2009. The show airs live on September 13th at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. More performers are to be announced in the coming weeks.

No doubt this will be Mariah’s moment to sell her ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel’ LP, which hits stores 2 days later. For her sake, lets hope she doesn’t sound like crap. This performance and the one’s which launch the album really need to be on-point; no “stop singing my part now baby” moments this go round! Gone are the days where I felt I was the minority that loved Mariah, yet noticed something was up with her voice (basically a lot of the ‘Emancipation’ era). Casual listeners are starting to catch onto the fact that Mariah not only doesn’t sound like how she once did (understandable), but actually sounds straight shot (not acceptable). Fans, stans and Lambs can quote how much she’s sold till the cows come home, but it doesn’t change the fact that crap will always sound like crap – whoever the artist. We are in a day and age where live vocals are scrutinised a lot more. So my dear Lambs, Mariah doesn’t automatically get a pass because of who she is. She has to come correct just like anyone else. Otherwise it’s like saying ‘I know she sounds like she’s on the toilet, but I’ll buy it because she’s so amazing’. I mean, honestly….

In what comes as quite a surprise considering Chris Brown’s current ‘predicament’, the 20 year old star is once-again riding high on the charts – thanks to a Youtube video. The clip, which sees a couple make a ‘unique’ entrance during their wedding to Brown’s hit ‘Forever’, has become an internet sensation, racking up 8 million views in just 7 days! As knock-on-effect, ‘Forever’ has rocketed to #7 on the iTunes after not even being on the chart anymore and will almost certainly re-enter the Billboard Hot 100 next week at a relatively high position. Who said second chances can’t happen?

Check out the video below:

The Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul Mary J Blige is set to release her 9th studio album, the title of which has been unveiled as ‘Stronger’, on November 24th via Geffen Records.

Preceding the record is buzz single ‘The One’, which currently features in the latest AT&T commercial (click here to watch). While the next single to be lifted from the set is the title track, the unmastered version of which you can hear by clicking here. ‘Stronger’ will also feature on the soundtrack to ‘More Than A Game’, a basketball documentary about NBA star LeBron James, which arrives in theatres in the US on September 22nd.

I know I may catch some flack for this, but I’m gonna need Ms. Blige to start humming a new tune when it comes to what her albums are about. Lord knows that quote could and has been used to describe her last album ‘Growing Pains’, the one before that ‘The Breakthrough’, and others before that. While every artist has their ‘lane’, it just looks a little creatively-starved on Mary’s part, you know…as if she’s just going through the motions. Couldn’t she hit us with a concept record or something fresh? What’s more, the new material seems kinda ‘just there’.

Little rant aside, I hope what Mary serves up this go round appeases the doubt I currently have in my mind, because she really is an asset to the industry and it would be a shame if she made the mistake so many continue to make – getting too ‘comfortable’.

That Grape Juice has received word that we have interview time with none other than shock jock Wendy Williams!

Having hung up her mic for the last time recently, the famed radio host is turning her attention to her new day-time talk show – which airs nationally in the US – full time.

I guess here’s the part where I say “only *reasonable* questions will be considered”, right? WRONG! With Ms. Williams being straight-talking, no holds-barred, and admittedly “a bitch” (her words, not mine) we want to make sure we conduct the best interview possible. So please drop any questions you have for Wendy in the comments section below….

This week’s classic From The Vault video is Patra and Aaron Hall’s sensual 1995 duet ‘Scent of Attraction’. The song serves as the Jamaican star’s biggest crossover US hits. Check it out:

This brings back memories! I vividly remember being about 7 years in the school playground singing Aaron’s part at the top of my lungs, being totally unaware that the lyrics were very…’adult’ LOL LOL. Being a music lover for as long as I can remember (largely thanks to my older sister who listened to this and so much more), this really takes me back to a great period in my life and more generally a great period in music (the 90’s). Good stuff.

Check out Diddy formally introducing the world to his new ‘group’ Dirty Money, which consists of former Danity Kane star Dawn Richard and newcomer Kaleena. The duo are working with the mogul on his forthcoming LP ‘Last Train To Paris’. In what capacity, I don’t know, as I’ve yet to see Diddy explain the Dirty Money concept in a way that makes much of any sense. I’m assuming he’s hoping it will be something that will make sense when we see it in action.

Tidbit: Lord knows I hope this works out for Dawn, for her sake. I mean seeing her up there smiling and hanging in there with Diddy only to get sh*t on like most of Bad Boy’s various rosters over the years would be so sad. So sad.