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.

Our girl Kelly Rowland took to the stage at last night’s Miss Universe ceremony in the Caribbean to perform her worldwide smash ‘When Love Takes Over’ with David Guetta.

While Kelly’s stage presence was on fire, I can’t say the same for the vocals…at all, which at times were glaringly off-key and shaky . As a long-time and continued fan of Ms. Kelly, it goes without saying that she can do so MUCH better. However, consistency seems to be a small issue with the former Destiny’s Child star; most of her performances this year have been awesome, yet every so often there will be that one that kinda reminds me of some of the awkward live solo showings from prior to the ‘Ms. Kelly’ LP.

Whether this all means Kelly needs to put more work in with her vocal coach or mix a bit of live and pre-recorded vocals (which the likes of Michael Jackson (RIP), Beyonce etc all do – after all performers are still humans with limitations), I don’t know. But with a new album on the horizon, and a lot to prove to the masses, Kelly’s gonna need to be serving up consistently good performances. She can do it…now she needs to show she can do it.

With Whitney Houston’s comeback LP ‘I Look To You’ just a week away from release, expectantly more material from the record is surfacing; the most recent being a 2 minute snippet of ‘Worth It’, which surfaced within the last few minutes.

Put simply, I am loving this! Definitely next-single worthy!

This week’s From The Vault journey’s back to the year 2000, when former Xscape member Kandi released her first solo single ‘Don’t Think I’m Not’. Lifted from her criminally underrated LP ‘Hey Kandi’, this saw the writer of female anthems such as ‘No Scrubs’ drop her own declaration of independence. A great track, which still goes hard today – some 9 years later (damn, times goes fast!):

Some of you may be wondering why the hell Kandi is standing still for most of the video. Well, it turns out she sprained her ankle just before the video was set to shoot. Having learned all the choreography and whatnot, the accident meant she had to appear in the vid in a reduced role. Still a great vid all the same. You learn something new everyday lol…

For some unknown reason, Adrienne Bailon’s contribution to this year’s ‘Confession of a Shopaholic’ soundtrack, ‘Big Spender’ went over my head. Many thanks to my friend Kwame for bringing this one to my attention, for if this isn’t audio-fiyah I don’t know what is!

Though a little lacking lyrically, the track is big, bold, swagger-heavy. Ms. Bailon rides the Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins production effortlessly, serving up with this cut one the year’s most underrated offerings. Here’s hoping her debut solo album features hotness in the vein of this. Awesome track.

The first week of X Factor 2009 audition stage aired tonight here in the UK. Check out my 2 Pence below:

With the X-Factor hype at fever-pitch here in the UK today – the day the new season kicked off – what better time than the present to roll out new promotional shots for last year’s winner Alexandra Burke. (Apologies for the crappy quality, that’s all that is available at present).

Alex looks fantastic! It’s vividly clear from looking at these that there is a conscious effort on her team’s part to distinguish her from Leona – a good look IMO.

In other Alex news, she confirmed today on her Twitter page that the lead single from her as-yet-untitled album is titled ‘Bad Boys’ and will feature none other than Flo’ Rida. Although I’m a little ‘ugh’ at the Flo’Rida feature, I will reserve judgement until hearing the track.

Peep this new promotional shot of diva Whitney Houston for her comeback LP ‘I Look To You’. Putting aside the fact that her team phoned in Mariah’s Photoshop-ping clan, Ms. Houston looks stunning.

‘I Look To You’ drops August 31st via Arista.

With the release of LeToya Luckett’s sophomore effort ‘Lady Love’ just days away, the singer gave the first televised performance of new single ‘She Ain’t Got’ on KTLA yesterday.

The performance itself was ‘ok’, however my biggest gripe is the lack of promotion for LeToya’s project thus far. For this to be her first televised live showing, with the album release so near by is a hot mess. This is made worse by the fact that instead of performing on BET and likewise networks and shows, she’s on KTLA (?!). I really hope Ms. Luckett’s promo picks up…fast, as she’s deserving of much better treatment.

With JoJo having already vented her frustration with her label’s handling of her ‘All I Want Is Everything’ album publicly, the singer has now taken to the courts in her battle for a release from her deal. Check out the report via TMZ:

More power to her! Here’s hoping she wins, gets the release and is snapped up by another major label ASAP. There is too much talent in this 18 year old for her to be left by the wayside by this sometimes shady industry.

Despite the epic fail that was their ‘Forever In A Day’ album (which was actually pretty good), Day26 continue to press ahead with the project – today releasing the video for ‘So Good’. Definitely one for the grown folk, this serves as one of their better efforts. I’m sure the ladies will love this one.

That said, Bad Boy really are keeping these boys on a recession budget with these vids. We are in a visual age, and it’s gonna take more than these samey ‘concept’ clips, in which next to nothing is happening, to garner any interest anyone beyond their fan-base – who in total don’t seem to be able to save the guys from the terrible sales they’ve been having. It’s so sad, as all four of these guys are so talented. Yet, if things don’t change with how they are handled, they’ll become casualties of the industry. Here’s hoping the latter doesn’t become a reality.

Tidbit: Does anyone else notice how unless ‘Making The Band’ is airing, you never see or hear from these guys? SMH…