With the release of Michelle Williams’ new LP ‘Unexpected’ on the horizon (due August 12th), the singer continues along the promo trail; this time performing at the Apple Store in her native Chicago, Illinois last week. Check out her rendition of album cut ‘Stop This Car’ below:

Singing legend Whitney Houston continued her road to redemption this weekend with a live performance in Kazakhstan. Check out her rendition of ‘I Will Always Love You’ below: (the video quality is a mess, but the sound is great) {Thanks Trent!}:

The 2008 Essence Music Festival wrapped yesterday in New Orleans. Keyshia Cole and Solange (accompanied by Papa Knowles), who both performed during the three day extravaganza, hit the autograph booth to sign…well… autographs. Check out the pics:

This past Saturday marked the 2nd day of the 2008 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Home-grown star Estelle was among the performers (pictured above with Bryan Michael Cox and Matthew Knowles above), as were LL Cool, Solange ,Musiq, Patti Labelle and Christette Michele. Check out the pics:

The annual Essence Music Festival kicked off this past Friday, 4th July, in New Orleans. Many an artist made an appearance, performed and whatnot at the event – which took place jointly at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and Louisiana Superdome. Check out the pics of Rihanna, Chris Brown, Kanye West, Solange, Bow Wow among others below:

This week’s From The Vault clip is Pop star Britney Spears’ first foray in the Urban music world – ‘Slave For You’. The sexed-up vid for the Neptures produced song is widely considered by many as Spears’ official transition from teenage Pop sensation to edgy Pop princess. Who would have ever thought it, Britney riding a Neptunes beat? Good stuff…check it out:

As R&B songstress Brandy continues to mould her much anticipated new album – her first under new label Epic, a track, said to be from the record, has surfaced. Produced by The Underdogs, ‘The List’ is a well crafted cut that sounds unlike much of what is dominating the musical sphere at present – a good or potentially not so good thing, I guess. If the track, which features Brandy’s trademark vocal arrangements and harmonies, is indicative of the LP’s overall direction, I’m even more amped for her record than I previously was. As though ‘selling’ is no doubt a priority, there has always been something qualitatively that sets Brandy apart from the pack – even if her sound isn’t as readily serviceable to commercial radio as, say, your typical Rihanna track. Anyway, enough of my babbling…

UK singing sensation Leona Lewis performed her hit single ‘Better In Time’ as well as the worldwide smash ‘Bleeding Love’ at at the NRJ Music Tour in France. Check out the performance below:

We all at That Grape Juice wish all our US visitors a very Happy Independence Day!

Check out singer/songwriter Keri Hilson on the set of her Melina directed video for new single ‘Energy’:

R&B star Ne-Yo recently performed for Yahoo’s Nissan Live Sets. During the Q&A session, the singer was asked by an audience member who he preferred looks-wise between Beyonce and Rihanna. Check out Ne-Yo’s response below:

Not content with taking digs at Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri on previous occasions, rapper Khia has blasted the pair in her latest MySpace blog (warning: explicit language):

Nowwwwwwww…… Jermaine Dupri…… I hear you was on Hot 97 in New York… Talking bout how I was ungrateful…………. And Miss Jones was FIRED right after dat!!!!!! If I’m ungrateful about anything its about the fact of how I SAVED the day for JANET….. And I couldn’t even be in the VIDEO…..But dats old news so why are we even still talking about it????? Janet’s album Flopped and DATS dat!!!!! I’m sorry……. Janet…..I hear you been going thru the CHANGE…. So maybe dats why you were MOODY and didn’t want me in the VIDEO dat day!!!! I guess 40 is not the new 20????

If I am disappointed about anything……… Its because you DIDN’T sign me, after I had already proven to you that I can sell records!!!! Is it because I am not little like BOW WOW??? Is it because I don’t wear my pants backwards with my boxers showing like Kriss-Kross??????….. You are Michael Jackson’s little sister’s boyfriend!!!!!! Is Chris Stokes your cousin??? Now dats the REAL disappointment!!!!! Are you gonna join Janet at the Jungle dis weekend, the hot GAY bar in Atlanta?? If so, I will see you then!!!! SOUND OFF……. And Noooooooo…… I don’t wanna buy no DAMN BOY SCOUT COOKIES!!!! It’s something funny bout GROWN men running around with little boys in uniforms….. Tell Janet to lay off the HUSTLER and COCO DORM SEX Tapes!!!!! Another man is beating YOUR TIME!!! Give it to em raw and RINSE dat strap off………Now run and tell dat!!!!!! Nasti Muzik 08!!!!!

A mess…a hot mess. You can read the rest of Khia’s rant, which also takes aim at her record label Big Cat Records for lack of promotion (see: Karma) in the comments section.