Ashanti - 'The Declaration' CoverThe official album cover for Ashanti’s new LP ‘The Declaration’ surfaced today via UrbanBridgez.com. What can I say? She looks stunning. I see Ashanti as more ‘girl next door’ as opposed to a grand diva, so the cover was initially kinda surprising. Still, I can’t fault this at all. Here’s hoping what’s most important, the music, is just as good.

What do you think of the cover?
With ‘Mariah Week’ in full swing, the diva’s BET special ‘The Relativity of Mariah’ (taped back in March) aired today. Check out performances of ‘Migrate / Touch My Body’, ‘Love Story / Shake It Off’ and ‘We Belong Together’ below:

Migrate / Touch My Body

Love Story / Shake It Off

We Belong Together

Wow! She sounded great. Watching this kinda has me thinking she either had a few extra days “vocal rest” or that she’s only capable of delivering live vocals like that in front of her fans. Whatever the case, the performances were on-point. More of this, please.

What do you think of the performances?

After months of next-to-no word on the status of Mary J. Blige’s ‘Growing Pains’ project, the video for the album’s 2nd single, ‘Stay Down’, premiered today. While the song is a personal favourite, I can not defend this mess of a video. The cheap, uninspired vid, which was directed by Hype Williams, has me thinking the budget for the whole project must be drying up fast. Odd, considering she’s only released one single from the record prior to this. On a more positive note, Mary looked great.

What do you think of the video?

Nelly - 'Body On Me (ft. Akon)'With the release of Nelly’s latest LP ‘Brass Knuckles’ drawing nearer, a brand new track from the set has surfaced. The Akon-assisted ‘Body On Me’, finds Nelly in familiar radio-ready territory. Though this isn’t as promising as his current single ‘Party People’, it’s a pretty decent effort.

Hit or Miss?

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R&B star Ashanti stopped by New York’s HOT 97 radio station earlier this week for an interview with Angie Martinez. The singer spoke on a number of things including her current status with The Inc, Nelly and, of course, her new album ‘The Declaration’. Check it out:

Great interview; she came across really well. Saying that, she needs to be honest about the whole situation with The Inc. After all, if it was all good Irv Gotti and Ja Rule wouldn’t be speaking of her negatively to anyone that will listen.

Any thoughts?

Michelle Williams - 'Hello Heartbreak'Former Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams is really surprising a lot of people with her new material; and judging by the sound of this new track, ‘Hello Heartbreak’, she will continue to do so. The club-destined cut, as with the other tracks we’ve heard, is very much an Urban/Pop/Dance fusion. Michelle’s album ‘Unexpected’ really is shaping up to be one of my most anticipated LP’s of 2008.

Hit or Miss?

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R&B songstress Keyshia Cole performed her current single ‘Heaven Sent’ on Regis and Kelly yesterday. I really enjoyed this performance. As I’ve said many-a-time, ‘Heaven Sent’ stands as my favourite Keyshia Cole track and seeing her nail it live was real satisfying. Vocally there’s no denying she has stepped up remarkably compared to some of her earlier showings. Great performance.

What do you think of the performance?

R. Kelly - 'Touch My Body' (Remix) As reported, R&B veteran R. Kelly is currently prepping his new LP for a summer release. In what I’m sure is a move to drum up interest in the project, Kelly has jumped on Mariah Carey’s ‘Touch My Body’ – offering his own spin on the #1 single. I must say I’m really liking this one; the vocal arrangement was great.

Hit or Miss?

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R&B/Pop collective Danity Kane stopped by TRL earlier this week to perform their hit ‘Damaged’. The brief downtime seems to have worked; this stands as the best performance of the song thus far IMO. From the vocals to the choreography to the stage presence, the girls were on-point. Good stuff.

What do you think of the performance?

Solange - 'Sandcastle Disco' (Snippet)Having tweaked the title of her forthcoming album ‘Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams’, Solange continues to ready the set for its August release. Meanwhile, a new snippet from the LP has surfaced in the form of ‘Sandcastle Disco’. Judging by the lengthy clip, the uptempo cut is a winner – definitely one of the better cuts I’ve heard from the record thus far.

Hit or Miss?

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A preview of the video for Mary J. Blige’s latest single ‘Stay Down’ aired yesterday on BET’s 106 & Park. I’ll reserve my judgement for the Hype Williams directed video until seeing it in its entirety. In the meanwhile…

Your thoughts?

Mariah Carey performed her new single ‘Bye Bye’ on American Idol yesterday. Check out the performance below:

She did pretty good, though gone seem to be the days where a Mariah performance ‘Wowed’ me. Also, I’m not sure if it’s just me but, it seems as if she lip-synching during certain parts. In any case, it’s unlikely to affect her sales as, according to Billboard ‘E=MC²’ is on-course to debut atop of the US album chart at #1 next week – knocking off Leona – with sales in excess of 500,000. More power to her.

Your thoughts?

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