This week’s edition of Best You Never Heard features little known gems by Jennifer Hudson, The-Dream, Stevie Wonder and Brandy.

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Jennifer Hudson – Invisible

As seemingly one of the few who didn’t wholesomely enjoy Jennifer Hudson‘s 2008 self-titled debut, for me ‘Invisible’ – alongside lead single ‘Spotlight’ – stood far and above the rest of the album’s material. Produced by The Underdogs, the anthem-esque mid-tempo ballad is delivered with such conviction, rawness, emotion that one can’t help but ‘feel’ what Ms. Hudson is singing – the testament IMO to a great song and a an even better singer. Awesome track.

Listen:

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The-Dream – She Needs My Love

2007 saw the emergence of songwriter The-Dream into the limelight with his smashing debut LP ‘Love/Hate’. Full to the brim with box-fresh hits, the album is best described as one of those where almost every track could have viably been a single – especially the steamy ‘She Needs My Love’. Put simply, the song is audio-fire! From the catchy hooks, to Dream’s trademark layered vocal arrangements, to the production (sparse cowbell driven verses which launch into a rousing chorus), this still goes hard today.

Listen:

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Stevie Wonder – So What The Fuss

The legendary Stevie Wonder served up more of his classic brilliance, this time with a modern twist, with 2005’s ‘So What The Fuss’ (lifted from his ‘A Time To Love’ LP). Featuring Prince on bass and EnVogue on background vocals, this raw slice of funk re-positioned Stevie as a legend whose new music can stand effortlessly beside today’s chart-topping hits, whilst preserving the high quality we’ve come to expect from him.

Listen:

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Brandy – Camouflage

R&B vocalist Brandy served up one of, if not ‘the’, best album of her career in 2008 with the release of the criminally underrated ‘Human’ record. Despite its lack of commercial success, the album will be best remembered IMO as serving up track after track of sheer brilliance – especially ‘Camouflage’. Produced by Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins and penned by Claude Kelly, Ms. Norwood entered new territory with this markedly Pop, organic guitar-heavy cut.  Yet she manages to ride the track flawlessly, really capturing the essence of what the song is about – a celebration of human  fragility and imperfectness. Great track.

Listen:

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Hit(s) or Miss(es)?

Colombian entertainer Shakira gave a performance of her new song ‘Give It Up To Me’ on Fox’s ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ last evening. The Timbaland-produced single has thus far peaked at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #29 on the Pop 100. Shakira’s 3rd English album, ‘She Wolf’, debuted at #12 on the Billboard 200 with 80, 000 copies sold.

It’s really refreshing to see Shakira diversifying her dance skills and experimenting with step dancing. As she said in our interview earlier this week, she really enjoys adapting to new challenges and improving her craft as a performer; a drive that is blatantly absent amongst many of the ‘artists’ on the charts today. However, it was painful to watch her struggle to mime in time with her backtrack. I personally have no problems with singers who lip-sync during their hectic promotional tours (I can think of a few who should never be allowed to ‘sing’ live), especially if there is choreography involved. Nonetheless, it is important that the performances are seamless (see Beyonce’s ‘Singe Ladies’ performance on ‘The Tyra Banks Show’).

Thoughts?

Rising diva Leona Lewis made a guest appearance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!‘ last evening. The singer took the stage to perform the songs ‘Happy‘ and ‘Outta My Head‘ from her new album, ‘Echo‘. As predicted, Lewis’ album has proven to be a commercial failure, debuting at #13 on the Billboard 200 with barely 67, 000 units shipped.

As usual, her vocals were on point but her stage presence was nonexistent. One would assume that given the nature of her album sales, she would have been motivated to give the crowd a bit more fire. Shy or not, she has to come a lot harder than that if she wants to leave an impression on the mass media audience.

Sidebar: How many times is she going to wear the same outfit?! That’s the exact same dress she wore to the AMA’s only this time she wore leggings. No no no, that won’t work!

Thoughts?

Sassy Shakira stopped by the Lopez Tonight show this week to promote her new LP ‘She Wolf’. The 32 year old was interviewed and gave a solid performed of new single ‘Give It Up To Me’, both of which you can watch above.

Your thoughts?

Fresh reports today are suggesting that the Pussycat Dolls have split, with an official announcement being imminent.

The news comes amid claims that the ladies are no longer on speaking terms with lead and only singer Nicole Scherzinger. According to OK:

“None of the other girls are speaking to Nicole, who they believe took the limelight, then went off to do her own thing.”

I can’t say this comes as much of surprise, as the ladies have been slinging mud at each other for a hot minute now. I must say though; for as “Fast-food Music” as their songs were, it’s quite unfortunate that we never got to see Ms. Melody shine within the group. Here’s wishing her the best of luck. I’d say the same for the others, but I can’t remember their names.

Your thoughts?

Check out episode 4 of Monica‘s BET reality show ‘Still Standing’, which aired last week. Enjoy the episode below and hold tight for episode 5 which will be up later in the week.

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Check out the official album cover for Mary J Blige‘s latest effort ‘Stronger With Each Tear’ (formerly titled ‘Stronger’).

Classic, elegant and above all, a great visual embodiment of the record’s title. I love it!

‘Stronger With Each Tear’ hits stores December 21st. In the meanwhile, be on the lookout for the video for the record’s new single ‘I Am’, which will be debuting any day now.

What do you think of the cover?

According to Billboard, Rihanna’s much hyped ‘comeback’ album ‘Rated R’ is  on course to sell just 162,000 copies in its first week on sale. The news comes in the midst of her label okaying the LP being sold for $3.99, and eventually $0.99 in its opening week.

While I’ve given my own take on this many a time, I will say that it’s hardly surprising that the album is underperforming. After all, the label couldn’t have been acting in such a desperate manner if it was selling to begin with.

I doubt this signals the end of her career, as I’m sure many are hoping (which they shouldn’t…that’s bad karma lol). It just means we’ll probably be subject to 300 singles and 25 re-releases (including the Deluxe, Super Deluxe, Ultra Premium Deluxe, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese versions…and of course the Super-Super Uber Ultra Premium Deluxe edition which comes with a DVD).

Oh well, in the words of Jay-Z himself:

“Men and women lie, but numbers don’t!”

Your thoughts?

The legendary Whitney Houston performed on the finale of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars a few hours ago, offering a rendition of current single ‘Million Dollar Bill’ (which you can watch above), as well as her classic ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ (below). Scroll down for our take each showing…

Nippy has certainly had better live outings vocally, and really could have done without that performance of ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’. That said, ‘Million Dollar Bill’ wasn’t bad…I rather enjoyed it in fact. I’m assuming she’ll be resting her voice over the Holiday period for her upcoming tour which kicks off early next year.

What do you think of the performances?

Singer/dancer Mya placed second on season 9 of ‘Dancing With The Stars’ last evening. The performer and her partner Dmitry, who had the highest scores from the judges throughout the season, lost the title to Donny Osmond. In addition, Kelly Osbourne placed third at the finale of the event which featured performances from Whitney Houston.

Why am I not surprised? Although Mya practically owned the dance floor every time she stepped out, the voters on this show have always displayed incredibly poor taste with their selection of the seasons’ winners. First Toni Braxton got voted off early, then Lil Kim and now Mya. Anyone else noticing a trend? I am utterly disgusted by this news and unless someone of the caliber of Janet Jackson or Beyonce enters the show next year, I definitely won’t be watching.

Thoughts?

Part-time model Rihanna visited the Ed Sullivan Theater last evening where she performed on the ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’. The fashionista sang her hit song ‘Russian Roulette’ from her new album, ‘Rated R’. Rihanna’s LP is projected to debut with a dismal 162k on next week’s Billboard 200 chart tally.

I rather enjoyed this performance. She handled the song well, by her standards, with the exception of a few shaky notes. Furthermore, as per usual, she looked amazing. Why can’t she sound this good all the time?

Thoughts?

R&B crooner Usher has supposedly been hard at work on his forthcoming album ‘Raymond vs. Raymond’. One of the tracks emerging from his studio sessions is ‘In My Bag‘ which features none other than T.I. Usher’s new album has been postponed indefinitely, with most speculating that it will be released some time in 2010.

This is a nice song but nothing to become overly excited about. Usher serves up his usual swag but I must admit that T.I. really stole the show with his verse on this one; the track might as well have been his with Usher only chiming in on the chorus. Either way, it’s a good album track but I doubt it will prove single worthy.

Hit or Miss?