Los Angeles’ famed Shrine Auditorium played host to the 41st annual NAACP Awards last night. Each year the NAACP (Nation Association For The Advancement of Coloured People) honours the achievement of figures, shows, films etc which aid its cause. This year saw R&B star Keri Hilson, who debuted a new look (above), take home Best New Artist.

Other celebrities in attendance included Precious star Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Nick Cannon, LL Cool J, Gabrielle Union, Eva Pigford, and more. Check out more red carpet pics below:

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Former Misteeq singer Sabrina Washington gave her first televised performance of new single ‘OMG (Oh My Gosh)’ on BBC Switch’s 5: 19 show earlier this week. Check out how Ms. Washington fared with her acoustic rendition of the song below…

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The legendary Whitney Houston answered back her critics by giving a solid show at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia yesterday. Earlier this week, Houston, 46, hit headlines worldwide when a handful disgruntled fans left her Brisbane, Australia show early, claiming her voice ‘wasn’t there’.

However, clearly much more disciplined with her vocal technique, the diva gave a rousing climatic performance of career definer ‘I Will Always Love You’; which, though not ‘perfect’, reinforced the fact that she should not be counted out – at all. Check it out below…

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After a brief absence from the music scene, UK-bred/US-based singer Estelle is back with new single ‘Freak’.  Produced by hit-maker of the moment David Guetta, the Dance/Urban mash-up sees the Londoner embrace a markedly different sound to that of soulful R&B of her last LP, 2008’s ‘Shine’. The question however, is whether it actually works….

Luckily for Estelle, the answer is a ‘yes’…just about. Getting the ‘bad’ out of the way first, the production and overall busyness of the track may put off some of her Urban loyalists, while the Kardinal Offishal feature wasn’t really needed. That said, with ridiculously catchy hooks, including one which samples Soul II Soul’s ‘Back To Life’, as well as Ms. Swaray re-engaging with her rap roots while dually trying something new, this one is a winner.

Hit or Miss?

Rihanna is blazing her way along the promotional trail. This time the Bajan performed her new song, ‘Rude Boy‘, on the UK’s GMTV. The song has thus far peaked at #6 on the UK Singles Chart and #23 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

It’s safe to say that this was one of the better performances of that song date. Rihanna is slowly coming into her own as a performer and, as usual, her fashion game was on point. Her team has made solid decisions thus far with this album’s singles selections, unlike Rihanna’s idol and label mate, Mariah Carey. Timing is everything and ‘Rude Boy’ came out at the perfect moment.

Thoughts?

Leona Lewis made a guest appearance on ‘The Alan Titchmarsh Show’ today. The vocal mistress was had a conversation with the show’s host about several topics including her efforts to support Haiti, how she has dealt with success,  being a vegetarian and going on tour. Check out her performance of her new song ‘I Got You’ below:

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Check out this behind the scenes look at the making of  Alicia Keys‘ forthcoming ‘Freedom Tour’, which kicks off tonight in Canada. The Grammy award winner is then set to trek across the globe, with several stops in North America and Europe. Good stuff.

Will you be going to see Alicia live?

Seen her live before? Was she any good?

Beyonce has killed Sasha Fierce. Or at least that is what she told ‘Extra’ correspondent A.J. during a short yet tense interview where she shed some light on the direction of her future recordings. The superstar also spoke about how she plans to spend her vacation in the upcoming months but things got very uncomfortable after A.J. found a way to weave in questions about her husband Jay-Z, something that her press team must have clearly outlined as an off-limits topic.

It’s great to hear that Beyonce is ready to leave the Sasha Fierce brand in the past and experience further artistic growth. Regarding the rest of the interview…let’s just say that A.J. is a very brave man to pull a stunt like that.

Thoughts?

Rihanna was the guest performer on yesterday’s episode of ‘Alan Carr: Chatty Man’. The Bajan performed her new single ‘Rude Boy’ for the UK audience. To date, the song has peaked at #23 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on the UK Singles Chart. {*Video only seems to work outside the UK…ironic, huh? Will update link when new one becomes available*}

It looks like Rihanna’s gravel in a blender vocals weren’t the only things rude in that performance. She certainly looked like she was having a good time grinding her waistline for the crowd and I had no problems with that. She has a great body and although many may be offended by her microphone jerking near the end, all I saw was a young woman being in charge of her sexuality.

Check out another segment of the show below where Rihanna tried to teach Alan how to dutty wine (don’t try that at home because the neck movements have been known to kill people):

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Shakira debuted a new video today. The Jaume de Laiguana-directed clip was shot to support ‘Gypsy’, the 3rd international single from the sexy siren. The video was filmed in Barcelona, Spain and features tennis star Rafael Nadal. Peep the clip below:

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Rihanna sat down with ‘Talk Asia’ on CNN recently. The trendy star discussed a wide range of topics including how she was discovered, her thoughts on her career thus far, Chris Brown and the direction she plans to take on her next studio album. Rihanna also delved into a conversation about her childhood and witnessing her father using crack cocaine. Great interview.

Thoughts?

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