Beyonce Covers Vogue
The 2nd wave of Beyonce’s promo blitz (which will apparently go full-steam in April for her tour etc) has begun, with the 27 year old appearing on the cover of Vogue’s latest issue. 
Ms. Knowles-Carter looks real classy and elegant here. Great cover.
What do you think of the cover?

Check out The Pussycat Dolls special video for their version of A.H Rahman’s ‘Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny)- the Oscar winning song from the hit movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. 
Same ol’, Same ol’ if you ask me. On a random note, their budget for this their 2nd go round must be hella high. Their ‘Doll Domination’ LP belly-flopped on the charts, yet they are churning out video after video, single after single. For that I can’t hate, keep trying till it works, ey?
What do you think of the song / video?
Jacko Breaks Records; ALL 50 London Shows Sell-Out In Hours
Many have tried to count out the King of Pop Michael Jackson, however the 50 year old moved one step further to silencing his critics today, a day on which he smashed records with the tickets sales for his comeback shows at London’s 02:

Tickets for Michael Jackson’s 50 live dates at London’s O2 arena have sold out, meaning that a staggering one million tickets to see the singer have been bought in a matter of hours.

Dates for the summer residency, beginning on 8 July, had been extended to 50 nights – one for each year of Jackson’s life. The singer is said to be “thrilled” by the response, though no doubt his promoters are even happier. “Not only are these concerts unparalleled, these records have never been broken,” said Randy Phillips, of promoters AEG Live. “We knew this was show business history, but this is a cultural phenomenon”.

Tickets only went on sale on Friday 13 March, with pre-sale allocation available yesterday, and Ticketmaster described the demand as “unprecedented”. Fans queued overnight outside the O2 arena in Greenwich, east London, in the hope of avoiding jammed phonelines. However, those not lucky enough to secure a ticket can head to eBay to buy them second hand, providing they are prepared to pay between £170 and £10,000.

Jackson confirmed details of his O2 arena residency last week with the words: “When I say this is it, I mean this is it,” prompting many to question whether this will be his farewell tour. {Source}

Go MJ! After finding out that even the majority of the press (TGJ included) didn’t have any review tickets set aside, I started my day early in a quest to secure tickets; a quest which, after much hustle and bustle, saw me land tickets for one of the August shows in the *very very* sought-after A2 block (the first block following the stage, right in the middle). August really couldn’t come any sooner!

Your thoughts?

As reported yesterday, Cassie new Diddy-assisted single ‘Must Be Love’ was set to premiere very soon. Well soon is today, as the track (which Diddy has gone on record to call a ‘classic’) has surfaced in it’s entirety. 
While the song has a nice lil’ groove to it, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s run of the mill at best. What’s more, I’m still here scratching my head as to why Cassie is able to talk her way over a beat (no vocal improvement since her last time out) and yet the track is supposedly a ‘classic’. For all his past accomplishments (emphasis on the word ‘past’) on the music side of things, I really think Diddy is trying to play everyone by shoving this vocally-challenged stunner (as she is a stunner) down our throats. More than anything, though, Mr Combs is playing himself. Bad Boy, once the home of some of R&B’s greats such as 112 and Total is now reduced to artists (a term I used lightly) like Cassie. No shade on Cassie herself, but I think everything from her having a deal to releasing music, is a slap in the face to every legitimately talented artist out there on their grind trying to make it big. SMH…
Your thoughts?


With The-Dream’s ‘Love vs. Money’ LP now available in stores this week, the singer/songwriter has hit the TV promo trail in support of the record – most recently stopping by Snoop Doggs new MTV show Dogg After Dark. The Atlanta native performed current single ‘Rockin’ That Thang’.
Though the performance wasn’t particularly anything to scream about, I’m really feeling the song, as well as the album. Speaking of which, what do you guys think of the album?

Randomness: Snoop had me rolling when they cut to him during the performance.

Your thoughts?
LaTavia At LeToya's Birthday Bash
Original Destiny’s Child member LaTavia Roberson made a (very) rare appearance at former bandmate LeToya Luckett’s 28th birthday bash at Bambou in Houston last night. 
I’m liking her look – a lot. After years in hibernation, it’s great to see her looking so well.
I do wonder though, what happened to the supposed solo career LaTavia was rumored to be embarking on around the time LeToya first hit the scene on a solo tip? Word has it she could (and can) actually sing. 
Your thoughts?

I’ve just got through watching this week’s Michael Jackson themed American Idol episodes (we get everything a lil later here in the UK). I must say, while the quality of contestants aren’t as great as previous seasons, a couple have really stood out – namely Danny Goky and Lil Rounds. Peep their performances on this week’s show below:

{Video Removed As Requested}

Having watched this season from the start, I’m definitely rooting for these two. Great performances.

What do you think of the performances?


The video for Britney Spears’ new single ‘If U Seek Amy’ premiered literally moments ago on her official website — and it’s a winner.

Though lacking the polish and sheen of its predecessors (‘Womanizer’ and ‘Cirus’), the video for the cheekily titled song (say ‘If U Seek Amy’ really fast to get what I mean) has a great (and all-round better) concept IMO. In terms of choreography, expectedly Ms. Spears doesn’t offer much in the way of intricate moves (I guess her mojo will come back with time), yet she delivers with what she does do.

More than anything, though, it’s great to see her back doing her. Good stuff.


What do you think of the video?

Peep Cassie and her Bad Boy label head Diddy in the studio mixing th final version of her new single ‘Must Be Love’, which was produced by Bryan Michael Cox.
Though I’ll leave it to you to make your decision as to whether the track sounds anything like the ‘classic’ Diddy triumphantly labels it, I must say I feel it’s nothing to scream. With everyone and their mother knowing Cassie is vocally-challenged, I’m perplexed as to why she and her team insist on going with mid-tempo’s (see: ‘Official Girl’) to re-launch her. The obvious and more logical thing to do IMO would be to play to her strengths and drop an uptempo club banger (ala ‘Me & U’ and ‘Long Way 2 Go’). I really need to be working with some of these labels from time to time…LOL

Your thoughts?
Follow That Grape Juice On Twitter! It was bound to happen sooner or later; we are pleased to announce 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 will allow 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’ll 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 mean 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…

Rapper Kanye West took to the stage on last night’s live episode of American Idol to perform current single ‘Heartless’. Correct me if wrong, but I’m pretty sure this makes Kanye the first rapper to grace the stage of the popular singing contest.

The performance? I can’t say I’ve been sold on this singing/auto-tune thing with Kanye this go-round, something brought even further to the forefront when considering the kind of show he was on.

What do you think of the performance?

Ciara - 'Fantasy Ride' Cover
We can exclusively reveal the official album cover for her forthcoming LP ‘Fantasy Ride’ (due May 5th). 
About the cover, erm…well…no.
Edit: This *really* is the official cover!
On a more postive note, Ms. Harris’ ‘Love, Sex, Magic’ is doing very well on radio.
What do you think of the cover?
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