In the midst of calls for her to slow down her hectic schedule, Lady GaGa has today officially announced the US leg of her ‘Monsters Ball’ tour. Set to kick off this June, the 23 year old will play Stateside arenas, including New York’s famed Madison Squared Garden, right through to the end of September. No rest for GaGa, I guess. Check out the full list of dates below:

»June 28 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
»July 1 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
»July 4 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall
»July 6- New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
»July 11 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
»July 14 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
»July 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ Conseco Fieldhouse
»July 17 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
»July 20 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Ford Center
»July 22 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
»July 25 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
»July 28 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
»July 31 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center
»August 3 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
»August 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
»August 13 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand
»August 16 – San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
»August 19 – Portland, OR @ Rose Garden
»August 21 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
»August 23 – Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
»August 26 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
»August 30 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
»September 1 – Milwaukee, WI @ Bradley Center
»September 4 – Detroit, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills
»September 5 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Consol Energy Center
»September 7 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
»September 8 – Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
»September 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center
»September 16 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
»September 18 – Charlotte, NC @ Time Warner Cable Arena
»September 19 – Raleigh, NC @ RBC Center

Click here for ticket info

Granted it’s definitely a good look for her US ‘monsters’, I can’t help but feel that a substantial period of rest is needed. That said, if she’s raring to go and running her show (which insiders say she is), then who’s to argue otherwise.

Randomness: I guess her touring for the majority of the year will see her avoid over-exposure by being everywhere at once.

Your thoughts?

There have today been renewed calls for Pop phenomenon Lady GaGa to take a break from her hectic workload, following a shocking live showing in Auckland, New Zealand last night. While performing the night’s closer ‘Bad Romance’, the 23 year old star appeared ‘out of it’, forced to sit out (and at points lay flat) during the entire performance. Check out the video above…

Though kudos are most certainly due for the budding icon for finishing the performance, there really does come a point when one’s health and safety take pre-eminence over everything else – now being one of those times. Her rapid rise to prominence and dominance has been like no other in recent Pop history, and it appears the intensity of it all is getting to her physically. If GaGa has no ‘stop’ button, then perhaps those around her need to intervene before the situation becomes much more serious. I mean if longevity is what is being aimed for, then I’m sure her ‘monsters’ wouldn’t object to her taking time off – it is clearly needed.

Your thoughts?

Lady GaGa took the time to further explain her short film for ‘Telephone’ on ‘Big Boy’s Neighborhood’ radio show recently. The rising icon posted the above photo of herself and the video’s co-star, Beyonce, on her Twitter last evening. Check out what GaGa had to say about Beyonce being the “vehicle” that made it all happen:

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R&B royalty Mary J. Blige continues her promotional push for new album ‘Stronger With Each Tear’ here in the UK, yesterday performing ‘I Am’ on daytime show GMTV.

Awesome performance! I had to stare at Mary’s mouth the entire way through, as the vocals were that flawless that one would be forgiven for thinking she was lip-syncing. Good stuff.

Tidbit: Did anyone else find the backing singers really random?! Aside from the fact they weren’t even singing, they looked like her personal assistants or something LOL. Only in showbiz will you find backing singers that don’t actually sing!

What do you think of the performance?

It has been announced that Making The Band stars Dawn Richard and Que Mosley will be starring in their own MTV reality show this summer. The confirmation came via Mosley and his new management team Soul World Entertainment during the former Day 26 star’s recent interview with WKYS radio. Check out the interview below, as well as my 2pence…

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International mover and shaker Kelly Rowland has been treating Australian fans to many a performance during her current promotional stint in the country. Earlier today, the singer took to the stage on the Australian version of ‘So You Think You Dance’ to perform…you guessed it…’When Love Takes Over’!  This time the Destiny’s Child alumni was joined by 100 dancers – both on and in front of the stage. Peep the performance above…

Awesome! Kelly really has come into her own, both as a vocalist and a performer, and it’s so great to see. Great performance!

Tidbit: With Kelendria’s album as good as finished, the fact she made mentions of Danja, Ne-Yo, Stargate, and Rico Love, indicates their offerings made the final cut. I’m particularly amped as it likely means the previously posted Ne-Yo track ‘Tonight’ will feature.

Your thoughts?

Hitmaker Swizz Beats spoke today for the first time about what exactly caused his marriage to singer Mashonda to result in divorce. While rumours positioning R&B star Alicia Keys as the reason for the split have been rampant, the producer – real name Kaseem Dean told DJ Enuff otherwise. Check out the video above to see what he had to say…

Your thoughts?

Despite releasing a solid body of work with his last LP ‘Graffiti’, it appears Chris Brown still can’t shake the negative consequences of ‘the incident’. Indeed the lack of radio play, and declining requests for appearances, have seen the 20  year old take to his Say Now page to plead with his fans to request his records. You can listen to the message below:

Granted I may catch some flack for this; I really think it time folk just moved on. While I understand and accept that Chris’ actions were deplorable, he has a) taken responsibility for his wrongs and b) been punished for them by law and c) will forever have to live with the guilt of what he did and the dent it put in his career. Hence, why any entity (radio, TV etc) should feel it necessary to stage-manage the level of Chris’ potential success, is completely beyond me.

Important to note is the fact that I feel that he should have been kept out of the public eye significantly longer than he was. What’s more, the tit-for-tat promotional strategy he and Rihanna were both using around their respective release dates was (retrospectively) appalling. That said, if Ms. Fenty has forgiven and pressed on with her life…why can’t everyone else?

Your thoughts?

R&B songstress Toni Braxton unveiled the official cover for her forthcoming LP ‘Pulse’ a few moments ago. Check it out above…

It pretty much goes without saying that the 41 year old mother of two looks smokin’! What’s more, the album is shaping up to be a real winner; I’ve had ‘Hands Tied’ (the video for which is set to be shot shortly) on replay since hearing it.

‘Pulse’ hits stores this May via Atlantic Records.

Your thoughts?

After many a delay,  Lil’ Wayne finally begun his year long jail sentence today.

The 28 year old star surrendered at the Manhattan, New York courtroom this morning (March 8th), where he was then placed in handcuffs and taken into custody after formally being handed down his sentence.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper, real name Dwayne Carter, pleaded guilty back in October last year to charges of attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted having the loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his tour bus.

Carter will be serving his sentence in city jail, as opposed to state prison, and can potentially be freed after eight months, if his behaviour is good enough.

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While I may catch some flack for this, all I can say is ‘it’s about time!’ I was beginning to think there was some JuJu/Obia at play here with the constant pushbacks to the sentence. Not to be confused with anyone taking pleasure in another’s misfortune, but as the age-old adage goes….”if you do the crime, you have to do the time”. I mean to think some folk were screaming “Free Lil’ Wayne”….erm no LOL.

Your thoughts?

Things are not looking good for diva Mariah Carey. The 39 year old’s remixes for her ‘Angel’s Advocate’ LP have failed to excite fans,with the lead  singles ‘Up Out My Face’ and the Ne-Yo assisted ‘Angel’s Cry’ failing miserably on the charts.  While ‘Up Out My Face’ peaked disappointingly at #100 on Billboard Hot 100, ”Cry’ embarrassingly never garnered enough airplay or downloads to even debut on the chart. Ouch!

This era is quickly descending into a hot burning mess for our Mimi. It’s all rather sad. With the Oscar buzz around ‘Precious’, as well as her other projects, it’s a bit baffling as to why she’d opt not to just concentrate on those (forgetting and hoping we did too) the epic flop that was ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel’). Instead she’s subjecting herself to more embarrassment by lazily releasing a half-baked remix record. I really do not know who or what is helping her make these ill-informed decisions, but…

Your thoughts?

It appears diva Whitney Houston was saving all her love for Melbourne – the last stop on the Australian leg of her ‘Nothin’ But Love Tour’. The legendary star belted out her renown classics, while also serving up some of the best live renditions of her newer material including ‘I Look To You’, which you can watch below:

It really appears the negative press which plagued the first couple of shows re-lit Nippy’s fire, as she’s singing with much more clarity and less of the hit and miss ‘grit’ which seems to be a prominent feature of her ‘new voice’.

As for this performance, she nailed it! Her belting from the 2.45 mark was ‘trademark Whitney’ and really showed that she’s slowly reclaiming some of the vocal power years of hard-living and health issues shaved off. Great performance!

Your thoughts?