“You could never imagine how empowering it is to be nude in front of cameras and have people looking at you in that way and seeing you as beautiful,” she told MTV News. “You’re seeing yourself as beautiful. I mean, a lot of the times I think I’m seen as a bad girl, and I think that’s because I’m so open.”

O’Day said that she agreed to the pictorial only after the magazine made Klinko available. He’s snapped portraits of everyone from Mariah Carey to Pamela Anderson, in addition to the cover of Beyoncé’s 2003 album Dangerously In Love, and O’Day knew he’d make her Playboy spread something to remember.

“I only agreed to do it because [Markus] was shooting it,” she said. “He is unbelievably amazing. He agreed with me that we needed to do something classy, iconic and truly beautiful. I mean, I think a lot of the type of way I’m portrayed in the media isn’t always the way I am in my heart. And I think that we were able to capture that with [this shoot].

“It’s going to be very elegant, very iconic,” she emphasized. “We wanted to do something very beautiful and classic. And I’m very excited about, just in general, how liberating the shoot was and how great it’s going to be to express myself and be comfortable with my sexuality. I think in society we tend to put ourselves in boxes and corners and restrict ourselves, and we constantly feel the need to not say this or not wear this … and taking it all off and being nude is the most natural state that you can be in.”

And what does she think her detractors will say about the Playboy spread? Well, to be honest, she doesn’t really care. Because she’s not listening.

“I’m always gonna be true, whether people like it or not. I’m just gonna be me. I’m gonna be real. I’m not gonna do anything because people want me to. I’m not gonna hide something about me,” she laughed. “I think people are scared to be who they are, and if anybody’s gonna go out there and let everybody know, ‘Be who you are … no judgment here,’ it’s gonna be me.”

BEVERLY HILLS, California — Every year on Grammy Awards weekend, Clive Davis puts his stamp on the artist he feels will be the next blue-chip performer under his wing. The nod has become almost as important as winning a Grammy itself. This year, however, Davis’ biggest splash will be an act he discovered decades ago: Whitney Houston.

“She’s rehearsing around 9 p.m. tonight,” Davis said on Thursday afternoon, during practices for his legendary extravaganza at the Beverly Hilton. The music mogul — who has been Houston’s godfather figure as much as he has been one of the people guiding her career — hinted that Grammy-winning singer would have product in the marketplace sooner than we expect.

“You wait for the great songs to be written,” Davis said about the long-awaited comeback album from one of his most prized prodigies. “The great hits Whitney has given to the public for so many years — you keep encouraging and setting the bar. R. Kelly and Whitney just went into the studio with a great song called ‘I Look to You.’

“The same way her debut album took a while to put together, you just don’t do it by going into a computer. You wait for the material to justify a new album,” he added. “Pretty much, it’s come in.”

Davis said that Houston is going into the lab with hitmaker David Foster next week to record a ballad called “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.” {Source}

Roll on Saturday! Really can’t wait to see and, more importantly, hear this one…

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Etta James might have put superstar Beyonce on blast for singing her signature song, “At Last,” at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, but the music legend said it was just a joke.

During a concert in Seattle on January 28, Etta told the crowd, “I tell you, that woman he has singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her a** whipped… I can’t stand Beyonce, she had no business up there singing… my song that I’ve been singing forever.”

However on Thursday, Etta told The New York Daily News, “I didn’t really mean anything. Even as a little child, I’ve always had that comedian kind of attitude. … That’s probably what went into it.”

“Nobody was getting mad at me in Seattle,” she continued. “They were all laughing, and it was funny.”

The singer did admit to being a little hurt that she was not invited to sing for President Obama, saying she was “feeling left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around.”

And when it came to rating Beyonce’s rendition of her iconic song, Etta said she liked it, but when asked if she could have performed it better, Etta answered, “I think so. That’s a shame to say that.”

As for President Obama, who she referred to as “the one with the big ears,” she believes he’s focused on more important things.

“I still had my joke about him. That might be horrible. The President might not ever like me in life,” she added. “He’s got other stuff [to worry about] besides Etta James.” {Source}