With it being almost 3 years (yes 3 years!) since the release of LeToya’s debut album, it’s great to hear that things are finally coming together with her sophomore project. Now that her label Capital/EMI have ironed put their internal issues, it appears all systems are go for the release of Toya’s ‘Lady Love’ LP, which is tentatively scheduled for a March 24th release.

What’s more it has now ben confirmed that the set’s lead single, the Ne-Yo penned ‘Not Anymore’ will be impacting Rhythmic/Crossover radio in the US on February 3rd – meaning, in less complicated terms, we should be hearing it *very* soon LOL. In the meanwhile, you can listen to Ne-Yo’s demo version of the song, which is produced by Bei Maejor (Trey Songz, Mike Jones). I must say, I’m really feeling this one – especially the hook (“Stop, stop…”).

Click here to listen to Ne-Yo’s demo of ‘Not Anymore’

With the initial first single from 50 Cent’s forthcoming LP ‘Before I Self Destruct’ ‘Get Up’ causing the album to be pushed back due to lack of interest, the rapper is hoping ‘I Get In’ – the record’s ‘official’ lead single – will ignite the charts. However, I’m not sure how feasible such hope is with this one. Despite being produced by the increasingly elusive Dr Dre, it still comes across distinctly typical 50. Nothing new or particularly of interest here. It really is a case of ‘step your game up, or fall back’ here IMO.

Hit or Miss?

A new Rihanna cut, featuring boyfriend Chris Brown, surfaced today. Believed to be lifted from the ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ soundtrack – a movie in which they both make cameos – the Polo Da Don produced track isn’t bad at all. Granted I cannot understand what Ms. Fenty is ‘singing’ on the chorus and Chris Brown’s ‘rap’ sounding a lil’ Vanilla Ice, the beat goes hard and Rihanna rides the verses well. Listening to this actually has me really interested to see what she’ll be serving up on her oh-so-important new album (the one in which she proves her current success isn’t a fluke).

Hit or Miss?

With Mariah Carey’s former label Sony BMG set to release a new compilation titled ‘The Ballads’ in the US on January 20th (already available here in the UK), e songstress has released this new video for her classic ‘Hero’ (with re-recorded vocals) – which is features on the LP.

The video serves it’s purpose, in that it’s pretty much standard ‘music video in a studio’ fare. However, listening to this really does drive home how different (some would argue, deteriorated) Mariah’s voice has become. Yes, she sounds better than current industry’s vocal standard (which isn’t saying a whole lot), but touching one of her career-defining tracks and sounding a shadow of a shadow of her old self isn’t a good look. The restraint and croakiness in her delivery are un-ignorable. Sad. (Thanks Trent! You’re a star!)

What do you think of the song/video?

Many thanks to the thousands of you who voted in the 2nd Annual That Grape Juice: End of Year Awards. You can peep the list of winners below and see if your favourite scooped an award:

‘I Am…Sasha Fierce’ – Beyonce (38.71%)

‘Human’ – Brandy (14.93%)

Single of the Year

‘Single Ladies’ – Beyonce (46.94%)

Runner Up: ‘A Milli’ – Lil’ Wayne (14.59%)

Best Video:

‘Single Ladies’ – Beyonce (46.94%)

Runner Up: ‘Go Girl’ – Ciara (18.02%)

Best Collaboration

‘Live Your Life’ – T.I. & Rihanna (24.83%)

Runner Up: Love In The Club (Remix) – Usher, Beyonce & Lil’ Wayne (21.93%)

Best New Artist

Jazmine Sullivan – (25.07%)

Runner Up: Leona Lewis (23.15%)

Best Female Artist

Beyonce – (43.8%)

Runner Up: Rihanna (14.83%)

Best Male Artist

T.I. – (22.77%)

Runner Up: Chris Brown (20.7%)

The Kelly Rowland Underrated Artist Of The Year Award

Solange – (22.62%)

Runner Up: Michelle Williams (21.67%)

The Please Go Sit Down Somewhere Award

Rihanna – (38.86%)

Runner Up: Soulja Boy (29.31%)

Worst Single Of The Year

‘Marco Polo’ – Bow Wow & Soulja Boy (35.01%)

Runner Up: Everything She Released – Mariah Carey (20.19%)

Worst Album Of The Year

‘Just A Rolling Stone’ – Donnie Klang (30.44%)

Runner Up: ‘Brass Knuckles’ – Nelly (19.59%)

(You) Slippin’ / Step Your Game Up Award

Usher (30.22%)

Runner Up: Mariah Carey (23.3%)

Best Reality TV Show

X Factor (23.08%)

Runner Up: Making The Band 4 (22.7%)

Most Shocking Event of 2008

Jennifer Hudson Family Tragedy (42.09%)

Runner Up: Barack Obama Becoming 1st Black US President

Your thoughts on the awards/winners?

Suggestions for next year?

X Factor standout winners Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke performed on today’s Christmas episode of Top of The Pops. Peep Leona’s spine-tingling showing of ‘Run’ above, while you can view Alexandra’s performance of Christmas #1 ‘Hallelujah’ below:

Great performances! I know some will disagree, but I’m really feeling they are the new Mariah and Whitney. Very excited to see where the future takes these two.

What do you think of these performances?

The video for ‘Diva’, one of Beyonce’s two new singles, premiered a few hours ago. Directed by Melina, the video is both a hit and miss affair IMO. Raw, gritty and edgy, the clip really captures the essence of the song. However, having seen Sasha step her game up on the choreography tip with ‘Single Ladies’ (and start a dance craze in the process), the choreography in this kinda left me a little salty. The word ‘lacking’ immediately came to mind when watching her bust moves which looked as if she made them up there and then. Still, a good video all the same. The black and white concept was pushed a little further with the colour contrasts i.e. the fire explosion etc. Like most things Beyonce, I’m sure this one will be big – it’s already taking off at radio. {Thanks Jonelle!}

Be on the look out for the 2nd of Beyonce’s videos ‘Halo’ later today.

What do you think of the video?

We reported a few months back that R&B songstress Toni Braxton had signed a new deal with Atlantic Records and was set to drop her first single ‘Get Loose’ toward the end of the year. Indeed with just a few days to go before the year is out, the song has surfaced. Produced by Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins, the uptempo song unsurprisingly has a very Darkchild 2008 sound. By that I mean it has elements similar to cuts such Brandy’s ‘Right Here (Departed)’ and Beyonce’s ‘Scared of Lonely’.

As I type and listen to the song over again, I’m still on the fence about this one. It’s decent enough on first listen, however in terms of a ‘comeback’ single and chart prospects, just doesn’t really cut it for me. A grower? Perhaps. A miss? Perhaps. {Thanks Devonte!}

Hit or Miss?