This is supposedly the actual choreography by Sheryl Murakami for Beyonce’s upcoming music video ‘Ego’ featuring Kanye West. It’s not yet known if Ego will be released as an official single, but so far, we already know that Beyonce has started shooting music video’s for her video anthology. Just like her last album ‘B’Day’, the video anthologies will be distributed alongside her forthcoming ‘I Am…Sasha Fierce’ re-release. Check out the revised choreography for Beyonce’s upcoming ‘Ego’ video below:

The choreography is neat but it looks like another rehash of the ‘Single Ladies’ video to me. Yes, the routine is different obviously but the overall vibe is similar. I can’t really put in into words right now. With Single Ladies working up a storm success-wise maybe she is hoping that another video of similarity will garner the same positive response. Well anyway, check it out for yourself and tell me what you think.

UPDATE: Here’s the revised choreography for ‘Video Phone’.

Yesterday, The Dream’s new girl group Electrik Red hit up the WGCI Coca Cola Lounge in Chicago, Illinois. Now I haven’t been hearing much buzz surrounding this group and their singles haven’t been picking up. Seems like they’re on their way to becoming the next Girlicious.

It seems that with the Recession also comes the extinction of girl groups. None of the ones trying to make it today have been all that successful. Cherish have disbanded as has Danity Kane, Girlicious do not appear to have any plans to release their debut album in the US (due to lack of interest) and even the once popular Pussycat Dolls are struggling to sell the way they use to. Therefore, I think it’s hilarious especially with Binkie chiming that “I believe we’re gonna sell a million fucking records in the first week just like those other chicks did”. Thinking positive is the way to go but being too overly positive and not being at all realistic to the dwindling music economy is one thing. Not even veterans are selling those amounts anymore as much as they would love to. That shit just isn’t happening.

Chris Brown looked like he was having the time of his life on a jet ski in Miami this past Thursday. The location was at Diddy’s poolside mansion where he has been spending time with his girlfriend Rihanna - the woman he allegedly battered three weeks ago:

Rihanna wasn’t pictured in any of the 57 pictures, but I take it that was the general idea. They’ll be doing everything they can not to be pictured together for a very long time. Or that is, until this whole mess dies down. HOWEVER, we know she was there because her bodyguard, her cousin, Ursula and Marielle (Rihanna’s stylists), Leandra and Melissa (Rihanna’s bffs) and Jennifer (Rihanna’s P.A.) were all spotted as well as Chris’s mom AND Jay-Z’s bodyguard. Absolute madness. You’d think they’d try and at least play up to their ’split’ for a couple of months or at least use a more secluded location. The fans who boycotted Chris, I wonder how they must feel now since she is back on with him? Picture source.

Yesterday, King of Pop icon Michael Jackson was spotted visiting Rodeo Drive with super designer Christian Audigier. They shopped at stores such as Dior and Dolce & Gabbana in Los Angeles, California:

Last I heard he was suffering from a skin-eating MRSA-type infection but he looks fine to me. In fact, he’s looking a lot more healthier than I’ve seen him in months. You know how those reports like to overexaggerate his “deteriorating health” but outside of his skin issues, he’s probably a lot more healthier than you, me and the sensationalists. The international pop star will also have an auction at the Beverly Hills Hilton in which an assorted array of items from his estate will be sold to minimise his massive debt. I’m sure if he sold his Sony catalogue, all his debts would be cleared but seeing as though it is one of his biggest investments, I can understand his adamancy to hold onto it, because once that goes, what else would he have left to fall back on? Picture source.

As reported, Joss Stone has been doing a slew of intimate gigs around the country in support of her forthcoming project ‘Colour Me Free’. On Feb 23rd, she came to my city Birmingham where she performed at The Rainbow in front of about 200 people. I’ve written a couple of reviews for three more new tracks via Youtube. All songs will feature on the new album.

Lady
Joss dedicates this one to the ladies. Mixing sultry vocals over a cool Seventies soul rhythm, blaring horns and funky organs, I would most certainly say that this song is a total winner. I really anticipate hearing this in higher quality because I know the instruments will be crazy. I know that this is going to be one of the tracks that I’ll be jamming to over the summer period.

Could Have Been You
This is another hot track. It contains slices of soul flavoured R&B, and although very contemporary sounding, it still has that oldskool feel to attract the older listeners. The song starts off with sultry guitar chords before blaring out into a thumping drum pattern and a tingling of the piano in the chorus.

Stalemate
This is a track Joss introduced at her Bristol gig at The Thekla. The quality is a bit iffy but judging by how it sounds it is one of those soft indie type ballads. It’s a nice track, although I would love to hear it in it entirety. That said, Joss’s new album sounds like it’s going to be amazing. I might have a heart attack if it doesn’t see a release this Spring.

This week, I’ve been documenting Joss’s intimate gigs. If you have yet to hear more of her new songs from the forthcoming project, you can check out ‘Incredible’ here and ‘Free Me’ here.

Oscar and Grammy Award winning vocalist Jennifer Hudson performed her latest new single ‘If This Isn’t Love’ on The Oprah Winfrey show yesterday. Peep the performance below:

The performance was great. It oozed so much confidence, like she was a woman back on a mission after the tragedy that took place in her life. She looked fantastic as well. The singer sat down with Oprah and did a brief interview where she refered to her comeback as therapautic. She says: “It’s like therapy. I’m in a very good place”. The interview is after the jump.

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Read the full report here. Unlike US Weekly and The National Enquirer, People are very credible with their news so this could be legit. It’s certainly not farfetched. Having said that, this story is no shocker whatsoever. Well, here’s my lil rant on the situation…

When I read the reports that she has yet to press charges for the alleged assault, it made a whole lot of sense. She loves him, and she can’t fight that. Rihanna seems like the type of chick that can’t live without Chris for the moment. He may have been a hurricane towards her that night, but at the same time, he is her sun, her water and her air. Whilst she’s so much more maturer than him in attitude, he is like a big kid who has a lot of learning and growing up to to do, never mind committing himself to any type of relationship. He just comes across as a big mommy’s boy to me, where his mama still has to collect his dirty socks and contineously clean up after him. Beyonce was with Jay-Z when she was 19 but at least Jay-Z was older and Beyonce was a lot more headstrong. We never really saw them together until after the ‘Survivor’ era. They kept their relationship underwraps for quite a while. Whilst Rihanna and Chris have yet to publicly admit their romance, they pretty much spilled it in our faces with their public displays of affection and candid outtings. Well, to end this rant, good luck to Rihanna and Chris for giving their relationship another go.

{higher quality photo’s of Rihanna’s recent getaway in Mexico. Pic source.}

UPDATE: Rihanna’s dad SUPPORTS his daughter’s decision to get back with Chris. Interesting.

I can’t see this reconciliation lasting very long now that I think about it. She is madly insecure, which is allegedly the VERY reason why he ended up beating her up in the first place. The next time she steps out of line and Chris wants to punch her in the mouth, he is going to have to put an end to it anyway, so the reconciliation is a waste of time imo. If he does in fact have a motive for getting back with her it’s because his career has turned to shit. It might be all love on Rihanna’s part but the reality is, if he truly loved her back, he would not have messed her up the way he did. That’s disrespectful. One slap would have been enough if she was the first to strike. If my daughter went back to the very abuser that put her in hospital, I’d be spitting blood. I can’t believe Rihanna’s dad is supporting this.

UPDATE: ‘Cosmic Journey’ performance now added.

Solange Knowles did a couple of recent performances on AOL’s The Bridge. The singer performed a cover of Zero 7’s ‘Destiny’ (below) as well as her own latest tracks such as ‘T.O.N.Y’, ‘Cosmic Journey’ and ‘Sandcastle Disco’…

Solange’s performance was really graceful. I absolutely loved the altered arrangement in T.O.N.Y. The slower paced version towards the end should have been released as a remix. And she brought that swaggertude on Sandcastle Disco. Whilst it is acknowledged that she’s not the best singer vocally, I have seen so much artistical and vocal growth from this girl over the years. Only 22 and still evolving. Her latest project ‘Solange & The Hadley Street Dreams’ was so badly slept on and underrated. If you enjoyed this performance, you’ll enjoy the other three performances after the jump.

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A brand new Rihanna track leaked last night. The unreleased cut is titled ‘Whipping My Hair’. It is said to be a Chris Brown diss, although it was recorded before their violent alteration on Feb 8th (their heated arguments before that ill-fated night have also been noted). The track is produced by The Dream and Tricky Stewart - the very team that helmed her 2007 monster hit ‘Umbrella’. Check out the audio below:

The song is a typical psychedelic dance-pop number from Rihanna. I’m not really sold on it to be honest but it has growing potential I think. The beat isn’t really that bad and I like the chorus, but something about it is lacking. I know I’m a bit biased with Rihanna because of the current situation of events right now, but I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for her catchy dance-pop numbers. It seems she knows her sound rather too well. Thanks Splash.

Another new track has leaked from Kat DeLuna’s forthcoming sophomore album ‘Inside Out’. The song is called ‘Put It On’ and features popular rapper Lil Wayne who also guest featured on her leading single ‘Unstoppable’. Check out the track below:

I’m really disappointed in Kat. She is a talented singer but she’s dumbing down her talent for autotune and lackluster dance music. The songs are not even catching on chartwise. You listen to this track and can’t envisage that this is coming from a singer who has a five-octave range and who can sing opera. When you can make Lil Wayne sound like the Pavorotti of Hip Hop music, you really need to go back to the drawing board. This song is another rehash of ‘Unstoppable’ and not any better. I absolutely loved her debut album ‘9 Lives’ but this new direction doesn’t really suit her in my opinion. The only song from her new album that sounds promising is ‘Need You Now’. I think she can do so much better so why settle for less?

Day26’s lead single ‘Put It On Her’ leaked earlier this week. I posted the song on twitter a couple of days ago but if you have yet to hear it, you can do so below. The song will be the first offering from their sophomore album which is tentatively titled ‘Forever In A Day’ and will see a release of April 14th:

With it’s stop-start trance-style synths and rousing electric guitar, this bassy club number sounds like a really decent chart-able offering. But then again, solid music doesn’t guarantee success unless certain strings are pulled. I am certainly liking it a lot more than ‘Stadium Music’ which was also believed to be the first single at one point. Provided that a video premiere doesn’t hit a week before the album release date, there might be some hope for them yet. We already know how it all started and ended with their precedessors Danity Kane.

Beyonce is featured on the April 2009 cover of Ebony magazine. In the issue, she talks about who she really is as a person as well as what she does to get on her husband’s nerves. Here’s an interesting quote from the interview when asked who the real Beyonce is. She replied: “I’m a daughter, I’m a friend, I’m a wife, I’m a sister. All those things first. I’m an artist. I’m a businesswoman. I’m multifaceted. I’m a lover. I’m inspired by love. I make decisions from the heart”. Check out the cover below:

Click image for larger view
She looks fantastic and very empowering. She looks absolutely wonderful with the darker hair colour. I’ve always loved it whenever she went there with the big hair as well. This look is taking me back to her Goldmember days. The singer also states that she chooses to endorse a certain project based on personal growth and not capitalization: “I turn down million dollar offers all the time because it’s something that does not feel true for what I’m trying to say. I have to be passionate about it. Love inspires and growth inspires me…If it is not going to be iconic, something I can love 10 years from now, I’ve learned I should not waste my time with it”. I agree with this statement. You’re not going to study for a degree or pursue a job (just because of the financial rewards) if you’ll end up being unhappy with it 10 and 20 years down the line. Enjoying your job gives you motivation to work and that can be just as rewarding when you recieve your first promotion and other positive advances. The fabulous new photoshoot is after the jump as well as more extracts from the magazine. Picture and extract credit.

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