Mariah Carey was looking extra voluptuous in a leopard-print bikini over the weekend. With her hubby Nick Cannon, Mimi spent three days in a beach-front villa in Barbados for her 39th birthday:

Very staged but since she has the body to pose as a living beach Barbie whilst frolicking with her black Ken, why the hell not eh? 40 is most definetely the new 20 and Mariah aint a-damn-fraid to show it. She looked youthful and really happy. On the musical front, Mariah confirmed on her Twitter that she’s recorded some songs with James “Big Jim” Wright, the producer who helmed Fly Like A Bird, Through The Rain, Reflections and many others. The singer has been twitter-active for many weeks giving us details about the recording process. So far, we know that on the new project, she is working with The Dream, Tricky Stewart, Bryan Michael Cox and Jermine Dupri, and I’m sure that roster is about to expand. I am just relieved that The Dream won’t be producing her whole project. She just needs to add Walter Afanasieff to that roster and I’ll be very happy. Picture source.

On March 26th, Jennifer Hudson got back on her promo rounds by putting in an appearance on the Ellen Degeneres Show which in turn, saw the singer perform her latest single ‘If This Isn’t Love’, below:

Without a shadow of doubt, Jen delivered a showstopping powerhouse performance. She also did an interview and spilled the beans on her co-headlining tour with Robin Thicke as well as her soon-to-be wedding to David Otunga (I Love New York) and more. Her tour with Thicke kickstarted today so I might do some coverage on it. Peep the interview after the jump.

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Beyonce is in bridal heaven when she performs the track ‘Ave Maria’ at Canada’s MTS Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba on March 28th:

Amazing.

During last week’s episode of Making The Band, Que had a severe breakdown when the rest of Day26 accused him of not being as committed to the group as the others. To say that things got pretty heated is an understatement:

It’s funny that they have a song out called ‘Bipolar’ because Que was showing his true colours that day and went completely insane. There is certainly some mental issues going on there. I don’t think anyone asking you to show more dedication during studio time warrants that type of reaction. You’d think Willie told him that he slept with his mother. Also, it appears in this week’s episode that their fighting is spiralling out of control and Que’s attitude is getting worse. I do know one thing. This is Danity Kane all over again. If things continue like this, the future for Day26 isn’t looking so good.

In light of all the latest reports that Kelly Rowland got dropped from Columbia Records, the two parties released a joint statement today declaring that their split was a mutual decision. Peep the statements below:

“Because Columbia Records has been my home base as an artist for more than a decade, the decision to move out on my own required a lot of soul-searching”, said Kelly Rowland. “As a solo artist, I felt the need to explore new directions, new challenges, and new freedoms outside my comfort zone and my friends and family at Columbia have been incredibly understanding about my evolution. I want to thank everyone at Columbia for the love and support they’ve shown and I will never forget how many good times we’ve had over the years”.

“Kelly Rowland is one of our finest contemporary artists and a musical force to be reckoned with”, said Rob Stringer, CEO, Columbia/Epic Label Music Group. “It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with Kelly and we will continue our working relationship with her under the Destiny’s Child moniker. The decision for Kelly to seek other opportunities for her solo career was agreed upon mutually, and any reports to the contrary are false”. Source.

Why would Kelly leave a major record deal, a place that has been her home for more than a decade? And if their split was a “mutual decision”, who came up with the idea first? It’s like two people going through a divorce, with one party having more of a justified reason to depart from the marriage than the other. Mutual decision, my foot. I like how they put so much emphasis on trying to clean up their name.

After having album release parties in NYC & the ATL, Keri Hilson’s final stop was CALI where she had her third one for debut album ‘In A Perfect World’. The party took place on Sunday at Opera in Hollywood, California:

Teairra Mari was one of many guests that turned up at the event to show Keri some love. Is Teairra’s album still dropping next week? LOL.

Rihanna’s latest scandal involving on-off boyfriend Chris Brown has gathered further momentum for the singer’s latest album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ and the massive single ‘Disturbia’. The track is now a bonafide smash and has now been certified three times Platinum by the RIAA. This shows that Rihanna is still riding high on not only the radio charts but sales charts as well. The song was certified double Platinum in December, revealing that Rihanna has moved at least 1 million copies of the single in three months.

I won’t even say Rihanna needed to be beaten up by a disgruntled boyfriend to sell as her singles have ALWAYS been selling moderately well (this is the third single from Good Girl Gone Bad to be certified multi-Platinum). That said; it’s certainly a win-win situation for both parties since Chris was the one who wrote the track. The two were noticably absent at the Nickelondeon Kids’ Choice Awards this past weekend. Whilst Chris withdrew his name from nominations, Rihanna was up for Favorite Song and Favorite Female Singer. She lost in both categories. I wonder if he’ll still be writing for her new album?

Beyonce’s paid rehearsal for her upcoming international ‘I Am…’ tour in Edmonton, Canada only attracted a crowd of 8,000, which in turn is a stark contrast to what Britney Spears’ has sold for her ‘Circus’ tour (according to Ticketmaster, she is currently the no 1 bestseller).

I guess she’s thinking she can match up with Madonna and Britney by charging ridiculous ticket prices but many of her fans are actually broke ass college students. Beyonce’s tickets are now selling anywhere from $125.00 to $25.00 for additional dates in the country. Discuss.

I know many of you were miffed that Beyonce didn’t promote her latest single ‘Halo’, as just like you, I think the track is pretty amazing. Here she is performing the track at the MTS Center in Winnipeg, Mantioba on March 28th:

Vocally, I can feel the chills travelling down every spine in that stadium, almost as if I were there, and she was really attentative towards the audience as well. Good stuff.

Kelly Rowland has reportedly been dropped by her record label Columbia Records because company bosses believe she is “no longer commercially viable” as an artist. This latest new bombshell comes just two months after firing Pimp Daddy Knowles as her manager.

Ouch! Another unfortunate soul to fall victim to the recession? And what exactly does this mean for Michelle Williams? I thought they’d have kept Kelly on since I kept hearing about a possible Destiny’s Child reunion. I am wondering if Matthew Knowles had still been her acting manager, would she have still had a recording contract? It seems Matthew was the only reason why they kept Kelly on because of his other daughter Beyonce. Columbia must have been singing Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’.

Mariah Carey and hubby Nick Cannon, hit up the DJ booth Saturday night, March 28th. The event took place at Cabana One at the Mayfair Hotel in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. Nick is in town for America’s Got Talent auditions on March 28th & 29th:

Mariah celebrated her 39th birthday on March 27th but the celebration was lowkey. Maybe she’s waiting for the big 4.0 next year to go all out. The singer has been in the recording studio every day trying to put out a new album by years end. She has recruited The Dream, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox for the project. In the April 2nd issue of Rolling Stone, she reveals that she loves working with The Dream:

“Dream writes and creates at an incredibly swift pace without sacrificing quality,” she says. “It’s funny, because I can spend 10 minutes agonizing over a word, and I know it annoys him because he likes to use the first thing that comes out of my mouth. I feel like he hears the finished product in his head from the inception of the song.”

If it’s anything like ‘Touch My Body’…. That said, I’m actually looking forwards to a new Mariah album. It’s a bit soon (I think she should have a baby, go away for a couple of years) but if she’s happy doing it, I’m only too happy to listen. Picture source.

On March 27th, Ciara was spotted at Madison Square Garden in New York City enjoying the Knicks game vs. the Charlotte Hornets. Ciara was cheesing mad hard for those camera’s:

The singer has a lot to smile about as latest single ‘Love Sex Magic’ is currently no 4 on US itunes so it’s a guaranteed top 10 hit. Givng Justin Timberlake’s ear the icecream treatment and gyrating in a tiger catsuit certainly did some wonders. Her album ‘Fantasy Ride will also drop on May 5th.