Apr 28, 2010

New Music: Kelly Rowland - Commander!


And so it begins. Finally, the first single, "Commander" off Kelly Rowland's upcoming third solo studio album has premiered. The track was produced by David Guetta and written by Rico Love. Take a listen to it below and let me know what you think!



Incredible! This track does a good job of blending the urban/pop/dance sound that Kelly said she was going for on her new record. With a video and some promotion this could be a very successful single for Rowland. What do you think of her comeback single?

Aggie preps "Not Myself Tonight" video!


Christina Aguilera continues to tease with the release of more material from the video for "Not Myself Tonight". Peep another official picture from the set above and a promo clip for the video below and let me know what you think!



The video will debut on Friday, so hopefully it lives up to the hype.

Toni Braxton performs "Make My Heart" on Ellen!


Toni Braxton begins the promo for her upcoming album, "Pulse" which is due to be released next week (4 May). Peep Braxton giving the second performance of her single, "Make My Heart" on Ellen below and let me know what you think!











Great performance! Toni is back and hopefully the promo translates into sales. In the meantime, preview "Pulse" on CentricTV before its official release on Tuesday.

Apr 27, 2010

Top 5 Songs of the Moment!


In no particular order, these are my top 5:

1. Kelly Rowland - Commander
2. Mariah Carey - It's A Wrap
3. Toni Braxton - Save Me
4. Christina Aguilera - Not Myself Tonight
5. Freshlyground - I'd Like To

What are you listening to?

Kelly Rowland visits South Africa!


Ms. Kelly Rowland was recently in my home country, South Africa, to film the music video for "Everywhere You Go" a theme song for the upcoming Soccer World Cup. Peep her visiting one of our local radio stations, "5FM" with host Gareth Cliff above and on the set of the video below.

Chrisina Aguilera Update!



Christina Aguilera's upcoming album, "Bionic" now has an official tracklisting and a video for "Not Myself Tonight". Peep the tracklisting and pictures from the video set below and let me know what you think!

1. Bionic
2. Not Myself Tonight
3. You Lost Me
4. Kimono Girl
5. Lift Me Up
6. So What You Get
7. Stronger
8. Monday Morning
9. Sex For Breakfast
10. Glam
11. Little Dreamer12. I Am
13. All I Need
14. Birds Of Prey

Rico Love on Kelly Rowland's new music!

Rico Love recently spoke to Rap-Up about Kelly Rowland's upcoming album. Peep what he had to say about her new material below.

The new material sounds great. After hearing "Commander", I expect the rest of the album to display a similar sound and hopefully that'll be a good thing. Now all we need is a video for "Commander" and I think Rowland will have quite a successful run this time around. Many more people are checking out for her after the success of "When Love Takes Over" and this is a make-or-break record for her.

To be honest, I think the rest of her career success depends on this record so she needs to pull out all the stops. Are you excited to hear Kelly's new material? What do you think of "Commander"?

Mariah Carey preps Christmas Album!

Famed photographer, David LaChapelle recently spoke with 'Times Online' about a shoot he had been asked to do for Mariah Carey. Take a look at an excerpt from the interview below.

"In less than 12 hours, Mariah Carey will arrive at David LaChapelle's Los Angeles studio to be photographed for her Christmas album. LaChapelle's team are garlanding fake windows with lights and arranging presents under a hideous silver tree. Fake snow is in bags. But you know that, through his lens, snowflakes whirling and tinsel shimmering, Mariah will never look more Christmassy".

This confirms that Carey is indeed working on an album which looks as though it may serve as "Merry Christmas 2.0". Expect the album in November.

Apr 23, 2010

New Music Premiere: Kelly Rowland - Commander!

Eventually, the lead single from Kelly Rowland's upcoming third studio album debuts in the form of a performance. Kelly has been in Australia for Supafest, an urban concert series where she gave one of the first performances of the song. Take a listen to the track below and let me know what you think!



Amazing! This is exactly what I was expecting from Kelly's new album. Let's hope that promotion kicks off well and this songs starts taking off. Do you like her new direction?

Apr 15, 2010

VIdeo Premiere: Toni Braxton - "Hands Tied"!

Another video for Toni Braxton's upcoming project, "Pulse" has just premiered. Peep the clip for "Hands Tied" below and let me know what you think.

Granted there isn't anything groundbreaking here, Toni did a great job. There clearly wasn't a huge budget for the clip but it fits the song well and isn't as trashy as I was expecting it to be. I really like the song too and I think this could be Braxton's first top ten R&B hit in ages. I'm really hoping "Pulse" proves to be a successful project for her as her talent far outweighs that of anyone topping the charts presently (see Ke$ha and Rihanna).

Apr 14, 2010

Video Premiere: Toni Braxton - "Make My Heart"!

The video for the second single, "Make My Heart" from Toni Braxton's upcoming album, "Pulse" has premiered. Peep the Billie Woodruff directed clip below and let me know what you think!


In the words of a few reviews "Get it Toni"! The clip is cute, sophisticated and a little bit trashy so here's hoping it performs better than "Yesterday". "Pulse" hits stores on 5 May.

Apr 10, 2010

New Artist: Matt Palmer!


I'd like to introduce singer/songwriter/producer Matt Palmer. The 22 year old is a Pop/R&B star who is beginning to make a name for himself in the industry. He has just released an EP titled, "I Wish" which features the following songs.

1. I Wish

2. Six Whole Days


3. Rain
4. Alone
5. Rain
6. Fall For You
7. Float Away

By the way, these tracks aren't mastered. So check out his Myspace page to hear the finalized versions. I can really see Matt doing some writing/producing in the future for a few other artists as his sound has some good commercial grounding. What do you think of his work?

Usher dominates charts!


Much to my shock, Usher has claimed another #1 album with his latest release "Raymond vs. Raymond". The album debut on top of the Billboard 200 selling 329 000 in its first week. The album was preceded by the singles "OMG" and "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)". While I haven't listened to any Usher material since "Confessions", its great to see that he still has a strong fan base that were able to secure his position on the charts. More power to him!

Christina Aguilera Update!


The first single, "Not Myself Tonight" from Christina Aguilera's upcoming album, "Bionic" has premiered! The track was produced and written by Polow Da Don. Listen to it below and let me know what you think!




My initial thoughts were "this is not #1 material", however after a few listens the track has grown on me. I think we have a top ten hit here, and while nothing phenomenal, the track sees Aguilera back in the "Stripped" era almost serving this single up as "Dirrty Pt. 2". As usual, "Tonight" features powerhouse vocals that only Aggie can deliver which remind of why I was always so intrigued by her. I'm hoping that the other material from her album has a bit more substance to this, but in the meantime I can't wait to see what she'll be serving up this time. Her concepts are always so interesting, and with an album cover like that, "Bionic" is undoubtedly one of the year's most highly anticipated projects.

In related news, songwriter Claude Kelly recently spoke about working with Aguilera and compared one of their collaborations "Glam" to today's "Vogue" (Madonna). "Glam" is reportedly produced by Tricky Stewart and has been talked about for quite a while now, so I'm expecting it to be one of the project's highlights. There is no news on a music video for "Not Myself Tonight" as of yet.

Mariah Carey returns to the studio!

After the flop that was "Memoirs" Mariah Carey planned to release a remix album, "Angels' Advocate". Much to my liking, the project was shelved and now she returns to the studio with longtime collaborators Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox. Peep a picture of the superstars in the studio below and let me know what you think!


Everyone knows I'm the biggest MC fan, but this has me speechless. I really think Mariah should've gone away for a year or two and returned with some phenomenal material (see "The Emancipation of Mimi"). To be honest, with rumours of a remix album, an entire new album and a Christmas album I actually don't think Mariah even knows what she's working on at the moment.

I'm thinking she could be going with some type of 'tribute to herself project'. Her 20th anniversary in the industry is upon us (13 June 1990) and it wouldn't be farfetched to assume that JD is trying to recreate a "20 Y.O." project similar to that of Janet Jackson. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether or not this project will include entirely new material or be some rehash of her older hits/Christmas classics. I guess only time will tell.

Tracklisting: Toni Braxton - Pulse!


With the release of Toni Braxton's upcoming album, "Pulse" not too far away (5 May), I thought I'd do a quick update of what's been happening with the project.

Two videos have been shot for "Hands Tied" and "Make My Heart". Both were directed by Billie Woodruff who also did the clip for "Yesterday". There is no word of a release date for the clips, but hopefully we'll be seeing something soon.

The tracklisting has finally been released. Peep what songs made the cut below and let me know what you think!

1. Yesterday
2. Make My Heart
3. Hands Tied
4. Woman
5. If I Have To Wait
6. Lookin’ At Me
7. Wardrobe
8. Hero
9. No Way
10. Pulse
11. Why Won't You Love Me

While I'm happy with their choice on the most part, I can't help but point out the absense of "My Ring's Too Heavy (The Wave)", "Melt" and "Get Loose", all of which were pure Toni in my opinion. Another thing that must be added here is that, all of these songs have leaked! The mastered versions may vary slightly, but in essence the entire album can already be downloaded.

Toni begins promotion for the album shortly, with appearances already booked on Ellen (27/04), The Today Show (4/05), Wendy Williams (5/05) and George Lopez (26/05). There is no indication as to whether or not she'll perform, however I'm sure we'll see a mini-concert type performance on The Today Show.

There have been a few more leaked songs from past recording sessions. One of my favourites is "Save Me", previously recorded by Jordin Sparks for her debut album. Listen to Toni's version below and let me know what you think!


I'm a huge Toni fan so I'll definitely be buying her album when it drops. I'm very interested to see how this legendary R&B singer will perform sales wise. I think a first week sales figure of around 200 000 would be a great achievement for her, but I'm just not sure she's still got the following she used to have. Will you be picking up a copy of "Pulse"?