Pop-rock Princess Avril Lavigne (who is becoming a lot less annoying as the years go by) was on Chelsea Lately last night to promote her new single “Alice” and the new Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland film.

“Alice” got off to a slow start and looked like it might not chart, but last week it debuted at #71 on the Hot 100 and remained there again this week, so the song could rise as the popularity of the blockbuster film continues over the next couple of months.

Don’t worry if you’re not a fan of the “Alice” song, because Avril announced in a recent French interview that the first official single from her new album will drop next month (April) and the album will follow in June.

She also stated that the new album won’t be as “dark” as Alice is, and the songs will all be built around a lot of guitar, piano and strings and may appeal to a more mature audience.

“Mature” is the last thing that comes to mind when I see Avril Lavigne running around in a pink tutu and studs promoting her tween clothing line Abbey Dawn, but I hope she proves me wrong because I’m looking forward to her new album.

Janet Jackson was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno earlier to promote her new film ‘Why Did I Get Married Too’, and her upcoming self-help book slash autobiography ‘True You’.

Judging by the interview the now 43-year-old is a bit like Mariah Carey and still thinks she’s eternally twelve, giggling and blushing like a shy school girl as Jay prodded her for information and teased her with a fake knuckle cracking trick.

If you’re not too keen on watching Janet act in another one of Tyler Perry’s melodramatic dramedy’s then you’ll be pleased to know that her new Jermaine Dupri produced ballad “Nothing” is set to hit iTunes on the 30th of this month. The song is the lead single from the movies soundtrack, so I’m hoping that it’s as good as Janet’s other major soundtrack singles “Again” and “Doesn’t Really Matter”, which both topped the Billboard Hot 100 when they were released.

My new fave artist (as of yesterday) Sia has covered Madonna’s iconic 1989 hit “Oh Father”, and along with the cover comes an exciting tale about how Sia came this close *pinches thumb and index together* to meeting the Queen of Pop herself.

Have you met Madonna before?

“Never. But I grew up wearing fingerless gloves because of her. Then one day about three years ago she put one of my songs, a remix of “Breathe Me,” on her iTunes playlist. She said it was a great song to work out to. Then I got excited, because someone who was staying at my house was working for this jeans company and Madonna had asked for a bunch of their jeans. This girl was packaging the jeans at my house, so I slipped a note in one of the boxes for Madonna and said, “Hi, this is Sia. You put my song on your iTunes playlist and I wanted to say thanks. I love you.” And that’s the extent of our relationship.”

Wow. Sia is like practically BFF’s with Madge now!

The Australian singer-songwriter also spoke about the poppy new direction of her upcoming album We Are Born, which was produced entirely by Greg Kurstin (All Saints, Lily Allen, Britney Spears).

It’s way more up-tempo. A lot of these songs I wrote like five years ago. And at the time a bunch of music industry advisors were like, “Don’t release this pop record because you’ll totally sabotage you’re career, blah de blah.” Then I got together with Zero 7 and started doing more down-tempo stuff, so I made another down-tempo solo record, ‘Some People Have Real Problems’, because that’s what I was listening to. I’m impressionable. But because of the success of ‘Some People Have Real Problems’, the music advisors said it would be okay to record some up-tempo music. So I did. And now everyone’s like splooging in their pants, saying, “This is the best record you’ve ever made. I haven’t heard a record this good since blah de blah.” I love all that smoke being blown up my ass. [Laughs]

The first single is called “Clap Your Hands,” which is obviously going to be a really deep song, as I’m sure the title infers [laughs]. {source}

Sia also spoke about how amazing Christina Aguilera is again, but to be honest I’m sick to death of hearing about how defining Aggie’s new album is going to be. It’s all about Sia now!

Click here to check out her new single “Clap Your Hands” if you haven’t already.

The fabulous Teairra Mari was a guest on the Mo’Nique show today, and to say that Tea-Tea and the Oscar winning actress got along like a house on fire would be a serious understatement. Watching the interview was like seeing Mama Mo’Nique being reunited with the younger version of herself as the two shot the breeze like two long lost girlfriends who were long-overdue for a good gossip.

After their delightful chat, Tea-Tea strutted her stuff on stage with rapper Soulja Boy to perform her single “Sponsor”, which is lifted from her long-awaited sophomore album At That Point.

I loved the performance but watching Tea-Tea’s down-t0-earth personality shine in the interview was my favorite part.

Check it all out below the cut… Read more »

Now that her hot new single “Sponsor” is getting some airplay my girl Teairra Mari is back doing the promo rounds for her upcoming album At That Point.

During one of her recent interviews with DJ Scream, Tea-Tea discussed her label deal, her new single, her favorite rappers, whether or not she’s dating Bow Wow, and her upcoming movie. She also touched upon some beef that she has with a R&B female whom she refused to name, only giving the clues that it wasn’t Rihanna and that it wasn’t a crossover pop girl.

I have a few names floating around in my head right now but I don’t want to call anybody out. Who do you think she was talking about?

Besides the drama with this mysterious female the most important thing that Tea-Tea said was that her new album ‘At That Point’ would definitely be out this Spring, even acknowledging that it’s been delayed far too much.

When the album finally drops look out for production by Neff-U, Jackpot, Zeke, Rico Love, The Runners and Madd Scientist, and features from Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Flo-Rida and more.

Rico Love did a huge portion of the album and I’ve heard almost all the songs he did for her on UStream, and they’re all amazing. Check out a LQ snippet of one the Rico/Tea-Tea collabos “Emergency” below.

[LQ Emergency Snippet]

“Sexual napalm” Jessica Simpson was on Oprah yesterday to promote her upcoming VH1 reality show The Price of Beauty. Oprah doesn’t wait long to get the tabloid favorite to dish the dirt on her much-talked about private life, waiting literally one minute before springing Jessica with the question “What was your lowest point during the past couple of the years?”

The two then proceed to discuss Jessica’s infamous ‘fat’ pictures, ex-boyfriend John Mayer’s controversial interview with Playboy magazine in which he bragged about his sex life with Jess, how she deals with the tabloids and then a bunch more questions about her weight.

They also show some clips from The Price of Beauty, which show Jessica wearing a hijab in Morocco, letting fish eat the dead skin off her feet in Japan and drinking cow urine in India. Classy!

The show premieres on March 15th on VH1 and will feature a brand new track from Simpson that she wrote with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Watch the Oprah interview below the cut.

Read more »

The Knowles family aren’t the only people that producer Rob Fusari is dishing on in his recent Billboard interview, with the “Paprazzi” hitmaker also discussing his time working with pop megastar Lady GaGa who he worked with quite a bit on her record-breaking debut album The Fame.

The story of how they met and GaGa’s transition is quite a long one, but if you read through it all you’ll see that Rob gives an interesting glimpse into the makings of one of pops biggest stars.

Read more »

Former Danity Kane member D. Woods put the wheels in motion on solo singing career this week when she stopped by the Mo’Nique show for a chat and to perform her buzz single “Legalize Me” from her compilation album The Gray Area Experience.

D certainly isn’t Jennifer Hudson when it comes to vocals but she’s a great performer which she proved here with some tight choreography and a lot of confidence and energy.

In addition to The Gray Area Experience the 25-year-old also has her official debut album My Favorite Color tentatively due for an independent release towards the end of April.

Neo-soul singer Jill Scott stopped by the Mo’Nique show this week to shoot the breeze about a billion thing, including her musical inspirations, her son, her new Lifetime TV movie (which looks terrible), her upcoming guest role on Law & Order and much more.

She also opened up about her upcoming new album The Light of the Sun, which she announced would be all “freestyle”. She also said that it had her in tears, that her spirit guided her to record it, that it’s the best album she’s ever done, and that the listener will be able to hear the instruments “speaking” to each other. Mo’Nique then said that Jills lyrics will save lives and that she’s willing to devote a whole episode of the show to the album.

That good? Damn!

With Melody Thornton all but admitting that she was kicked out of the Pussycat Dolls recently I think it’s pretty safe to say that she won’t be back for album number three when PCD reform with a new line-up later this year.

Now with her newfound freedom Melody is singing like a canary, opening up to Hip-Hop bible The Source about what fans can expect from her upcoming solo album.

I’m not going to abandon that pop demographic that I acquired through the Pussycat Dolls. But it’s not popular-for-the-moment, the kind of music that I’m making. It’s live instrumentation and it derives from ‘60s influences. It’s just kind of what I was raised on, James Brown, BB King-ish as far as instrumentation goes. But vocally, I admire Mariah Carey and was raised on Aretha Franklin, Jackson 5 and all of that, so it’s not going to be like Pussycat Dolls at all.

The fans know that’s what I did for the Dolls. I was like the little trumpet in the back hitting all the high notes. I think they’ll support it for sure. People who like Melody out of the Pussycat Dolls want to hear her sing. Sing sing, not just hum.

Melody also broke her silence over the drama from last year which saw her angrily erupt on-stage during a PCD concert over the fact that Nicole Scherzinger was getting feature credits on the groups songs.

I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the truth because what’s done in the dark will come to light anyway, regardless of how people perceived me in that moment. Some people were excited about it, and others thought I shouldn’t have said anything. And if anyone was going to say anything, it should have been me. I was the other singer in the group. I am the one who didn’t sing as much and to stifle me even further by adding to the embarrassment, I should have been the one to say something.

So now literally every single Pussycat Doll is working on solo music; Nicole Scherzinger, Kimberly Wyatt, Jessica Sutta, and even Carmit Bachar. The only Doll that isn’t doing anything is Ashley Roberts, and she’s also the only Doll that hasn’t even vaguely alluded to her future in the group.

Now back to Melody; Are you excited to see what she’s got as a solo star? If you’re wondering what she sounds like acapella check out this clip of her singing Christina Aguilera’s “Hurt” during a photoshoot.