Did you like Trina’s last two albums The Glamorest Life and Still Da Baddest? Yes? Then you will like this new radio midtempo of hers “Always”, which features R&B diva Monica and sounds exactly like every other R&B mid-tempo that Trina has recorded in the past five years.

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it is what it is honey!

Meanwhile Trina’s new single “Million Dollar Girl” with Keri Hilson and Diddy has finally started to make some headway on the Billboard charts, so far reaching #23 on the Rap charts and #69 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

Trina’s fifth album Amazin’ should be in stores on May 4, and will feature appearances from Lady GaGa, Lyfe Jennings, Trey Songz, Nicki Minaj and more.

As part of the international re-release of her latest album Stronger with Each Tear, the undisputed Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul, Mary J. Blige, has covered two rock classics with Led Zeppelins “Whole Lotta Love” and “Stairway to Heaven”.

Originally released in 1971, “Stairway to Heaven” is not just considered one of the greatest songs ever made, but the epic guitar solo is generally rated as the best guitar solo of all time.

For Mary’s take on the classic she’s enlisted the help of Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker on drums (duh), American Idol judge Randy Jackson, Steve Vai and Australian rocker Orianthi to tackle the guitar solo.

“Whole Lotta Love” is probably Zeppelin’s second best known song after “Stairway to Heaven”, and it also has it’s spot on several “Greatest of All Time” lists from the likes of VH1 and Rolling Stone magazine.

Mary’s version of the song is actually produced by GaGa’s main man RedOne, and despite it sounding much rockier and organic than his other productions the Swedish recycler makes sure he injects an underlying dance beat into the song.

Both covers are noble and enjoyable efforts on Mary’s part, with “Whole Lotta Love” easily being the better of the two, but I think she set her sights way too high with these. The original tracks are perfect and I don’t see the need for anybody to cover them, especially “Stairway to Heaven” which didn’t add any new or fresh elements to the song leaving it as simply a pale imitation of the original.

The U2 cover of “One” with Bono was cute. MJB’s take on “Stairway to Heaven”… not so much.

Check em all out below and let me know what you think.

[MJB - Whole Lotta Love]

[Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love]

[Mary J. Blige - Stairway to Heaven]

[Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven]

Janet Jackson’s new single “Nothing” premiered on radio station v103 earlier today, and the radio rip of the song has now found it’s way online.

The Jermaine Dupri produced ballad is the lead single from Janet’s new movie Why Did I Get Married Too, and was penned by Janet herself, marking a return to songwriting for the singer who didn’t pick up a pen at all on her last album Discipline.

Janet’s never been the best vocalist, so instead of autotuning herself on “Nothing” she’s turned back the clock and gone back to the gentle R&B of her 1993 album Janet.

It’s a beautiful  and understated song that finally heralds the return of the “classic” Janet that’s been promised to us for so long now but has failed to properly materialize until now.

[Nothing/1st single [Radio Rip]

British Club Queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor is back after a three year absence with her stunning new single “Bittersweet” (the final edit, not the remix), from her upcoming fourth album Straight to the Heart.

The Freemasons produced track should fill up the dance floor in no time, and with the latest club craze sweeping the States Sophie could get her first real taste of US success if she decides to release it over there.

In addition to the Freemasons, Sophies new album will also include collaborations with Calvin Harris, Metronomy, Armin Van Burren, Greg Kurstin, Cathy Dennis, Richard X, Groove Armada and Kleerup.

Besides preparing to top the charts with “Bittersweet” (positive thinking!), Sophie’s also finally shot the video for DJ Junior Caldera’s new single “Just Can’t Fight The Feeling”, which she provides the vocals for (think David Guetta and Kelly Rowland).

You can check out both fab songs below.

[Bittersweet/ 1st Single]

[Just Can't Fight The Feeling]

Alternative neo-soul songstress Erykah Badu has revealed the official artwork for her new album New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh).

The cover was designed by artist Emek, who was responsible for all the designs from Part One of the New Amerykah series.

Besides showing off one of the best album covers of recent memory, Erykah has also premiered a soothing new song from the album titled “Strawberry Incense”. The tranquil track was produced by Madlib (De La Soul, J Dilla, Mos Def) and features harp by Amen Khum Ra.

It’s a beautiful song that revisits the peaceful sounds of Badu’s earlier work, but still retains some of the more abstract elements from her New Amerykah series.

In other news, Erykah’s new single “Window Seat” continues to climb the R&B/Hip-Hop charts, this week reaching a new peak of #29.

R&B singer Monica is trying to drive up the hype for her forthcoming album Still Standing by releasing a new song “Mirror” via her official Youtube account today.

The Jim Jonsin produced track shows that Mo’ isn’t planning on crossing over to pop any time soon, staying true to her urban roots as she belts out the ode to self-confidence over some heavy booming bass that sounds like it was tailor made to be blasted out the subwoofers in your car.

Monica’s Still Standing hits stores on March 23 and should get off to a strong start thanks to the lead single “Everything to Me” going top ten on the R&B charts, as well as the success of her BET reality show, but the one thing standing in her is Tween Queen Justin Bieber and his new album My World 2.o which also drops on March 23.

The very thought of Justin Bieber may have you wishing that you were deaf, but the little brats selling power can’t be denied. My World 2.0 has already scored a top five hit on the Hot 100 with the Ludacris assisted “Baby”, and last years 7-track My World EP has been certified Platinum.

There’s only one thing that I can say to that… Team Monica!

Pop star Robyn is ramping up the anticipation for her upcoming three-part album, first previewing new material on a Swedish TV show last week, and now she’s released a new song “Fembot” via her official website and spilled the tea to Pitchfork about everything related to her new project.

On not being pretentious:

It’s really important for me to not take this whole thing too seriously. It’s pop music, you know? It’s entertainment and at the same time it has to mean something to me. I like dealing with that balance. That’s what inspires and fascinates me about what I do. It’s a challenge to be a part of the record industry even though it’s so fucked up. I feel like making music for ten people in a secluded part of the music world is maybe not as big of a challenge.

On releasing her album in three parts:

I started thinking of alternative ways to work and make music. Everything is up in the air with the music industry at the moment and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do things differently– especially if you have your own label like me.

…these releases are not EPs. They’re albums with enough songs to make them feel like real bodies of work. They are shorter than usual, but still closer to ten songs than five.

Some songs are nice to release when they still feel fresh. Why release so many at once? It doesn’t make sense to me. And a lot of people don’t even have time to listen to albums anymore.

On doing more dance music:

I’ve been on the road for almost three years in a row and I’ve been exposed to a lot of club culture all over the world. Not only in Europe but also in America, where something is changing– you guys have festivals again and there’s a community of people that are really connecting with types of music they probably wouldn’t have been exposed to before.

I went back to a lot of things I grew up with, like Technotronic and early acid music. I like a lot of the minimal stuff that’s out now like Booka Shade and Gui Boratto, too, even though it’s a lot slicker than stuff from the 80s or the 90s. And I’ve been listening to Giorgio Moroder and early Prince records where he was doing a lot of disco-sounding music. I feel like the dance world is like the last genre to be really be exploited or commercialized in the right way. It’s really going to have its time now and not just be looked upon as kitsch.

See, it actually is possible to make dance music without the help of RedOne and David Guetta!

Now take a listen to the orgasmic urban-heavy “Fembot” below. The production sounds like it came from Britney Spears Blackout, which we all know is a very good thing. The first of Robyn’s three-part new album is due in June.

Australian singer-songwriter Sia has garnered a lot of attention around the world over the past few months due to her work on pop diva Christina Aguilera’s long-awaited new album Bionic, but if you’re Aussie like me then you’d be used to seeing Sia’s face plastered all over your local record store, telephone poles and street press.

Now that Sia’s wrapped things up with Aggie she’s back to focusing on her own music, and has just released her brand new single “Clap Your Hands” via her official website.

The song is produced by the very versatile Greg Kurstin, who’s dabbled in computer generated electro-pop with Kylie and Britney, as well as more organic sounding stuff such as All Saints Studio 1 album and Lily Allen’s “Alfie”.

“Clap Your Hands” falls into the latter category with it’s funky guitar, drums and of course the inevitable hand claps on the chorus.

Overall it’s a stellar effort that’s got me fumbling to delete Heidi Montag off my iPod in order to make room for Sia. OK, I lied, Heidi is staying, but I’ll delete Australia’s other current pop princess Gabriella Cilmi just to show Sia that she is my new Aussie fave!

Sia’s new album We Are Born will hit stores in early June and will be entirely produced by Greg Kurstin, and right now you can hit up her official website to listen to about six tracks from the project. They all sound great!

You may not be familiar with the School Gyrls just yet, but they’re a new three-piece tween girl group created by Nick Cannon and signed to his NCredible Entertainment label. They haven’t exactly hit the big time yet, but they just had their own movie released on Nickelodeon which co-starred Justin Bieber and Kristinia DeBarge.

They’re also working on an album, and the latest single to be lifted from it is the urban-pop club banger “Get Like Me” that was penned by Nick and his superstar wife Mariah Carey, and actually features Mariah on some sexy background vocals.

“Get Like Me” definitely isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before, but it packs a much bigger punch than anything that Justin Bieber has released and actually wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Raven Symones last album. Also, the addition of Mariah injects the song with a little more maturity that might give it a pass to be played in the clubs.

If you want to pump Mariah’s deflated ego back up by giving her a hit single in her time of need then head on over to iTunes purchase the song.

I’ve been flooded with requests lately to start featuring British indie-pop singer Marina and the Diamonds on the site, and being the loving caring guy that I am I’m happy to oblige.

The third single from the much talked about Marina and the Diamonds will be ”I Am Not a Robot”, and it’ll will officially be available on April 26th. The song has been a fan favorite ever since it appeared on Marina’s second EP and helped fuel the buzz for her debut album Family Jewels, which has reached #5 in the UK charts and has been certified Silver since it’s release late last month.

“I’ve decided to release ‘I am Not A Robot’ as my next single, as people seem to empathize and relate with the song, regardless of gender or age” said the singer in a statement. {source}

“I Am Not a Robot” is the follow-up to Marina’s breakthrough single “Hollywood” which has emerged as a big critical hit since it’s release early this year, eventually reaching #12 on the UK singles chart.

The release of “I Am Not a Robot” will be accompanied by some new remixes, including one by epic electronica band Passion Pit.

In addition to the new single Marina will be performing in the US at the SXSW festival, before returning to the UK to begin her sold out tour.