It’s a very sad day for Idol fans, with news breaking today that season 8 runner-up Allison Iraheta has been dropped from her record label Jive. Check out all the details below, via Entertainment Weekly.

“Allison Iraheta has parted ways with Jive Records, however she remains signed to 19 Recordings. Allison is currently on the road in the U.S. opening for Adam Lambert on the Glam Nation Tour,” a 19 spokesperson told EW.

19 Recordings is the label arm of 19 Entertainment, which produces Idol. The company has traditionally signed the winner and runner-up of each season of Idol (and occasionally one or two other finalists), then licensed their albums to a Sony Music label (Jive or RCA) for release; in August, 19 announced it would replace Sony Music with Universal Music Group as the label for artists from Idol‘s upcoming tenth season.

Although no official reason has been given for the split, it’s pretty clear that the droppage was due to the poor sales of Allison’s post-Idol debut, Just Like You. The album has only shifted about 104k since it’s release last December, while all three singles lifted from the set failing to chart.

It’s a real shame that Allison has been let go from Jive, for not only is she one of the greatest vocalists to come out of American Idol, but she also has what is arguably one of the best Idol debut singles of all time with the Max Martin-produced stomper “Friday I’ll Be Over You”. Luckily she’s still signed to 19 Entertainment, but even if she wasn’t, is it really that big of a deal? The girl only turned 18 this year, so with youth and talent on her side it shouldn’t be too hard for her to make a ‘comeback’ of sorts. And let’s face it, Allison Iraheta was never really a pop star like her debut album would lead you to believe — this girl is a rocker, and personally I can picture her fronting a kick-ass band in the future.

And even if it doesn’t work out, we’ll always have “Friday…”.

This morning I woke up at 5am and did my usual morning check of all the blogs, forums and fansites for the latest music happenings. While most people were still recovering from yesterday’s injection of new Rihanna and JoJo music, there was one other person making waves across the web — Will Smith’s nine-year-old daughter, Willow Smith.

I absolutely refused to listen to a 9-year-old, so I spent the rest of the day doing what I do best (masturbating for hours on end, watching Seinfeld and bitching about Beyonce), but when I returned to the computer I was floored by all the reader requests I had received about Willow’s new single, “Whip My Hair”. I finally caved in and gave the little brat a listen, and was shocked to discover that this sh*t is actually HOT!

“Whip My Hair” is the kind of song you could imagine Rihanna doing, but essentially it’s like the best Ester Dean urban club banger ever made, but multiplied. One look over the blogesphere, Twittesphere or forumsphere (is that even a word?) and you’ll see that Willow’s “Whip My Hair” is drawing strong comparisons to Rihanna, which makes me wonder — Is Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair” better than Rihanna’s latest offering, “Only Girl (In the World)”?

Ideally, the best situation for the song would be to have Rihanna actually singing it instead Will Smith’s bratty offspring, but what’s done is done.

So, did a nine-year-old seriously just snatch Rihanna’s wig, or do you prefer “Only Girl” to “Whip My Hair”?

[Whip My Hair]

VS.

[Only Girl]

Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle (in a stunning new promo pic, above) has bypassed the traditional model of major record deals, and has instead founded her own label in order to independently release her upcoming solo album.

Due on November 8, Nadine’s album will drop via her own label and exclusively distributed through supermarket chain Tesco’s. Tesco’s will offer the album both physically and digitally through their various stores and official website (read all about my thoughts on that here), but it will also be available via mainstream online channels such as iTunes and Amazon.

“The traditional model for selling an album isn’t the only way of doing things,” Coyle said.

“To be able to create an album where you are in complete control of your own work is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an artist.’ {source}

Besides launching her own record label, Nadine also opened up her official website this week. Some of the interesting new features on the site include a “tour” link, an “iTunes USA” button in the music section, social network links, a lengthy bio, a glossy photo gallery and more.

In other words — Nadine ain’t playin’!

The upcoming 13-track album will be an eclectic mix of different genres (“pop”, “soul”, “80′s” and “Motown”), and will feature production from the brilliant William Orbit (Madonna, Katie Melua), as well as Toby Gad, rock producer Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Kiss), and Guy Sigsworth who helmed the album’s lead single,”Insatiable”. I refuse to review it until the full version is out, but there’s a snippet floating around it’s bloody fantastic.

Cheryl who?

The music video for “Insatiable” will be shot soon in L.A. by acclaimed-director Wayne Isham, who’s previously helmed clips for Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Kelly Clarkson and Michael Jackson.

Nobody really expected Chery’s shadow to come this hard with her solo career, but she’s here and she definitely means business.

Look out for my official review of “Insatiable” when it premieres in full, but until now you take a listen to the snippet below.

Miss Kylie Minogue will be hitting the road for her official ‘Aphrodite Les Folies’ tour next year, today announcing the official dates for the UK leg of the tour.

This tour promises to be an absolute landmark in the career of Kylie Minogue as she intends to create a live spectacular that will surpass even her own previous groundbreaking shows. Kylie has already been working on concepts for the tour and says “The reaction to ‘Aphrodite’ has been absolutely incredible and has inspired me and my creative team to develop a new show that will take all of us on a euphoric journey of joy, excitement and glamour. I can’t wait to get on the road and see all my fans in 2011”

UK Tour dates are:

MONDAY 28-Mar-11     GLASGOW SECC

TUESDAY 29-Mar-11      GLASGOW SECC

FRIDAY 1-Apr-11           MANCHESTER Evening News Arena

SATURDAY 2-Apr-11      MANCHESTER Evening News Arena

THURSDAY 7-Apr-11      LONDON O2 Arena

FRIDAY 8-Apr-11           LONDON  O2 Arena

The tickets go on sale on September 13, via www.artistticket.com

More dates will be announced shortly. Obviously they’ll include Australia and Europe, so I’m covered, but I’ll make sure I keep my fingers crossed for you American fans!

From Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks to Fantasia, Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert, reality TV juggernaut American Idol has spawned some stellar stars in it’s nine-season run, but none shines brighter than the show’s original queen, Kelly Clarkson.

Yesterday, the 28-year-old celebrated her eighth year since winning the competition in it’s first season, way back in 2002. Since then, she’s had two number one albums and singles, sold 23 million albums worldwide, publicly battled her own record, established herself as one of the most versatile vocalists of our generation, briefly taken over the world between the years of 2004-2006, won two Grammy Awards, performed countless cover songs and bested the original artists on their own material, been named one of the top artists of the decade by Rolling Stone, “the most successful American Idol of all time” by Billboard  and “the best voice in the history of pop music” by Esquire.

On top of all that, it’s a well known fact that Kelly is generally considered as one of the most down-to-earth and stars in the whole music industry. The only person possibly nicer than Kelly would probably be Dolly Parton.

Really, without Kelly Clarkson winning the first season of Idol and giving the show some real credibility, who knows how far it would’ve gone? Without Kelly, Carrie Underwood and Adam Lambert may not even exist today. And not only them, but what about the rest of us? Lord knows that I would’ve been completely lost to teen angst and heartbreak if had not been for Breakaway and My December to pull me out of my inner turmoil during those tough times!

Anyway, enough about me, let’s get back to Kelly. Over the past eight years, Kelly’s delivered some of the finest vocal performances known to pop, but it all started on the Idol stage, so below is a look back at her performances and growth throughout the competition. It’s incredible to see her go from her first audition and having Simon Cowell forget who she even is, to Cowell later comparing her to Celine Dion and Mariah Carey.

Here’s to Kelly’s next eight years in the industry being just as fruitful as her first!

Lord knows how she found the time, but during a live fan chat today, Rihanna confirmed that she has in fact finished recording her upcoming fifth album. She didn’t reveal too many other details on the project, but did promise that the sound of the record is an “evolution” and won’t simply be a re-hash of her old work. (*cough* Pink’s Funhouse & I’m Not Dead *cough*

“I made sure not to let you down with my music! You guys are always defending me, so now you’ve got some great songs to justify it.”

“I didn’t want to go backward and remake ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’. I wanted the next step in the evolution of Rihanna, and it’s perfect for us.” {source}

She also dished a little on her new single “Only Girl (In the World)”, boldly claiming that the song is, “a bigger sound than ‘Rude Boy”. Is that even possible? “Rude Boy” is flawless!

Besides launching her new single and album, Rih’s also got a lot of other stuff on her plate. Not only is she filming her first real film Battleship, but she’s also releasing a book, touring Australia in March, and then releasing her first fragrance “Reb’L Fleur“. Busy, busy girl.

Don’t forget, Rih’s Stargate-produced new single “Only Girl” premieres this Tuesday.

Brooke Fraser is a superstar in New Zealand. The Kiwi singer/songwriter/musician first hit it big in 2003 with her debut What to do With Daylight — a disc filled with emotive acoustic ballads that went 7x Platinum in NZ. I know because I was completely obsessed with it at the time. She then followed the album up with 2006′s Albertine, which went Gold in Australia and also managed to chart at #90 on the Billboard 200 (the latter fueled by her strong Christian roots).

Brooke’s spent the last few years touring, writing and recording, and now she’s back with a new single “Something in the Water”, the first from her upcoming third album, Flags. She’s changed and evolved a lot of the years, and “Something in the Water” is no different, leaving the piano and acoustic ballads behind for a country folk-pop uptempo with shades of bluegrass and Dolly Parton. It’s definitely a new direction for Brooke, but it’s a good one.

“Something in the Water” has already gone top ten in New Zealand, which is a good sign of things to come when Flags drops on October 12. She’ll be touring NZ for the next few months, but she’s now based out of L.A, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see her over promoting and performing in the States by next year.

Michael Angelakos of electropop group Passion Pit caught up with NME recently for a gigantic rambling session about the band’s upcoming sophomore album. Apparantly, the album is so “beautiful” that they want to release it during the “Farmers’ Almanac in America”. Whatever that is.

“It’s gonna be a really fantastic, exciting, beautiful, gorgeous record,” Angelakos said. “An absolutely beautiful record. I’m so excited.

“We’re aligning it with the Farmers’ Almanac in America, so when the buds start to bloom is when we kind of wanna release it. Like when life starts to come back. We wanna be pretty literal.”

Angelakos wouldn’t divulge any of the names slated to appear on the disc, but did reveal that the album will be released in “several editions”.

Super excited.

Passion Pit’s debut Manners was one of the breakout albums of 2009, receiving high critical praise and charting within the top twenty in Australia, and #51 on the Billboard charts.

You can check out Agelakos’ interview below. I haven’t yet decided if his rambling is endearing of pretentious. If you go further below the cut, you can check out PP’s music video for their amazing hit “The Reeling”, just in case you haven’t heard them before.

Read more »

Tennessee rockers Kings of Leon will return on October 19 with Come Around Sundown, their fifth album and follow-up to 2008′s mega-seller Only by the Night. You can check out the official tracklisting below.

“The End”

“Radioactive”

“Pyro”

“Mary”

“The Face”

“The Immortals”

“Back Down South”

“Beach Side”

“No Money”

“Pony Up”

“Birthday”

“Mi Amigo”

“Pickup Truck”

The first single from the album will be “Radioactive”. The music video will premiere on VEVO on September 8th, and then the song will hit radio a few days later on the 13th. The band released a “Radioactive” teaser a few days back which gives us an insight into the background of the song. You can’t tell a whole lot from the clip just yet, but it does look like the chorus of the song will feature a children’s gospel choir. Awesome!

Check it out below, and get ready for the “Radioactive” music video in the next few days.

Now that Lindsay Lohan is out of jail and finished up her billionth stint in rehab, she’s ready to knuckle down and get back to work. No, she’s not shooting a sequel to her trash classic I Know Who Killed Me, but is instead plotting a musical comeback with none other than Britney Spears’ manager, Larry Rudolph.

Rumors have been swirling around for the past few months now that Larry would be managing Lindsay, and Larry even delivered a cryptic semi-denial back in May, but now E News are exclusively reporting that it’s a done deal, and that Larry and Adam Leber have been consulting with Lindsay on “a full range of career management issues” in advance of her comeback. According to another exclusive report, this time from X-17, Lindsay’s career revival will include a new album. Larry will be the brains behind the project and is looking for a new record deal for Lindsay, while her ex-girlfriend, DJ Samantha Ronson, is contributing to the “creative process”.

Lindsay appears to be modeling her career comeback on Britney’s phenomenal Circus return, recently confirming to Vanity Fair that she’d hired Britney’s business manager Lou Taylor to handle her finances.

With her movie career not so hot and rumors that she’s virtually uninsurable, a pop album might be the perfect for her to work and prove that she can actually behave for once, and get the ball rolling on her primary career as an actress again. Lindsay’s music has always been great, but with Britney’s team behind her, it could be amazing. Plus, it might actually get released this time, too.

First a new album from Heidi, then Paris, and now Lindsay. Life is good, my friend.

Spurred on by the success of her fourth single “Take it Off”, party starter Ke$ha will be releasing a deluxe edition of her debut album Animal in time for the holiday buying period. The reissue will be produced entirely by Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco and Ammo, and will be recorded over a hectic three week period, with an expected aim of getting somewhere between “four or five” new songs, to even, “eight, if possible”.

Luke and Co are currently creating the beats for Ke$ha, so she’ll be able to get straight into writing the lyrics herself when she hits the studio for some whirlwind recording sessions. Billboard have already heard one of the songs and described it as Ke$ha’s “all synth sound”.

To date, Animal has sold 914k in the States, which is a decent number, but disappointing considering the huge success she’s had with her singles. The reissue should give the album a second wind and keep Ke$ha in the charts for a while longer.

You can read all the full details regarding Ke$ha and her re-release over at Billboard.com. Luke reveals some interesting things about the star, so it’s worth a read.

The other most interesting part of the article relates to Ms Britney Spears, who, if you remember correctly, I exclusively reported would be back in the studio with Dr. Luke for her next album. Well, now Luke has gone one step further and dropped a bomb that is bound to seriously ruffle some Brit-stan’s feathers.

“In the coming months, Gottwald will co-executive produce Britney Spears’ 2011 project, alongside Max Martin.”

Yes, you heard right — Dr. Luke and Max Martin are exec-producing Britney’s next album. I’m sure that you also noticed it being referred to as a “2011 project”, too. Together or individually, the Luke & Martin produced several tracks from Britney’s last album Circus (“Circus”, “Lace & Leather”, “If USeek Amy”, “Shattered Glass”), while Martin most recently produced her No. 1 hit “3″. The pair also recently exec-produced Katy Perry’s new album Teenage Dream, while Luke solely did Ke$ha’s Animal.

By this information, it’s hard to know to exactly what capacity Luke and Max will be involved in with Britney’s new album. The title of “executive producer” doesn’t mean that they will produce all the songs on the album, but rather that they will oversee the album as a whole, and probably work closely with Britney and her A&R agent to help select the songs that make the cut. They’re bound to have their songs on the album, but considering how many people Britney has been in the studio with, their roles as executive-producers are probably more about tapping into their ability to find hit songs, rather than having them turn Britney’s “2011 project” into the next Katy Perry album.

Another positive thing about this move is that they both know Britney and her artistry very well. Max Martin is the man who launched her into superstardom with albums like …Baby One More Time and Oops!… I Did it Again. He was also present on her third record Britney, but was unfortunately absent on her two best pieces of work to date, In the Zone and Blackout.

I’m at the point now where I have unwavering faith in Britney’s ability to deliver flawless albums, and this whole “2011 project” is shaping up to be quite the interesting mystery. First we’ve got underground producers like Rusko producing “weird” tracks for her, and now we’ve got Dr Luke co-exec producing the album. It sounds like the direction could go absolutely anywhere at this point. Now let’s all pray that Billboard referring to her album as a “2011 project” was a typo, and that Britney actually drops before the year wraps up!

In a new interview with Watermark Online, my girl Kelis has confirmed that the Benny Benassi-produced “Brave” will be the third single to be lifted from her underrated dance album, Flesh Tone.

I assume that we’re all in agreement that this is amazing news and that “Brave” is one of the best songs from the album, right?

The third Flesh Tone single was originally scheduled to be the David Guetta-produced “Scream”, but it now appears that Kelis and Co came to their senses and realized that it was the worst song off the album, and quickly replaced it with something much more divine.

Meanwhile, Kelis’ current single “4th of July” turned out to be a bit of a slow burner in the US, after reaching a peak last week of #4 on the Billboard club chart. As of this week, the song currently sits at #11.

Fingers crossed that “Brave” manages to reach the top spot.

Check out a random video of Kelis talking about “Brave” below.