Earlier today, Rap-Up unveiled the official artwork for Rihanna’s new Stargate-produced single “Only Girl (In the World)”.

Why she insists on wearing that big red wig, I’ll never know…

“Only Girl” will officially hit iTunes on September 21, while her fifth studio album ‘LOUD!’ is due in November. It’s going to be interesting to see if the song debuts at No. 1 on the Hot 100, and also whether or not Rihanna can finally score her first chart topping album.

In other Rih news, it’s been confirmed that Liam Neeson has joined the cast of her new film Battleship. There hasn’t been a whole lot of info about Rihanna’s role in the flick yet, but it turns out that she’s playing a weapons specialist and even got a giant gun tattooed (it’s fake of course) on her thigh. Pretty cool.

I whip my hair back ‘n’ forth, I whip my hair back ‘n’ forth!

Not only has Shakira drastically changed her sound since the pop-electronica of last year’s She Wolf, but she’s also switched up her image, too. She’s ditched the glossy sex appeal of She Wolf and gone bare foot with some matted Ke$ha hair for the official artwork to her new single, “Loca”.

The video for the single has already been shot in Spain. Shakira’s new bilingual album, Sale el Sol, drops October 19.

I can’t believe how quickly Shakira has changed her image, lol.

Here’s what appears to be the second official Pop magazine cover, featuring Britney Spears styled by artist Takashi Murakami.

Love, love, love!

First cover below in better quality. Full issue out on September 1.

We interrupt your regular blog postings for yet another edition of BRITNEY WHOAWWWWTCH!

It doesn’t hit stands until September 1, but Australian tabloid Grazia have been given a sneak peek of the upcoming issue of Pop magazine, featuring none other than Miss Britney Spears. And, if you were expecting something glossy and glamorous then think again, because by the look of this preview, Brit and famed artist Takashi Murakami have gone for something uber-trashtastic. The cover looks like some cheap porno magazine that you’d find hidden in your fathers garage, all frayed and faded because it’s been sitting there for ten years… and I love it! It’s such a stark contrast to the overly-sleek, high-gloss fashion that everybody else is doing right now, so I can only hope that her new album is as edgy as this look.

Anyway, enough of my ranting, and back to the Holy Spearit, who actually elaborated a little on the shoot in the excerpt that Grazia were given.

“I loved working with Takashi,” said Britney. “I especially liked how he took high-end fashion and incorporated it with Japanese Manga. We took a lot of characters and art before we shot, so I could get a feel of what he was looking for. I was in Japan on my last promo tour, and I loved it.”

And when I say that ‘Britney’ said that, I mean Larry Rudolph or Adam Leber said it, shoved Brit’s name on it, stuck it in a press release and then mailed it to Grazia.

You’ll be able to see the full Takashia/Britney Pop photoshoot in full and HQ when the magazine drops on September first. Can’t wait!

Despite dodging assault charges and beefing with desperate fans haters, Kid Cudi has tamed his violent side and decided to keep things classy for the official artwork for his new single “Erase Me”.{Via}

The Kanye West-assisted rock single was sent out to Top 40/Rhythmic-Crossover radio last week, so it shouldn’t be too long until it’s blowing up and snatching your fave’s wig.

Cudi’s sophomore album/future classic, MOTM2: The Legend of Mr. Rager, is currently scheduled to hit stores on October 26. Early buzz for the disc is already high, with Elle magazine recently placing it at the #1 spot on their Elle 25 list, which ranks the top things that the mag are looking forward to for the rest of the year.

Britney Spears is getting better and better at using Twitter every day. About an hour ago, the Hole Spearit just tweeted this amazing pic of herself, and Glee’s character Brittany, recreating the famous “Me Against the Music” video.

So amazing!

Update: Ooh lookey here, another one! Love.

Ciara has released the official artwork for the second of her two new dual singles, “Speechless”.

The-Dream & Tricky-produced song originally leaked with The-Dream as a featured vocalist, but the final version is just solo CiCi.

Earlier in the week, Ciara also released an alternative cover for her other single, “Gimmie Dat”, which you can see below.

Time to get to work CiCi…

The Prophet Blog’s fave round the way girl Teairra Mari bestowed her fans with two precious jewels today by releasing the official artwork for both her upcoming EP ‘Sincerely Yours‘ and her debut mixtape ‘Point of No Return‘.

As usual, she looks stunning. You know – classy, but nasty at the same time!

The DJ Drama mixtape is out today, with Sincerely Yours set to follow on August 17th. [source]

Tea-Tea <3

The promotional machine behind Katy Perry shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, with the Cali Gurl landing yet another magazine cover, this time with Britain’s popular Q.

In the feature article Katy answers questions from fans, but most of them were all about Russel Brand and not her pop career. Boring.

Yesterday Katy released a new promo tune “Not Like the Movies” on iTunes. The song is lifted from her upcoming sophomore album Teenage Dream, and has now been uploaded to her official YouTube account complete with the lyrics.

Oh, and her full shoot with Rolling Stone is now out, and yes, her humongous titties are on full display. Check them out below via Katy-Perry fansite.

Katy Perry and her humongous breasts are back again, this time for the cover of influential music mag Rolling Stone.

This is Katy’s first cover Rolling Stone cover, which is just another indication that she’s now officially arrived into superstar territory.

The accompanying article isn’t out yet, but according to previews Katy will discuss her religious upbringing and relationship with God.

That Katy Perry reign just won’t let up.

Taylor Momsen’s band The Pretty Reckless today unveiled the official artwork for the debut album Light Me Up. The lighter wielding little girl on the cover is pretty cool, but unfortunately, Taylor herself remains completely lame. After a pretentious attack on Miley Cyrus, Taylor is now claiming that she plans to reinvent rock music and that The Pretty Reckless are the only real rock band on the Warped Tour.

“It’s the way I live, I grew up looking at rock stars. It’s in my blood,” Momsen says. “I think aggression scares people. But if you’re scared, you’re feeling something. Yeah, there’s loud guitars and drums. The reaction, it’s really kind of sad.”

“It’s like we’re living in the ’60s again. Haven’t we already all seen this? This has already happened.” She sounds exasperated. “Scantily clad clothing? It’s amazing that it’s shocking again, scaring people now, again.”

Momsen described the Pretty Reckless as “the only real rock band on this [Warped] tour” and says they shun modern sounds almost completely, listening to Led Zeppelin and the Beatles on the bus.

“I’m trying to reinvent and bring back rock ‘n’ roll,” she says. “I listen to the greats. I try to better myself.”

She’s so cool and shocking. Plus she smokes. Even cooler.

Taylor may be the lamest teenager on the planet right now, but I still love her music – especially new single “Miss Nothing”. The song will be released in the UK on August 23, but so far no international dates have been announced. If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can check it out below.

Katy Perry’s colorful side is on full display in this new promotional photo from her upcoming sophomore album Teenage Dream. The vibrant, 90s-inspired picture was taken by photographer Emma Summerton, who also shot the single artwork for “California Gurls” and “Teenage Dream”.

Speaking of “Teenage Dream”, the song is currently blowing up on iTunes, and currently sits at #3 on the top songs chart — two places higher than “California Gurls”. It’s also blowing up like crazy on radio, and is already close to cracking the top forty on the Mediabase airplay charts, so expect a huge debut when this weeks Hot 100 is unveiled.

She’s even set to make a comeback on the album charts this week, as her debut One of the Boys is currently sitting in the top five of the US iTunes albums chart. Katy Perry has officially taken over.