USHER IS GOOD FRIENDS WITH EX-WIFE
According to Britain’s Cosmopolitan magazine, although Usher and his ex-wife, Tameka Foster, cited irreconcilable difference in their divorce documents, they’re on good terms now for the sake of their children, Naviyd and Usher Raymond V. The singer said of his failed marriage, “With my ex-wife, there was a lot of pressure in our relationship because of my career. Now that’s alleviated we’re friends and make smart decisions for our children.” Good for them.
RIHANNA & TAYLOR SWIFT TOP iTUNES CHART
Rihanna’s “What’s My Name?” featuring Drake is the top downloaded song of the week on iTunes. Last week’s number one, Ke$ha’s “We R Who We R,” falls to number two, followed by Far East Movement’s “Like a G6” featuring Cataracs & Dev, P!nk’s “Raise Your Glass,” and Katy Perry’s “Firework.” Taylor Swift’s Speak Now is the top downloaded album for the second straight week, followed by Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party, Matt & Kim’s Sidewalks, Kings of Leon’s Come Around Sundown and Mumford & Sons’ Sign No More.
JONAS L-A CANCELED!
The Jonas Brothers’ sitcom Jonas L-A, which debuted on the Disney Channel in 2009, has been canceled. Disney confirmed the Emmy-nominated series’ cancellation to MTV News. The show racked up 4.2-million viewers and snagged an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Children’s Program in its second and final season. Don’t worry Jonas fans — the band will work with Disney on future projects including a new album when they finish their world tour.
BIEBER TO DROP ACOUSTIC ALBUM ON BLACK FRIDAY
Justin Bieber will release his My Worlds Acoustic album on November 26th, a-k-a “Black Friday.” The album will be sold exclusively through Wal-Mart and will hit the shelves on the biggest shopping day of the year. A press release for the album notes that in addition to acoustic versions of Bieber’s hits, there’s a new song on the album called “Pray.” It’s being described as an “optimistic, uplifting song, and represents the spirit behind My Worlds Acoustic.” In other Bieber news, the teen phenom has just surpassed the six-million followers mark on Twitter.
TWEET: Bieber took to Twitter to celebrate his six million followers writing, “6 MILLION OF THE GREATEST FANS ON EARTH ON TWITTER!!!! THANK U. This is crazy…My Hometown only has 30,000 people total! NUTS.”
BRITNEY SPEARS IN THE STUDIO
Britney Spears’ manager, Adam Leber, tweeted an update about the princess of pop’s new album. He wrote, “Brit is recording a big big BIG new song on Friday with MaxMartin & Dr. Luke. I’m pretty sure it’s a smash!” Leber recently said that the album would sound “progressive” and that ”it’ll be a departure from what you’ve heard” in the past. Dr. Luke retweeted Leber’s message, as well as telling Britney fans to please continue to wait for her new music. Spears and producer Max Martin have a long history of making music together. He produced her debut single “… Baby One More Time,” as well as “3” and more. A new Britney album is expected sometime in early 2011.
SEE THE SCRIPT’S VIDEO ON VH1
It’s been out overseas for quite a bit, but now you can finally watch the video for The Script’s brand new single, “For The First Time.” The Irish rocker’s video is now airing on Vh1 and also on Vh1.com. “For The First Time” is off of the group’s forthcoming album, Science & Faith, which is due out in the U-S on January 18th.
MADONNA HAS AN IDEA TO END BULLYING
Madonna has an idea to put an end to bullying. Appearing via satellite on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the pop star said that students can begin to stop the problem that has been brought to the mainstream recently due to a rash of suicides if they would try and not gossip about one another for one day. Madge said everyone should try “walking away” from gossip, and also urged people to realize how much more free time they would have and how much better they would feel if they stopped spreading rumors. Watch the segment now at Ellen.WarnerBros.com.
BRET MICHAELS DENIES AFFAIR WITH TISH CYRUS
Bret Michaels appeared on Fox & Friends yesterday and when he was asked about his rumored affair with Tish Cyrus he simply said, “The answer is no.” He explained to the talk show hosts he has known the family for years and he and Miley recorded a song together, which is featured on his album Custom Built. He said, “She came over and sang on that and honestly, she did a beautiful job, and that was it. Then they started with all the controversy.” Fans can watch the clip at FOXNews.com.
SWIFT QUESTIONED ABOUT GYLLENHAAL
Taylor Swift was put in the hot-seat by a radio station in New Zealand when the host asked the country star about her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal. To have her prove her identity, the jock asked, “What flavor ice cream did Jake Gyllenhaal eat the other day?” Taylor was silent for a few moments and said, “Guys, would you like to ask another question?” The radio host continued to push Taylor’s buttons and said, “I read about this all over the Internet what’s up are you guys seeing each other?” Taylor kept her cool and switched the conversation to her music. She said, “I would love to talk to you about music, so much. I think it would be great to talk to you about music on a music radio show.” She mentioned she didn’t want their time together to run out, and the conversation quickly shifted to the success of her new album, Speak Now.
SWIFT IS ONE OF HOLLYWOOD’S HIGHEST EARNING WOMEN
Forbes Magazine has released a new ranking of Hollywood’s Highest Earning Women and Taylor Swift is featured at the number nine spot. Her estimated earnings from June 2009 to June 2010 were 45-million dollars. A significant chunk of her income came from touring and endorsement deals. According to the magazine, she grossed 54-million dollars from touring and also pulled in a majority of her income from album sales, downloads and her deals with Sony and CoverGirl. Miley Cyrus was listed at the number eight spot with 48-million dollars and Oprah Winfrey remains the queen at the top of the ranking with estimated earnings of 315-million dollars.
LIL WAYNE RETURNS TO THE BOOTH!
We’ve just learned Lil Wayne has officially found his way back to the studio after completing eight months in prison. Young Money President Mack Maine has uploaded a Twitpic of Weezy with headphones on, laying new verses in the booth inside the Hit Factory in Miami. Perhaps he’s working on a new mixtape or recording new material for his long-awaited Tha Carter IV. We’ll keep you posted with further updates.
THE DREAM AND MILIAN SETTLE DIVORCE
TMZ has learned Christina Milian and her ex-husband, The Dream, have finalized their divorce settlement. Even though the producer filed the papers just nine days after she gave birth to their first child, Christina’s attorney spilled that, “Ms. Milian strongly believes that peaceful resolution is better for their child and that she is very pleased with the settlement and that it was accomplished out of court.”
JAMIE FOXX RENAMES ALBUM TITLE
HipHop-N-More.com has exclusively learned that Jamie Foxx has changed the title of his upcoming project from Body to Best Night Of My Life. The follow-up to 2008’s Intuition will reportedly hit stores on December 21st. You can expect videos for his newly released singles, “Living Better Now” featuring Rick Ross and “Fall For Your Type” with Drake, to premiere in the coming weeks.
T.I. AND JAZMINE COLLAB FOR FIRST TIME
Rap-Up.com reports T.I. has teamed with Jazmine Sullivan for the first time ever to create a new tune called “Dying in Your Arms.” The song is expected to appear on Tip’s upcoming album, No Mercy. Fans will be able to get the project just in time for the holidays when it hits shelves on December 14th.
NEON TREES GO BEYOND “ANIMAL”
Neon Trees emerged as one of the biggest bands of 2010 with their single “Animal” topping the charts. Drummer Elaine Bradley loves the song, but says we can expect much more from the band (See Related Cut #5). Neon Tree’s single “Animal” is off their debut album, Habits, which is out now.
COLDPLAY ANNOUNCE TWO CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
Coldplay are set to play two intimate Christmas shows. The band will perform two benefit concerts for the U-K homeless charity Crisis. The “Hidden Gigs” will take place in Liverpool on December 19th and Newcastle on the 20th. General tickets for the concerts go on sale this Friday. Coldplay are currently working on a new album with producer Brian Eno that fans hope to hear next year.
CHRISTINA PERRI RELEASES HER EP
Christina Perri’s brand new EP, The Ocean Way Sessions, is now available. It features five songs that were recorded live, and in a post on her official website, Christina said that she “couldn’t more proud or excited of it.” Get it now at ChristinaPerri.com.
MB20 ARE “WRITING, WRITING, WRITING”
Matchbox twenty are really getting going on their next album. Frontman Rob Thomas took to his Twitter account to update fans from the studio, saying that the group is all together in L-A, “writing, writing, writing.” Rob has been updating the band’s progress pretty often so be sure to follow him at Twitter.com/ThisIsRobThomas.
DAUGHTRY AND THE GRAMMY MUSEUM
Daughtry recently performed and were interviewed at the GRAMMY Museum in L-A and video of it has now been posted online. Head to DaughtryOfficial.com to see the band talk about their latest album, Leave This Town, and play a few tunes, including their hit single “September.”
P!NK’S GREATEST HITS DVD TRAILER
The Deluxe Edition of P!nk’s forthcoming Greatest Hits…So Far!!! album comes with a special DVD, and now you can get a sneak preview of what’s going to be one it. Head to PinksPage.com to check out the DVD trailer now.
NICOLE SCHERZINGER IS TOO BUSY FOR MARRIAGE
Nicole Scherzinger wants to marry racecar driver boyfriend Lewis Hamilton — but she’s just too busy. In an interview with British magazine Star, the Pussycat Dolls lead singer said that she’s “focused on her career” at the moment, but that everything has “it’s time.”
LA ROUX’S ELLY JACKSON LOSES HER CAMERA
La Roux lead singer Elly Jackson has lost her camera. It probably wouldn’t be a big deal but it’s from a night in Dublin a little while back where she was out drinking with Lily Allen. According to ContactMusic.com, Jackson said they had an “amusing” night out in the Irish capital and she and Allen took some “drunken” pictures on a camera which she proceeded to misplace. She added that she was worried someone would try and “sell the pictures,” but that fortunately, they weren’t of her. It should be noted that Jackson never said that Lily was drinking when they were out, only that they were together.
DANGER MOUSE IN YET ANOTHER DUO
Danger Mouse is half of Gnarls Barkley and half of Broken Bells, but now it seems the famed producer is working with Italian composer Daniele Luppi. The project is called Rome and according to The Guardian, the group has been five years in the making. Their album is inspired by the pair’s love of 1960’s film soundtracks. Rolling Stone reports that the Rome album will feature guest spots from Jack White and Norah Jones. We’ll keep you posted on a release date for that.
WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU GOOGLE KINGS OF LEON?
Kings of Leon’s run in with bird feces was one of the biggest music news stories of the year. Drummer Nathan Followill once again addressed the experience, this time to AmericanSongwriter.com, saying, “When I saw the story on the CNN ticker, I knew we had finally found success in America.” Followill added that it’s both a blessing and curse, explaining, “Now everytime someone Googles ‘The Kings of Leon’ the words ‘pigeon s**t’ are always gonna come up.” Kings of Leon’s new album, Come Around Sundown, is out now.
KANYE WEST LEAKS “BLAME GAME”
Kanye West has released a new John Legend-assisted track called “Blame Game” which will appear on Ye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy LP. The eight-minute long song also includes a comedic skit at the end with Chris Rock. Fans can hear the record on YouTube. Meanwhile, West’s upcoming disc drops on November 22nd.
R KELLY’S LOVE LETTER COMING NEXT MONTH!
According to Rap-Up.com, R Kelly has reportedly selected a launch date for his forthcoming effort, Love Letter. The “When A Woman Loves” crooner’s eleventh studio album will land in stores on December 14th. Will you be buying?
AMY WINEHOUSE AND PUBLIC ENEMY?
Could we be seeing Amy Winehouse collaborating with hip-hop legends Public Enemy? According to British paper the Daily Mirror, frontman Chuck D has said that he wants the embattled singer-songwriter to perform with them in London this coming weekend, joking that Winehouse can “handle all the smoke.”
