Tagged: listeningstation

That Grape Juice posted this MTV clip of Brandy's new rap alter ego Bran'Nu performing live with Timbaland in Miami. Tim's album Shock Value II dropped this week, and while the above jam, "Meet In Tha Middle," appears on the regular version, the deluxe edition also contains the Bran'Nu-featuring track "Symphony." If you ask us, "Meet In Tha Middle" really should have been the second official single released off Shock Value II . Brandy's not too shabby as a MC here, and "Say Something," the slow-tempo one with Drake—and the song that [...]

Jamie Foxx started his career as a comedian, then became an actor, then a movie star, and lately he's keeping himself busy putting the finishing touches on his upcoming fourth studio album, Body . (His timing could hardly be better—he just drew three Grammy nominations and his last Oscar-baiting role in The Soloist barely made a dent in the public's consciousness—or their wallets .) Truth is, as far as his music career goes, Foxx isn't doing so bad. He teamed up with Justin Timberlake for the track "Winner," and although we'd prefer seeing this duo pair [...]

• Jamie Foxx - Winner f. Justin Timberlake

Robin Thicke and The Game give it up for (surprise!) the ladies in the newly leaked track "Diamonds," off the deluxe edition of Thicke's forthcoming Sex Therapy . Over a butter-smooth music bed, the duo shout out female artists both fierce and fabulous, including Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, and Keyshia Cole. The name-drop marathon extends to Oprah and Michelle Obama, as well as Robin's wife of four years, actress Paula Patton. Glad somebody is finally giving Paula props—she turned in an excellent performance as the endlessly supportive teacher, Ms. Rain, in Precious , but everyone [...]

• Robin Thicke - Diamonds (featuring Game)

Sade premiered new single "Soldier Of Love" today over on their official site . But damn, they sure know how to get some R&R in between albums. The song, co-produced by Sade and Mike Pela, is off the band's same-titled sixth studio album—their first one since 2000's Lovers Rock . The full LP will be released on February 8. Only six albums in 26 years? It feels like Miley Cyrus has released that many in the past 18 months alone. "Soldier Of Love" contains the trademark dramatic combo of world-weary melodies and sultriness found in Sade [...]

Lil Wayne (who's very much still alive ) unveiled two tracks off his upcoming Rebirth , the disco-inflected "On Fire" (which samples Amy Holland's "She's On Fire" from the Scarface soundtrack, but damn if we don't hear the opening few notes of "Fame") and the synthy rock track "Da Da Da," featuring more bluesy guitar riffs than all of Wayne's mixtapes combined. Both songs are (surprise!) Auto-Tuned within an inch of their lives, but we're psyched that Wayne, in crafting his long-delayed "rock" album, decided to recall its 80's incarnations. Check out "Da Da Da" after [...]

How many icebergs can James Cameron hit on his way to releasing Avatar ? The hammy and confusing trailer started us thinking we may not elect to see the 3D epic once, much less the multiple times we saw Titanic . But now comes Leona Lewis' vibrato-tastic theme song for the movie. Better start counting lifeboats—we bring you "I See You": Do we have another "My Heart Will Go On" on our hands here? No, not really, even though Cameron & Co. hired the same producers [...]

Big pianos. Big beats. Ill flows. That's how Alicia Keys described "Put It In A Love Song," her duet with Beyonce, to BET . The track appears on Keys' The Element Of Freedom , which is out December 15. "We just had a party in the studio," Keys said. "We've known each other for a lot of years, and obviously this is the first time we've been able to collaborate." Nifty! And even better—the song has leaked. Catch it below! This is easily miles [...]

Demure wallflower Ke$ha and her single "TiK ToK" are enjoying another big week, with the song returning to its peak, #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. That sets up a sassy-blonde-off between Ke$ha and Lady Gaga, but the Dr. Luke-coached newbie is already armed for a followup assault on the chart—and from what we can tell, it's likely to make "TiK ToK" sound like part of the Susan Boyle repertoire. The glitter-loving lass teamed up with snarky electronic duo 3OH!3 for "Blah Blah Blah, " which is rumored to be her next single . Check out [...]

If you caught the 36-second preview of Nick Jonas' new single "Who I Am" here last week, then just chalk it up to having heard the whole thing. Seventeen-year-old Jonas and his side project The Administration took to the stage at The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!!—Countdown To Music's Biggest Night last night and belted out the full song, which basically starts with the same few guitar chords and never lets up. (And is it just us or does it feel like he repeats the chorus at least 47 times?) [...]

Like you didn't see this coming 140 characters ago. In the distinguished footsteps of Gym Class Heroes' MySpace ode "New Friend Request" and the Black Eyed Peas' web-wide paean "Generation Now" comes a hip-pop anthem for Twitter, courtesy of awkward feature specialist Sean Kingston. As an early Christmas prezzie to his fans , Kingston released a free download of his ode to tweeting, "Twitter Song (Follow Me)," which you can pick up (where else?) on his Twitter page . Now go ahead an update your status to say you're @idolator checking out the track: [...]

Producer Rodney Jerkins (aka "Darkchild!") posted a 50-song medley of some of his biggest hits on his blog , and— damn! —talk about a 8o mph joyride down memory lane. All of the usual suspects are there (Brandy and Monica's "The Boy Is Mine," Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up," Jennifer Lopez's "If You Had My Love," Destiny's Child's "Say My Name"). But there are also the Ohhhh...right! moments, as when we suddenly remembered that Rodney produced the original version of Whitney Houston's "It's Not Right, But It's Okay" before Thunderpuss got their hands on [...]

Chris Brown's Graffiti has leaked, so now everyone who still believes in his talent can point to something besides "Forever" — and everyone who hates him can listen for free. The one track that everyone's sure listen closely to is "Famous Girl," a song that couldn't be more obviously about Rihanna unless it was called "Rihanna (My Ex-Girlfriend, You Know, The One I Beat Up)." A closer look at the track's lyrics behind the jump: A breakdown of the lyrics to "Famous Girl" (courtesy of Toya's World ): "Drake [...]

It's finally December, which means we've got roughly another month of being totally stressed out shopping for gifts and planning vacations and attempting to stick to the Atkins diet before we officially hit Christmahanukwanzaakah (and/or other migraine-inducing celebration). But rejoice — it also means it's time for Mariah Carey's beloved Xmas song "All I Want For Christmas Is You"... newly remixed, y'all. Hear it after the jump and see if you aren't singing along by the end of the first verse. We dare you. We love the original song to pieces—we blast it while [...]

Last night at her stop in San Jose, Kelly Clarkson teamed up with her tour opener Eric Hutchinson to sing Michael Jackson's "Rock With You." Though this duet doesn't rank up there with our favorite Kelly Clarkson covers—they're mainly just having some fun, dancing around the stage, rockin' out to some MJ—it's another example of her probably under-appreciated versatility. (Gosh, wouldn't she be great on American Idol ?) So what are our favorite Kelly covers? Check out our Top 5 after the jump: Annie Lennox "Why" [...]

The leaks from Timbaland's upcoming Shock Value II continue. This time around it's "Meet In The Middle" (or, "Meet In Tha Middle," depending where you read) featuring Brandy—although, this isn't your "Sittin' Up In My Room" Brandy. Instead, the 30-year-old singer slips into her rapping alter ego, Bran'Nu, here. Now, you think "Brandy" and "rap," and you're kind of expecting something tragic on par with Madonna spitting out rhymes on "American Life." But you know what? Moesha Mitchell actually cuts the mustard as a female MC rather effectively! As for the track itself, [...]

Okay, that was Tracy Jordan , not R. Kelly, but it may as well be. R Kelly dropped his song "Pregnant" off his upcoming album Untitled (seriously, Kel? You couldn't think of one thing to call it?) which features The-Dream, Robin Thicke, and yes, even model-turned-actor-turned rapper Tyrese. Hey, why not! Everybody come on board, it's a party! In fact, that's exactly how R. Kelly wrote his album—nonstop partying. Says Kelly , "For three months straight, I threw a party at my house every weekend. [...]

Another song off Usher's indefinitely postponed album Raymond vs. Raymond dropped, and this one's called "In My Bag" (it also features T.I.). The newly divorced Ush starts the mid-tempo club song off by declaring he's "single and I'm ready to mingle" with "women I barely know." That's a little bit classier than telling the world you're " ready to sign them papers " while your divorce is still being finalized, as well as not-so-subtly naming your album to reflect the messy feud with your ex-wife. (Hey, at least he's writing music as [...]

Are those leggings with knee spikes that Alicia Keys is donning on the (possibly fan made?) cover art for "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down"? Is the shoulder spike fad that populated the AMAs already on its way out? Alicia Keys' voice soars here like it did on the original "Empire State Of Mind," as we already heard in a live performance of the song last week. But now that the official track list for The Element Of Freedom has appeared on Keys' official site , it seems that the rumored [...]

Kudos to PopJustice for tipping the planet off to Ellie Goulding and Erik Hassle's quite lovely cover of Robyn's "Be Mine!" The frantic strings and urgent beats that punctuated the pixie-coiffed singer's original version are swapped out here for an acoustic guitar. And you know what? Not only does it work in its own right, it offers a neat reminder that Robyn can write some heart-rending lyrics. Yes, we know lots of up-and-comers perform covers to get attention , but we still applaud Hassle (an emerging Swedish talent) and "Girl Wonder" [...]

• Erik & Ellie - Be Mine

Among the slew of new releases today— Rihanna , Lady Gaga , Susan Boyle and Adam Lambert , to name a few—comes the A Very Special Christmas Volume 7 compilation. And on it features a cover of the yuletide classic, "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" by Gossip Girl starlet Leighton Meester. So will Blair Waldorf's rendition of the holiday fave become as celebrated as the Darlene Love original and the 1987 cover by U2 (which, incidentally, appeared on the very first A Very Special Christmas album)? Have a [...]