G-Magazine Now

MUSIC VIDEO: "On To The Next One" by Jay-Z (featuring Swizz Beatz)

Rap icon Jay-Z released another music video to support his album The Blueprint 3.  Titled "On To The Next One," featuring Swizz Beatz in one of Jay-Z's hottest.  By the way, is that Beyonce dancing in the video?   Whoever it is, that chick with the Lady Gaga-inspired look dances like Beyonce.

Enjoy!

Whitney, Mariah, Beyonce, Keri and Lady Gaga Dominate VH-1's Top 40 Videos Of 2009

 

Today, music cable station VH-1 unveiled its list of the top 40 music videos of 2009, and unsurprisingly, our favorite music divas were included on this list.  Can you guess who earned the coveted #1 position?  You might be surprised as it is a toss up between two pop divas who ruled the pop singles charts this year.  Check out the following stars whose videos made the countdown.

34. "Mllion Dollar Bill" by Whitney Houston

32. "Happy" by Leona Lewis

30. "Obsessed" by Mariah Carey

29. "Run This Town" by Jay-Z, Kanye West & Rihanna

27. "Knock You Down" by Keri HIlson (featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo)

24. "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga

21. "Halo" by Beyonce

PREVIEW SONGS: Lady GaGa | Chrisette Michele | Snoop Dogg | Robin Thicke | Lil' Flip

 

Check out these recently leaked tunes by your favorite music artists. All you have to do is press play to enjoy them.

Play "Reloaded" by Lady Gaga (featuring Rodney Jerkins)

Play "Unconditional" by Chrisette Michele (featuring Freeway & Tek)

Play "Bootiez Automatic" by Snoop Dogg

Play "Sex Therapy" (remix) by Robin Thicke (featuring Ludacris)

Play "Heartbreaker" by Lil' Flip

MUSIC VIDEO: "Hard" by Rihanna

Check out the Rihanna's music video for "Hard," the third single from her Rated R album.  In summary, she shuts down all her competition in the music video game and fashion department here.  This should make Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Britney Spears, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Brandy, Toni Braxton, Janet Jackson, Monica, Mya, Amerie, Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson, and whoever else really think outside the box in their future music videos and gives us fans an eyeful and not the predictable.  Well, Lady Gaga is the only pop diva that is still ahead of the music video game.

Enjoy!

Janet Jackson Performs "All For You" & "Make Me" On The "X-Factor"

Legendary R&B/pop diva Janet Jackson headed overseas to London to perform at the "The X-Factor" television show.  Similar to the U.S. "Americian Idol," the show brings some of the world's biggest acts to add more entertainment value to gain viewers.  Following Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, among others, Jackson gave a lively performance of her 2001 chart-topper "All For You" along with her new single "Make Me."  With more than a few dozen background dancers in tow, Ms. Jackson gave her greatest stage performance in years.

Enjoy!

Lady Gaga Performs "Bad Romance" On "X-Factor"

One artist you can count on not giving a boring performance is pop music starlet Lady Gaga.  Often the talk of every award show she has performed in 2009, Gaga brings the most eye-catching dramatic set to an award program from her costumes to choreography to stage set-up.  This weekend's performance at the UK's "X-Factor" continues her trend of show-stopping acts.  Gaga and company delivered a theatrical performance of her latest hit single "Bad Romance" in a bath tub with the fashionably outrageous costumes and over-the-top dance routine.  It is only certain that the Brits enjoyed this televised performance from this soon-to-be pop queen.

Enjoy!

Check Out The 2010 Grammy Nominees Led by Beyoncé , Taylor Swift, Maxwell and Lady Gaga

 

Check out the nominees for the 2010 Grammy Awards.  With an astounding 10 nominations, R&B diva Beyoncé is sure to be a big winner from the success of her I Am...Sasha Fierce.  It is of no surprise that country-pop darling Taylor Swift would be a leading nominee also.  Being the biggest album seller of the year, Taylor is up for eight nominations, competing in the top three categories alongside Beyonce.

Other multiple nominees include R&B crooner Maxwell, pop superstar Lady Gaga, Chicago rapper Kanye West and hip-pop group the Black Eyed Peas.  Surprisingly, R&B divas Whitney Houston, Brandy and Mariah Carey are snubbed, while R&B's worst male performer Trey Songz and Marcus P have at least two nominations apiece.

Check out this list of nominations.  I have chosen my picks on who deserves the win in bold and green fonts.  Who would you pick as winners?

Album Of The Year

I Am…Sasha Fierce (Beyoncé)
The E.N.D. (the Black Eyed Peas)
The Fame (Lady Gaga)
Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King (Dave Matthews Band)
Fearless (Taylor Swift)

Record Of The Year

"Halo" (Beyoncé)
"I Gotta Feeling" (the Black Eyed Peas)
"Use Somebody" (Kings Of Leon)
"Poker Face" (Lady Gaga)
"You Belong With Me" (Taylor Swift)

Song Of The Year

"Poker Face," Lady Gaga & RedOne, songwriters (Lady Gaga)
"Pretty Wings," Hod David & Musze, songwriters (Maxwell)
"Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)
"Use Somebody, "Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)
"You Belong With Me," Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)

Best New Artist

Zac Brown Band
Keri Hilson
MGMT
Silversun Pickups
The Ting Tings

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance

"Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" by Beyoncé
"It Kills Me" by Melanie Fiona
"That Was Then" by Lalah Hathaway
"Goin' Thru Changes" by Ledisi
"Lions, Tigers & Bears" by Jazmine Sullivan

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

"The Point Of It All" by Anthony Hamilton
"Pretty Wings" by Maxwell
"Sobeautiful" by Musiq Soulchild
"Under" by Pleasure P
"There Goes My Baby" by Charlie Wilson

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

"Blame It" by Jamie Foxx & T-Pain
"Chocolate High" by India.Arie & Musiq Soulchild
"Ifuleave" by Musiq Soulchild & Mary J. Blige
"Higher Ground" by Robert Randolph & The Clark Sisters
"Love Has Finally Come At Last" by Calvin Richardson & Ann Nesby

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance

"At Last" by Beyoncé
"Soul Music" by Anthony Hamilton
"Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" by Boney James & Quinn
"Sow Love" by Ann Nesby
"Woman Gotta Have It" by Calvin Richardson

Best Urban/Alternative Performance

"Daykeeper" by The Foreign Exchange
"All Matter" by Robert Glasper & Bilal
"Pearls" by India.Arie & Dobet Gnahore
"A Tale Of Two" by Eric Roberson, Ben O'Neill & Michelle Thompson
"Blend" by Tonex

Best R&B Song

"Blame It" James T. Brown, John Conte, Jr., Jamie Foxx, Christopher Henderson, Brandon R. Melanchon, Breyon Prescott, T-Pain & Nathan L. Walker, songwriters (Jamie Foxx & T-Pain)
"Lions, Tigers & Bears" Salaam Remi & Jazmine Sullivan, songwriters (Jazmine Sullivan)
"Pretty Wings" Hod David & Musze, songwriters (Maxwell)
"Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)
"Under" D. Babbs, L. Bereal, M. Cooper, A. Dixon, J. Franklin, T. Jones, R. New & K. Stephens, songwriters (Pleasure P)

Best R&B Album

The Point Of It All (Anthony Hamilton)
Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics (India.Arie)
Turn Me Loose (Ledisi)
Blacksummers' Night (Maxwell)
Uncle Charlie (Charlie Wilson)

Best Contemporary R&B Album

I Am... Sasha Fierce (Beyoncé)
Intuition (Jamie Foxx)
The Introduction Of Marcus Cooper (Pleasure P)
Ready (Trey Songz)
Thr33 Ringz (T-Pain)

Best Rap Solo Performance

"Best I Ever Had" by Drake
"Beautiful" by Eminem
"D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)" by Jay-Z
"Day 'N' Nite" by Kid Cudi
"Casa Bey" by Mos Def

Rihanna Gets Trumped By Susan Boyle, Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga On Album Charts

Pop superstar Rihanna failed to meet sales expectations since the release of her Rated R album on November 23.  With more than 180,000 copies sold, Rihanna can brag about having her best debut sales week to date.  Conversely, with expectations of over 300K units, the actual number is quite underwhelming when reported CD sales at $3.99 and $0.99 failed to propel sales even higher.

Rated R fell behind traditional pop newcomer Susan Boyle's record-breaking sales of more than 660,000 for I Dreamed A Dream.  Her story about her humble beginnings and appearances on "Britian's Got Talent" and "America's Got Talent" propelled worldwide interest in Boyle.  Thus, she earned 2009's highest album sales within the debut week in America, beating rapper Eminem's Relapse, and beat R&B singer Ashanti's self-titled debut as the new female artist with the highest first-week sales for a debut album.

Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment sold more than 196,000 units, and Lady Gaga's Fame Monster EP sold approximately 181,00 units.  Both artists received a lot of attention for their recent jaw-dropping performances on last week's American Music Awards.

Unfortunately, Latin-pop sensation Shakira's recent performances and promotion generated less than 100K in sales in her debut week of She Wolf as did British R&B singer Jay Sean with his U.S. debut despite earning a #1 single with "Down" featuring rapper Lil' Wayne.

Lady Gaga Falls Flat In Canada

Pop singer Lady Gaga fell on her butt at the beginning of the "Teeth" performance during her Monster Ball tour in Montreal, Quebec.  Like a true performer, Gaga kept up with the choreography seemlessly.

Last week, Jennifer Lopez was the first pop diva to fall during a performance this winter season.  Who is next?  Let's place our bets on Rihanna.

Lady Gaga Caught Smoking On Stage

As one of pop music's bad girls, Lady Gaga, smokes a cigarette while performing at her Toronto concert last night.  Is that legal?

American Music Awards 2009 Performances: Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga & Rihanna

Jennifer Lopez - "Louboutins"

Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance" & "Speechless"

Rihanna - "Wait Your Turn" & "Hard"

MUSIC VIDEO: "Video Phone" by Beyonce (featuring Lady GaGa)

Wow! Wow! Wow!  Beyoncé quietly releases the music video to the remix of her final I Am...Sasha Fierce single "Video Phone" with a hot cameo appearance by fellow pop singer Lady GaGa.  Of course, the heat has been turned up high in this video.

While many people have already criticized Beyoncé for stealing one of her looks from Rihanna, the other style changes make Beyoncé untouchable in the fierce department.

You have to love the short mini-choreography performance between the two divas.

Enjoy!

MUSIC VIDEO: "I Want To Know What Love Is" by Mariah Carey

R&B/pop superstar Mariah Carey finally drops the new music video for the second single from her Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel album title "I Want To Know Love Is."  The video of the cover song, which was originally recorded by pop/rock Steve Perry and his band Foreigner, was shot in New York City by the ubiquitous Hype Williams.

"Love Is" is the classiest single Ms. Carey has released in a long time.  The video captures more of the emotion of the song and family bonding rather than the singer's skimpy, sexy image that Carey forces onto viewers.  Thus, a beautifully produced video was born.

Noticed a Black male couple featured frequently in the video?  That is a rarity among music video.  It is a surprise that Lady Gaga did not concoct that idea first.

Enjoy!

Taylor Gets Love From American Music Awards' Nominations; Kanye Gets Snubbed

Apparently, rapper Kanye West's mean-spirited antics towards country-pop darling Taylor Swift affected his eligibility in the nominations of the 2009 American Music Awards.  The popular rapper, whose 2008 album 808's & Heartbreak became a best-seller with three top 10 singles, was shut out from the nominations in favor of less successful hip-hop artists Jay-Z, T.I. and Eminem.

So far Alicia Keys, The Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez, and Adam Lambert have signed on to perform at the event, set to take place Sunday, November 22 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

The nominees for the 2009 American Music Awards are:

POP/ROCK MUSIC

Favorite Male Artist
Eminem
Michael Jackson
T.I.

Favorite Female Artist
Beyoncé
Lady Gaga
Taylor Swift

Favorite Band, Duo or Group
Black Eyed Peas
Kings of Leon
Nickelback

Favorite Album
Lady Gaga / Fame
Michael Jackson / Number Ones
Taylor Swift / Fearless

COUNTRY MUSIC

Favorite Male Artist
Jason Aldean
Darius Rucker
Keith Urban

Favorite Female Artist
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Favorite Band, Duo or Group
Rascal Flatts
Sugarland
Zac Brown Band

Favorite Album
Rascal Flatts/ Unstoppable
Taylor Swift / Fearless
Zac Brown Band / Foundation

RAP/HIP-HOP MUSIC

Favorite Male Artist
Eminem
Jay-Z
T. I.

Favorite Album
Eminem / Relapse
Jay-Z / Blueprint 3
T.I. / Paper Trail

Lada Gaga Reveals "The Monster Ball" Tour

Less than two weeks after her planned outing with Kanye West was cancelled, Lady Gaga has announced plans for her upcoming North American tour, called "The Monster Ball."

The outing, with support from upstart rapper Kid Cudi, was announced on the singer's official site on Thursday, October 15, with a promise that it will be the first-ever "pop electro opera." The first date of the 22-show tour is November 27 at the Bell Center in Montreal, and current plans call for it to finish with two dates at Radio City Music Hall in New York on January 20-21.

The dates are scheduled as follows:

November 27 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada @ The Bell Center
November 28 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada @ Air Canada Center
November 29 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada @ Scotiabank Place
December 1 - Boston, MA @ Wang Center
December 2 - Boston, MA @ Wang Center
December 3 - Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna
December 9 - Vancouver, BC, Canada @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
December 10 - Vancouver, BC, Canada @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
December 13 - San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic
December 18 - Las Vegas, NV @ TBD
December 19 - San Diego, CA @ San Diego Sports Arena
December 21 - Los Angeles, CA @ Nokia Theatre
December 29 - Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theater
December 31 - Miami, FL @ Knight Center
January 3 - Orlando, FL @ The Hard Rock
January 7 - St. Louis, MO @ The Fox
January 8 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
January 9 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
January 12 - Detroit, MI @ Fox Theater
January 16 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata
January 20 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
January 21 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall