Whitney Houston’s apparently released a first single from her new release, a gritty testament to her return to the recording studio called “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength”. Now, before you start laughing off this song as a ho-hum attempt at a comeback, keep in mind longtime supporters of Houston simply needed to hear a record like this. Her voice sounds deeper, and more-tortured, no doubt the result of drug abuse and of course age (it has been awhile since we’ve last heard her singing), but that’s a good thing given the circumstances.
More up-tempo, club-friendly records are likely to follow.
I’m not a fan of Drake’s. I think his buzz is a little over-hyped, and “Best I Ever Had,” the song that begs to be taken seriously (as a female-devoted side of male hip hop), the video counters with a boring “tig ol’ bitty” concept. Yeah yeah yeah, I noticed the “let’s flip a chick’s song into a dude’s video”, but I’m simply unimpressed.
The headline just happened to be a part I skipped around to, a kinda sorta funny skit smashed in the middle of unsupported (pun intended) banality.
Part of me wants to knock them for this potential flaw-in-judgement, as the self-proclaimed “celebrity-friendly” UK-based publication (holy shit that’s a lot of hyphenation!) OK! Magazine, and another part commends them for winning the obvious reported bidding war. But could they have at least left the picture, one of Michael Jackson in some obvious stretcher gear reportedly on the way to the UCLA Medical Center (where he was famously pronounced dead last week) for the inside pages? They’ve suddenly made it very difficult for middle Americans in line at the grocery store to be forced to explain the concept of death and dying to young children.
Upon closer examination, I think this picture looks pretty staged - maybe a Photoshop-created cover? Given the eyebrow comparison of the Jackson in this picture, and the Jackson depicted just recently (and of course the darker skin tone), I’ve got some strong doubts.
Tell me this isn’t the creepiest fan-made image. Reminiscent of an old Chrisopher Pike novel’s jacket artwork, but appropriate nonetheless given the absolute drama surrounding last week’s death of Michael Jackson. Appropriately so, it looks like the King of Pop’s corpse will spend its last days above-ground, on public display Friday at his famed home of nearly two decades - Neverland. Talk about a circus! I’d sell one of my kidneys to be there.
According to CNN, Jackson’s body will be returned Thursday — via a 30-car motorcade — to the amusement park/zoo/mansion that was his home for nearly two decades, just a week after the 50-year-old singer died at a rented Los Angeles mansion.
A spokesperson for Jackson also told CNN that private memorial services for the singer will be held on Sunday, though the question of where Jackson will be buried remains unresolved.
In a surprising moment in tonight’s BET Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Janet Jackson took to the stage to thank all of her brother’s well-wishers and fans in a short and simple kind of way. Ever thought you’d see Miss Jackson finding it hard to speak?
Janet Jackson has just arrived in Los Angeles this afternoon, according to multiple sources, to join her family in grieving the loss of big brother Michael Jackson. The icon in-her-own-right arrived from Atlanta where she’d been staying with longtime boyfriend Jermaine Dupri.
Feels so foreign to keep repeating, but thoughts and endless prayers still flowing out to the entire Jackson family.
If Michael Jackson fans can gain any solace from these photos, originally posted on (but since removed from) TMZ, it’ll be that he looks both happy and healthy; which may add even more confusion to the plot of what exactly happened to cause the King of Pop to collapse virtually dead in his Los Angeles home yesterday afternoon.
You’re looking at photos of MJ shooting a video for his upcoming London concert (to be projected/shown during a portion of the show) just this past Monday (reportedly). Those who saw him the night before his death at a Staples Center rehearsal, claim he was “listless”, but this was normal according to many cast/crew members.
Michael Jackson, the show-stopping singer whose best-selling albums — including “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” — and electrifying stage presence made him one of the most popular artists of all time, died Thursday, CNN has confirmed. He was 50.
He collapsed at his residence in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, California, about noon Pacific time, suffering cardiac arrest, according to brother Randy Jackson. He died at UCLA Medical Center.
Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy would probably be done on the singer Friday, with results expected that afternoon.
In a maybe-vain effort at making a plea - here’s my hope that people will withhold their ignorance, accept that in the eyes of American law, proper proof was never presented that made this inspirational legend a convicted pedophile, and that while oft-bizarre, no quirks of the human personality ever justify one’s death. To applaud this clearly tragic loss of a brother, a friend, and a father, is simply inhumane and inappropriate.
With that said, new details continue to emerge throughout the remainder of the day - that his children were in-fact inside their Los Angeles home at the time of Jackson’s cardiac arrest, along with his private physician. His body has been removed from the UCLA Medical Center. An autopsy can be expected Friday, along with preliminary toxicology reports.
Quotes of tribute and support for the Jackson family have been streaming in. Stay tuned…. and I mean that.
Holy social security, Batman! Two artists in need of a long-awaited smash album are both dropping their new respective projects within the same month!
Whitney Houston’s camp confirmed today that the still-untitled comeback project from one of the industry’s top-sellers will be released on September 1st. “The Wait Is Over!” shouted this morning’s press release, and the excitement’s been popping up on the blog circuit ever since.
Additionally, Jay-Z’s announced his Blueprint 3 will drop on September 11th; interestingly (and likely strategically), Blueprint 2 was released on the infamous September 11th of 2001.
Impressing me more than I thought he could, Wale turned out a slick video alongside Lady Gaga for the Boston made-to-look-like Prince George’s County (DC) based “Chillin”. While some might feel the track would be better-suited for the likes of M.I.A., people are forgetting that Wale (along with the likes of Kid Cudi and more) are part of Gaga’s way-paving urban crossover brat pack.
