Melody Plant

Alicia Keys says her fame can make you ‘a ghost of yourself.’ The 27-year-old singer says her gruelling tour schedule and long years of musical training have taken their toll on her life.

Despite selling over 23 million albums and winning over 80 major awards – including 11 Grammys – Alicia says her fame has a huge downside.

She said: “Fame can bring a lot of emptiness. You are so driven that you work 20 hours a day, you get four hours of sleep, you do all that for 10 years straight. Then, all of a sudden, you think, I’m a singer and, yes, I’m a songwriter and, yes, I perform, but what else is in my life? Do I have a family? Am I growing inside? Am I always too busy to see my mother and the people I love? You have to numb yourself because you are away so long. It can change you and that is not the type of person I want to be. People always want something from you - you become like a ghost of yourself or of the person you could be.”

Alicia - who is to perform the theme tune to the next James Bond film ‘Quantum of Solace’ with White Stripes singer Jack White - says her soul searching began when she gave up work to look after her dying grandmother last year.

She added: “Losing her made me realise how close I came to the edge. It took a while before I could even say the word ‘grandmother’ because I was so upset.”

Despite vowing to cut back on her workload, Alicia will release her latest single ‘Superwoman’ on September 1.

Vanessa Hudgens’ Identified is available now! The High School Musical alum delivers a varied collection of funky pop songs, hip-hop flavored anthems and beautiful ballads on her sophomore release. Identified kicks off with “Last Night,” the raucously rhythmic opener featuring Vanessa singing over her own chanted harmonies. “I loved it the minute I first heard it,” she says of the song. “It’s really intricate and really fun, something you don’t hear very often.” Best known as a singer and actress, Vanessa is also a superb dancer, so for the new album she raised the stakes with pummeling dance tracks like “Hook It Up,” “First Bad Habit” and the hook-laden title track, “Identified.”

The New Kids on the Block recorded a song last week with a fellow 80s boy band, New Edition. The thing is the most infamous member, Bobby Brown, was cut out of the picture. The track called ‘Full Service’ will be on NKOTB’s as yet untitled upcoming album. Producer RedOne says “Donnie Wahlberg had this idea for a few months, since New Kids had the idea of getting back together really. Donnie’s been looking for that one track for all of them and I think we found it.” New Edition’s Ralph Tresvant recently spoke about the bands’ rumored feud saying “The thing people were going back and forth with was we’d been doing what we were doing for the longest [but] we couldn’t get cartoons and things that the white guys were getting. It was like, ‘wow’. But the guys themselves, we have mad love.”

Heidi Montag has a really great PR team working for her. Producer RedOne, who worked on her new single ‘Fashion, recently had an interview where he basically kissed the ground Heidi walked on. He spoke of Heidi’s new single saying “”It sounds amazing. The song is all about fashion and all about her - shopping, clothes, her whole aura. She’s really taken it to the next level…. We are working on more [songs], and it’s crazy, shocking stuff that will surprise everybody.” When asked if Heidi can sing, he said “Definitely. She’s really good, and I love her personality and the way it comes through in a song. She makes you believe it. She’s great in the studio.” Would you believe that?

The reigning queen of the summer jam Rihanna was spotted out and about in New York City on Wednesday. She went over to MTV studios to tape TRL earlier this week where she claimed that her new single ‘Disturbia’ is going to be the song of the summer. Considering that her songs have had that title since 2005 – ‘Pon de Replay’ in 2005, ‘SOS’ in 2006 and ‘Umbrella’ in 2007 – there’s no reason why ‘Disturbia’ can’t rule for 2008. Add to that, the song was written by hit maker, and current boy toy, Chris Brown. It’s pretty much a certified hit.

Janet Jackson was recently asked what the next single off her new album will be. She replied with “That’s pretty difficult to say, only because of the record label at this point. We started off with ‘Feedback’ and the label and myself haven’t quite seen eye to eye since the ‘Feedback’ single so they’ve kind of basically stopped all promotion. I’m trying to figure out a way to say this, but just to say it and to be quite honest, they just stopped all promotion whatsoever on the album so I don’t think you’re going to hear another single off this album.” Does this mean we’re going to have to forget all about her?

‘High School Musical’ actress Ashley Tisdale has given everyone some chance to reminisce about the past by recording exclusive cover songs from the 80s for Degree Girl anti-perspirant and deodorant. Starting this month, specially marked packages of the product will include a music download card which fans can use to download the covered songs. Previews of the songs are on DegreeGirl.com. The song’s that Ashley covered are ‘Too Many Walls’ by Cathy Dennis, ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ by Whitney Houston, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley, ‘Time After Time’ by Cyndi Lauper and ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth’ by Belinda Carlisle.

Miley Cyrus has debuted her latest single ‘7 Things’ on Tuesday morning on the syndicated radio show Elvis Duran and the Morning Zoo. The single comes off Miley’s new album which will hit stores on July 22. The song describes the pain of a recent breakup by listing 7 things that she “hates” about her ex. “You’re vain, your games, you’re insecure/You love me, you like her/You make me laugh you make me cry.” She then sings about 7 things she likes. “Your hair, your eyes, your old Levi’s/And when we kiss, I’m hypnotized/You make me laugh, you make me cry.” I’m still not sure what to think of it. It sounds too much like it could be an Avril Lavigne song and I hate Avril!

Madonna’s new album ‘Hard Candy’ dropped in stores on Tuesday and while her first week sales are still being predicted, the Queen of Pop has already conquered a key area in the new music business machine commonly known as digital sales. Madonna’s first single off the new album ‘4 Minutes (To Save the World) has become the second ever single to have digital sales over one million units in five weeks. Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ was the first. As of Tuesday, the digital sales for her single were at 1,004,482 units. Mariah must be really pissed at that considering she barely broke the top 10 on digital sales.

Madonna’s single ‘4 Minutes (To Save the World)’ featuring Justin Timberlake is proving to be one of the Queen of Pop’s biggest hits in years! According to MediaTraffic, the single has now reached the top spot on the United World Chart Global Track Chart. Madonna’s hit of a single is #1 on the iTunes Charts in 14 countries out of the 22 top countries listed. Of the remaining 8 countries, she’s listed in either #2 or #3 in six of them with Japan and Greece not listing her in the top 10… yet. She’s topping the charts all over the globe!

Madonna is on the cover of the May 2008 Green issue of Vanity Fair. Along with the cover feature is an interview. She talks about adopting her son David from Malawi, the birth of her daughter Lourdes putting her on the road that ended in Malawi and even her favorite children’s books. Basically, she talks about anything and everything under the sun except for her upcoming album ‘Hard Candy’ and that’s coming out by the end of April! Aside from releasing her single ‘4 Minutes (To Save the World)’ which features Justin Timberlake, she’s hardly done anything to promote her album. But considering she’s been on the covers of countless magazines within 3 months, I guess that’s enough hype for her.

I said, in not so many words, that Madonna was going to win over Mariah Carey in their unofficial diva battle. An industry expert explains why that is so. Mariah always gets to go first, with her song being on radio for more than a month while Madonna’s has only been on for a week. Mariah’s album also comes out before Madonna’s. Mariah’s song dropped on iTunes a day before Madonna’s. All that really means is that Mariah will have a strong first week and go down while Madonna’s will gain airplay and get stronger as Mariah drops. In short, Madonna still wins in the end.

Madonna recently released her ‘Hard Candy’ album cover with the Queen of Pop wearing a title belt with ‘M’ on it in front of a lollipop backdrop. It’s very reminiscent of the single cover of her and Justin Timberlake for ‘4 Minutes (To Save the World)’. It looks nice but she can still do better. Madonna also recently unleashed a mystery website called tick-tock.tv to help promote her new studio effort. There are a lot of number fours. ‘Hard Candy’ is expected to drop internationally on April 28 but if the website is a clue, maybe we should expect something big to happen on April 4th.

Ashlee Simpson is still out promoting her upcoming album ‘Bittersweet World’. However, I doubt that being drunk on radio is the proper way to do it. She appeared on Hot 99.5’s Kane in the Morning radio show this past week and she was sloshed off her head. She was slurring her words and could barely talk about a tattoo of a flower that she got the night before the radio appearance and she forgot the lyrics to her new single. However, her rep came out with a statement saying that she wasn’t intoxicated during the interview and was just chalking it up to being tired. Whatever you say Mr. PR man.

Heidi Montag’s video for her single ‘Higher’ has been released. And what can I say? It was everything I expected and much less. The video was shot, produced and directed by Heidi’s ex-fiance and still-boyfriend Spencer Pratt. If you’re a perv, this video is going to be good for you. There are two things worth noticing.

Spencer and Heidi need to stick to whatever it is that they do best. I don’t know what that is exactly. In fact, I’m pretty sure that they don’t either. But whatever it is, it’s not music videos. Why can’t the earth just open up and swallow them whole?

Once upon a time, in a not so far away place, no one thought of Michael Jackson as one mangled freak or a potential pedophile. Back in that day, he was also considered one of the best musicians of all time. But that’s way back in the day. Now, the so-called King of Pop is trying to relive his glory days as he has re-recorded ‘Thriller’, the best selling album of all time, for its 25th anniversary with some “contemporary” artists. Some of the songs are hit or miss but should they release a single off of it, Akon’s take on ‘Wannabe Startin’ Something’ is sure to be a killer hit.

Cassie was spotted when she attended the Pepsi Smash re-launch party at Pasha nightclub on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Thursday night. The singer recently did an interview with Billboard about her a-yet-untitled sophomore album which will be dropping on May 20.

The 21-year old said that “I guess I grew up a lot but I’m still in essence the same person. Lots has changed in my life, stuff that has made me think about things differently. I’m more vulnerable and you can hear my vocals better this time around. There’s real emotion and a much realer connection with my fans.” A single is yet to be released but Cassie assures that it will be a club record.

It is being reported that Heidi Montag’s first single ‘Higher’ is on its way in just a few short weeks. It will be out with a digital-only release on February 5, the same time that the video produced by Spencer Pratt comes out. Oh boy.

I don’t really know what Heidi’s musical style is like but if her musical influences are anything to go by, it should be a fascinating tableaux. In a release, she sited being influenced by Jesus, Theron Feemster and Britney Spears. There’s a pink elephant in the room and a joke to be made about ‘The Hills’ being alive with the sound of Heidi’s music.

Janet Jackson’s latest single ‘Feedback’ is getting hotter by the minute. Now that she’s released the video for the song, it’s bound to shoot through the roof. Her video is phenomenal! The video has a very ‘outer space’ feel to it much like her and her brother, Michael’s, ‘Scream’ video.

What makes it completely Janet and completely hot are the dance moves. The girl knows how to move. The choreography, the special effects and the ending make the video pure perfection. Kudos to Gil Duldulao for making the hot moves and Saam Farahmand for his vision. And of course, thanks to Janet for giving men out there something to dream about.

Madonna’s new album isn’t expected to drop until well into the next year but that isn’t stopping Timbaland from leaking one of the songs that he worked on with the Queen of Pop. The producer played ‘4 Minutes to Save the World’ at the Jingle Ball in Philadelphia on Sunday night. I just hope that he got her permission to do so.

The song also features Justin Timberlake and it’s pretty hot. How could it not be when you’ve got all that great talent working on it? I’m also hoping that the finished version has a lot less of Timbaland though.

I have to say she is a Little Miss Sunshine…

Natasha Bedinfield releases the second single from her new album next month. It’s called Pocketfull of Sunshine, and it’s awesome! Check around online to find an early release of it.

The song is already slated to be a radio hit, and it’s one everyone can appreciate and enjoy - upbeat, sing-songey, fun.

Santa, you can put this one in my stocking!

American Idol’s most recent champion Jordin Sparks’ debut CD is expected to come in at #2 this week, so say some industry projections. She would come in behind Alicia Keys who’s expected to dominate the charts for the entire holiday season.

Jordin’s album is expected to sell between 90,000 to 100,000 on its first week. While the numbers aren’t that bad, those projections would actually make Jordin’s album have the lowest debut for an American Idol winner – ever! Yes, it’s worse than Ruben’s. A lot of runners up sold even more than that in their first week. That has got to hurt.

Kylie has released her 10th studio album with more confidence than ever. And she has scooted off to Germany to promote it.

The miniature singer, most recently in the news for being humiliated by a saucy statue created by Madame Tussauds, was cleared last year of the horrible disease; Breast Cancer, which knocked her down in 2005.

And now as she promotes her new album X, she says, “I think it’s not so difficult to write a decent song but to write a great song is a difficult thing. I like the challenge of trying to find that and at the very least, writing something that I enjoy singing and all people love. It took me a number of years to find my confidence to do that but now it’s just part of me.”

What a trooper. I remember listening to Kylie when I was a kid and she is still going strong; with the right attitude and music that pleases the new generations as the times move on. You go girl!

Leona Lewis’ debut record ‘Spirit’ officially took the #1 spot in the UK albums’ chart this week and it broke records on the way there. Her album because the UK’s fastest-selling debut of all time selling an amazing 375,872 copies!

Leona was up against the Spice Girls, Led Zeppelin and Celine Dion. She actually beat the #2 Spice Girls by over 300,000 copies. Wow! Leona’s current single ‘Bleeding Love’ is #1 on the singles’ chart for the fourth consecutive week, seeling a total of 563,702 copies.

Leona’s album ‘Spirit’ is now scheduled for release in the US on March 18th.

There is another military man attempting to reach heights in the world of music, and he is Beautiful. Jay Picton is a physical trainer in the Navy, sporting rugged good looks and a promising music career. His single, Unexplainable Reason, has already topped an independent online chart, and he has hopes it will breakthrough to the regular pop charts in the not too distant future.

He claims to have hit the music business by accident. After a knee injury put him on sick leave he began to learn the guitar and write his own songs. Meeting his girlfriend then gave him the opportunity he needed; introducing him to Clyde Ward of Worldwide Productions. Clyde has worked with many great acts including Lionel Richie; whom our budding star has now recorded 3 songs with.

Yes girls, he does have a girlfriend (sigh); but just look at that picture. Isn’t he gorge? Keep those ears peeled for Jay Picton on your radio; if his voice matches his looks he is definitely on for a winner.

In a sneak peek at their highly anticipated world tour that will kick off on December 2 in Vancouver, the members of the biggest British girl group to ever come out in the 1990s almost stole the show from feathered and jiggly-bodied models on the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show held on Thursday.

The Spice Girls reunited and performed for the first time in almost 10 years. They performed one of their classic singles ‘Stop’ decked out in 1950s-style military outfits complete with male backup dancers. After a change of clothes and decades, the girls came out to perform their latest single ‘Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)’ decked out in 1930s evening gowns.

Too bad they lipsynched the whole time.

Tori Amos recently had a concert in Chicago this week and everyone that left the concert could only talk about one thing: her performance of the song ‘Me and a Gun’. It’s the seminal song off her debut album that talks about rape.

Tori dressed up as her ‘Pip’ character and performed the usually acapella song with her full band. At the end of the song, she even brought out some props in the form of a gun and a knife. That’s some heavy stuff right there.

On a lighter note, the singer debuted the song ‘Raspberry Swirl’ for the first time on her current tour. It’s the first time she performed that song in years.

Pony Up! are an all-female four piece hailing out of Montreal, Canada. They apparently formed on New Year’s Eve 2002 and since then have been busy touring Australia, North America, and now the United Kingdom.
Perhaps there is something special here then that did not reveal itself on the night. Perhaps it was just the bad P.A. system that made them sound boring, nervous and not particularly interesting to watch or listen to.
To be fair to the girls, every now and then you do hear a lot of potential in their playing, and they do have a few decent songs. The only problem seems to be that because they are quite a novelty in the world of rock ‘n’ roll, a girl band who are not pop - it seems that perhaps they have been let off more easily than their male counterparts would be. Sleater-Kinney they are not, though they seem to be compared to them quite often. Another part of the ‘not enough girls with guitars’ problem one must assume.
The only ray of sunshine in the band was guitarist Sarah Moundroukas who seemed to be a very talented performer. Any time she took up the reins of a song, the interest of the crowd seemed to perk up just a little bit more than usual.
Perhaps if she were the lead singer in the group the whole quality of the band would be much better. Sadly the real lead vocalist Laura Wills seems to enjoy being the centre of attention far too much for that to ever happen, even if she cannot sing very well.

Singers need more than the spotlight though, and even ones who have sold over 200 million albums still want to feel like they have something to offer. So she’s left the lights of Vegas behind, stepped back into the real world and in fairness to her, brought along a clutch of songs that actually may change a few people’s opinion.

Amongst the list of luminaries who twiddle a knob, knock out a lyric or strum a guitar for her are the all-conquering Timbaland, king of R’n’B balladry R Kelly, ex-Evanescence axe wielder Ben Moody, Christina Aguilera and Pink co-writer Linda Perry… and the always entertaining Dave Stewart, whose influence stretches so far that there’s even a lyrical snip of The Eurythemics’ “Here Comes The Rain Again” woven into the title track.

The highlights are two very different songs. In the power ballad corner, she shows off her larynx with a belting take on Heart’s endless queen of soft rock, “Alone”. Up against it for the title is the more contemporary “Shadow Of Love”, a song with enough disco and fun for Kylie to sing it.

Taking Chances doesn’t quite do what the title suggests, but it does push Celine Dion to the edge of her comfort zone and show an artist who not only wants to remain relevant but is prepared to work hard to stay that way.

Everyone predicted that Carrie Underwood’s CD would sell a lot and would go to the top of the charts but it actually did even better than any prediction made. ‘Carnival Ride’ is currently the #1 album in the US and has sold over 527,000 copies during its debut week. This is the American Idol alum’s first #1 album and also bested her previous effort ‘Some Hearts’ which sold 315,000 units in its first week.

Her record sales is also the best sales week for a female country artist since Shania Twain’s ‘Greatest Hits’ release back in November 2004. Carrie’s debut is also double what Kelly Clarkson’s ‘My December’ CD sold in its first week.

Congratulations Carrie!