Here's Rihanna's new single Slower To Heal (produced by Inkredibles) from her new album Rated R.

I've been suprised at how more RnB and less Pop Rihanna's first 2 singles have been so far. Someone has given her more vocal lessons, she's carrying the tune -and singing in tune- without shouting which is great, however, I personally feel Rihanna shines as an Urban/Pop/Rock edgy artist. Russian Roullett and now Slower To Heal are much less poppier than I expected or anticipated wonder how they will do in the charts.

DefJam and JayZ have sank in big $$$ and a bigger effort to promote this album so it will do well that's for sure though I don't believe it will do as well as her last album Good Girl Gone Bad, which did well because of the many edgy/pop songs that spawned several #1 singles and millions of digital/Itune sales.

Having said that Slower To Heal, is a deeper more personal song for RiRi given her situation with Chris Brown of which he visciously abused her. Slow to heal from such a beating is reasonable indeed and makes sense. Will it sell? time will tell.

If you haven't seen it here, here's Rihanna's album cover, Rated R

Michael Jackson's This is it! His final curtain call opened world wide late last night and is already breaking records. According to Sony and news reports, the Tuesday night shows broke the record for a Tuesday by grossing an estimated $2.2million, and that's just for North America. Variety estimates it will make north of $77million on the weekend, could we be looking at $150mil in 5–10days? It is Michael Jackson, he's the greatest and its definitely possible.

Rave reviews and Oscar mentions.[quote]

• Oprah raved about the movie on her show today saying it will definitely be nominated for numerous Oscars.
• Elizabeth Taylor already sang her praises of Michaels genius on twitter stating that This is It! should be nominated for awards
• Tony Porter proclaims that This is definitely it – the Michael Jackson way with Nate Sunderland chimed in that he also could find nothing wrong with "This is it! – seriously.
• USA Today's Elysa Gardner was somewhat tepid saying ‘This Is It’ is equal parts thriller, off the wall, and HIStory, well ok lady what did she expect? I don't remember anyone saying there was going to be new material did they?
• Well, of course Michael Jackson is The Best Entertainer of ALL TIME!
• Roger Ebert, one the most important and influental critics in the movie industry  had this to say [quote=Roger Ebert]It's a portrait of Michael Jackson that belies all the rumors that he would have been too weak to tour. That shows not the slightest trace of a spoiled prima donna. That benefits from the limited number of cameras by allowing us to experience his work in something closer to realistic time, instead of fracturing it into quick cuts. That provides both a good idea of what the final concert would have looked like, and a portrait of the artist at work. Never raising his voice, never showing anger, always soft-spoken and courteous to his cast and crew, Michael with his director, Kenny Ortega, micro-manages the production. He corrects timing, refines cues, talks about details of music and dance. Seeing him always from a distance, I thought of him as the instrument of his producing operation. Here we see that he was the auteur of his shows.[/quote] agreeing that in This Is It, Michael Jackson shows he still had It to the very end. Yes he did just the media didn't see it, Michael's fans did.
   
•  ‘Michael Jackson’s This is It’ Would Evocatively, Memorably Move Even Rhythmless Zombies that's the headline from Hollywood Chicago.com that says it all doesn't it? 
• TheOgrio‘s [quote=Ronda Racha] In a world of manufactured music where contemporary artists, many with big names, are unable to sing and dance simultaneously, This Is It reminds us that Michael Jackson was of a generation of cultivated and honed talent where practice did indeed make perfect. There was no resting on laurels with Michael Jackson. It wasn’t just magic. It was tireless work and effort, the two attributes that aren't often applied to the genius of African-American performers so liberally.[/quote] she also says ‘This Is It’ is a final act fit for a king. Indeed.
• Over at RottenTomatoes.com This is it! is at 81% with 84 reviews with more than 60% of the reviews loving the movie. Not bad.[/quote]

More reviews over at EW, Christian Science Monitor, Hollywood Reporter, Variety if you need more just try googling "This is it!

What a sad loss sometimes its hard to accept he really is dead. He is resting in peace hopefully smilling back at us.

Sam Rubin of KTLA hardly an MJ fan and never one to hip praises let alone make proclamations about Oscar nominations had well this to say  

Shaki the leader of the She Wolf Club is on the cover of the latest Rollingstone Magazine.

I like the cover its not overdone, She Wolf looks good, she's lost too much wheight in my opinion, she looks better with more curves -her usual look- and less blond hair than what she has now… She Wolf has been working hard promoting her latest album which surprisingly is not doing that well in the charts at least the singles she's released so far. Every artist other than Taylor Swift is struggling with sales and the music charts, She Wolf has always done well because of her unique style both musically, dance wise and stylistically however her new album produced entirely by one team (she co-produced) hasn't landed as well as expected. My fav song on her current album is Gypsy its such a breath of fresh air from the over produced autotuned pop thats out there right now and her use of world beats and live instruments is fantastic.

See a preview of She Wolf's rolling stone interview here and watch the behind the scenes video of the photo shoot here

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