Janet Jackson

Yesterday was the 7-year anniversary of the day when Janet Jackson suffered a wardrobe malfunction and exposed her right breast at the halftime show for SuperBowl XXXVIII. To celebrate that accident, here is an update on what she’s up to now.

Janet is actually busy touring, and has chosen Mindless Behavior to join her shows for her upcoming North American tour called Number Ones: Up Close & Personal. The pop superstar picked the teen supergroup to open for her shows after seeing them on YouTube.

“It’s exciting to have Mindless Behavior open for me in these cities because they are enriching our global community with their love of music. I first listened to them on You Tube and think they are great. I hope you enjoy these kids as much as I do, they are very talented,” said Janet.

“We’re so excited to be joining someone as legendary as Janet Jackson on her tour, we can’t wait to perform on her stage and show the crowd how to get Mindless!” said Princeton of Mindless Behavior.

The Janet Jackson tour with Mindless Behavior as the opening act will be on March 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19. 21, 22 and 24, in Chicago, Toronto, Boston, Uncasville, New York and Washington, DC.

Mindless Behavior

Apart from Lady Gaga’s gravity-defying Giorgio Armani Prive dress, there weren’t a lot of surprises at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards. A lot of the winners were pretty much what everyone expected. Taylor Swift won Album of the Year plus three other awards, which completes her winning streak for her album, “Fearless”. Lady Gaga took home the Best Dance Recording award for her song “Poker Face” and Best Electronic/Dance Album for her album, “The Fame”. The Black Eyed Peas ran off with Best Pop Vocal Album for their album, “The E.N.D.”, as well as Best Pop Performance by a Group for their song, “I Gotta Feeling”. Green Day grabbed Best Rock Album for 21st Century Breakdown”. Beyonce Knowles, as expected, turned out to be the big winner. She broke the record for most number of awards won by a female artist in one night with six honors, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Halo” and Song of the Year for “Single Ladies”. Her husband Jay-Z took home his fair share of Grammys too. He got Best Rap Solo Performance for D.O.A.” and Best Rap Song plus Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “Run This Town”, which he won with Rihanna and Kanye West. The only wins that brought some surprise were Record of the Year for Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Jason Mraz and his song, “Make It Mine”. See if you’ll be surprised by our full list of winners below, as well as our photos from the event too.

Album of the Year: “Fearless,” Taylor Swift
Record of the Year: “Use Somebody,” Kings of Leon
Song of the Year: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” Songwriters Thaddis Harrell, Beyonc

In the Take That: For The Record documentary, all fans’ hopes for a complete reunion of one of the UK’s biggest pop bands were dashed when Robbie Williams didn’t show up at the Take That secret meeting. Now though, it seems not all hope is lost, because Robbie is set to perform with his former band mates next month. Take That member Gary Barlow has invited Robbie to a special, one-off concert that he organized for the charity, Children in Need. “Yes, something is finally going to happen. Me and Gary have been hanging out lately, talking things over. It’s been absolutely amazing. I’ve always wanted to be in a band ever since we split.”

It’s music’s most unlikely pairing yet. Lady Gaga collaborated with Michael Bolton for the crooner’s upcoming album. Lady Gaga says she found it exciting. “I love Michael Bolton, and I always have. The record label called me and said, ‘Michael is doing a new album, and who better to write an ’80s love song than Lady Gaga?’ I said, ‘You’re absolutely right.’ I looked at it as an exciting opportunity, especially after I wrote ‘Just Dance’ and I was writing for other artists, everybody wanted me to write them the next ‘Just Dance.’ It was always dance music. It was an exciting opportunity to work with someone as timeless as Michael and do a ballad. Do something that I’m really good at that I don’t get to show very much.” Gaga has written for songs for artists like Fergie, Britney Spears and the Pussycat Dolls in the past, and now she’s making songs for other people, though the she won’t disclose who they are. She told New York Magazine, “I am working on other people’s work right now. I’m always writing. I couldn’t tell you who, I like to honor the artists. Some artists don’t like other people to know they’re collaborating. So I want to be honorable and take care of the artist. When I’m a writer, it’s not about me. It’s about them.”

The unthinkable has happened – Robbie Williams has reached out to Gary Barlow and asked for advice for his new album. Robbie, who had a falling-out with Take That bandmate Gary when he quit the group in 1995, invited Gary over to his Los Angeles mansion to listen to his new LP, ‘Reality Killed the Video Star’. A source said, “With so much riding on Robbie’s comeback, he knew Gary would tell him the truth.” The album, which has a November release date, is the long overdue follow-up to 2006′s hugely criticized ‘Rudebox’. Robbie is said to be already planning his next album after this one too. He even said that he’s been taking on different personalities with each LP. “For this album I’ve been Luke Moody. I don’t like the name Robbie. Bert Williams for the next album.”

After years of saying it was never going to happen, the 35-year-old singer has declared that he would consider rejoining Take That once his LP comes out. He said, “Perception was such that it was, ‘Oh look, he’s had to get up with Take That now that ‘Rudebox’ has failed. I thought I’d wait a little and get my album out. Then I can go play with my mates.”

All this time, Paul McCartney has been believed to be the cause of the Beatles’ split-up in April 1970. This was mainly due to the fact that he was the one who quit the band (which included John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison), but there’s more to the split-up than meets the eye. A lost, taped interview with John Lennon – who was assassinated in 1980 – has resurfaced, which tells a different story. In it, the guitarist and singer revealed that he told his co-songwriter that he wanted to split with the band in September 1969, before the release of their last album, ‘Let It Be’. John said he told Paul this when they had a fall-out at a record company meeting. “At the meeting Paul just kept mithering on about what we were going to do, so in the end I just said, ‘I think you’re daft. I want a divorce,’” he said.

It can be recalled that John wrote the song ‘How Do You Sleep’, which had lyrics attacking Paul. He also kept on being critical of Paul even after the Beatles’ break-up, although in the lost interview, he did say that the only other person he worked as closely as he did with Paul was his wife. “I suppose it was a bit hard on him. I only ever asked two people to work with me as a partner. One was Paul McCartney and the other Yoko Ono,” John said.

Noel Gallagher has announced that he has left Oasis through a short message on the band’s website, citing his relationship with brother Liam as the reason for his decision. He said, “It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer. Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan.” The group, who has sold over 50 million albums worldwide, actually didn’t push through with a performance at Britain’s V Festival in Chelmsford, saying that Liam has laryngitis. They were also slated to perform at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris, but sources claim that the brothers has a fist fight before taking to the stage. The fight was said to have been quick, but Liam wrecked one of Noel’s guitars to make his point. Scottish singer Amy Macdonald, who was at the Festival wrote on her Twitter page last night: “Oasis cancelled again with one minute to stage time!!! Liam smashed Noel’s guitar, huuuge fight (sic)”. Music executive Alan McGee, who initially signed the band, also wrote on Facebook: “Just got phoned by somebody at Rock en Seine that Oasis have just split up an hour ago and manager or tour manager made the announcement to 50,000 fans (sic).”

Liam has apparently stated however, that the group will continue on without Noel. The brothers have been at odds for a long time. Noel has actually quit the band before, but returned after a while. Noel has also quit in the middle of a tour before, but returned for later tour dates.

Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner has written a song called “Fire and Thud” for the band’s new album ‘Humbug’. What’s so special about it is that it’s about his girlfriend Alexa Chung’s move to New York. In it, he sings “If it’s true you’re gonna run away, tell me where, I’ll meet you there.” Alex and Alexa have been dating since July 2007, and were both based in the UK until recently. Alex decided to move with Alexa to New York and they bought an apartment in Brooklyn. Of this, Alexa, who hosts the MTV show ‘It’s On with Alexa Chung’, says “Alex is so wise, it’s ridiculous. I don’t know where it comes from. Especially when he hasn’t even experienced some of the situations he writes about.” ‘Humbug’, the Artic Monkeys’ third studio album, is set to be released in the UK later this month.