First up is Florence and the Machine, performing live at T4′s Stars of 2009 concert at Earl’s Court.

While I know “You’ve Got The Love” is the current single, I wish she would have performed something grittier for this year-end blowout. Still, there’s no denying that Florence continues to be an absolutely mesmerizing to watch as a performer. I’m still kicking myself for not being able to get to New York when she performed a few weeks ago…

Next is the Sugababes, performing live at BBC’s 1 Xtra Live at Sheffield Arena on Saturday, who also happened to be the only ladies featured in the line-up of performers. The feat would have likely been more impressive had they not been immediately one-upped by the coveted ‘only act named after a furry creature on the line-up’ distinction, which went to Chipmunk.

Now, I’m about to say something controversial: I think this might be my very ‘Babes line-up yet. Look at how much fun they’re having! Look how cute Jade is! Sugababes 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 might have had ten times the soul as this bunch, but at least you can’t smell the internal drama wafting out from the screen.

They may, dare I even say it…like each other? Nahhhhh.

Lastly, we have Rihannoir performing live at the X Factor Results Show last night, and perhaps her greatest performance of “Russian Roulette” yet.

Why? For one thing, she maintains some semblance of a stage presence. For another, that Basic Instinct chair-swivel routine. Her vocals may be shaky throughout, but this is exactly the dramatic performance piece I knew “Russian Roulette” was capable of producing.

Viva la Riri!

Marina (of the Diamonds variety) has always been a tad annoyed with the demands of cookie-cutter pop star industry, record label clashes and the Hollywood machine.

All of this seems to have been channeled into her new single (and video), which provides a cheeky snub at the excesses that American consumer culture celebrates at times. Though it’s all a bit of obvious criticism (down with the man, etc. etc.), it’s still a lot of fun in the end.

Favorite line of all? “He said, ‘OH. MY. GOD. You look just like Shakira! No–you’re Catherine Zeta!’ Actually, my name’s Marina.”

“Hollywood,” which will be released on February 1, 2010, while her debut album, Family Jewels, is due out later that month.

An after-show snapshot, uploaded to Dannii‘s Facebook, where she wrote: “I loved Rihanna and Rihanna loved my pink J’Aton dress – which I loved even more !!!!!! Dx.”

Thank you X Factor, for continuing to make photo ops like this happen more often.

Mm, mm…MMM. I just cannot get enough Riri in my life these days. Honestly, who could have imagined wanting to see an interview with Rihanna in 2007? She’s such a changed entertainer.

This is another supreme interview from the Rated R campaign, featuring plenty of interesting tidbits and back stories to make for a noteworthy viewing. Among them? Rihanna originally wanted to call the album “I’m Such A Fucking Lady,” but major retailers blocked that from ever happening.

Can you even imagine?! So many points being added to my book right now…

PS: If you haven’t yet, check out the MuuMuse review of Rated R here!

Is it possible to love La Gaga any more than I do now? The fact that I still maintained a beef with her in the first half of the year is almost laughable at this point…

It’s already delicious enough that we’re watching Ellen (she is one of my role models, after all!), but to have Gaga alongside her, being gracious and well-spoken to boot? Too much to handle.

And as for that performance of “Speechless”? That song deserves no better title.

Wow, that was quite the series of self-directed questions.

Anyway…see you next week, Mademoiselle Gaga!

In the aftermath of the Chris Brown incident, Rated R could have gone one of three ways for Rihanna: A schlocky, inspirational ballad-filled account of her experience, an ignorance-is-bliss continuation of her winning 2008 dancefloor formula, or something much, much more daring than anything she’s ever done before. Lucky enough for us, she’s gone ahead with the latter.

Rated R finds the singer in a dark place. One needs look no further than the moody, high contrast Ellen von Unwerth-shot promotional photos for the album that feature the singer in a variety of S&M-lite poses, pointing her fingers like a gun and taking aim toward the camera in a skin-tight corset and standing bare-breasted within a lasso of barbed wire. In her video for “Russian Roulette,” the camera flashes between scenes of her partaking in the deadly game of chance to inside a padded cell, awaiting execution in the aftermath of the game.

She’s in a murderous mood for sure, which is why at a certain point I began referencing the artist by a new, more fitting nickname: “Rihannoir.”

Trading in her umbrella for a few gats and a razor sharp tongue, Rihanna’s weapons of choice have evolved significantly over the past year as she goes on the offensive for a large part of Rated R. Lyrically, Rihanna has all but rejected the meaningless dancefloor romps like “Don’t Stop the Music” and “S.O.S.,” instead greeting us with an in-your-face attitude, ballsy statements and sarcastic quips: “I’m such a fucking lady,” she taunts on top the repetitive, winding thuds of buzz single, “Wait Your Turn.”

On the roughest of cuts, including the menacingly paced “G4L,” Rihanna let’s loose a deluge of blood-chilling statements: “I lick the gun when I’m done, ’cause I know that revenge is sweet,” she purrs before the song begins before later announcing “We got our guns, got our guns / We got our guns in the motherfucking air.”

“Hard” finds Rihanna at her most defiant, pulling out all the stops to prove just why she’s so…well, hard: “I’ma rock this shit like fashion, as in goin’ til they say stop / And my runway never looked so clear / But the hottest bitch in heels right here,” she proudly proclaims over a grinding series of industrial beats, horns, and piano chords. Regardless of whether one is inclined to accept Riri’s new-found street cred, it’s all but impossible not to want to play along in the meantime.

Photo courtesy of Ultimate-Rihanna.com.

The album isn’t completely icy however, as the artist breaks down her defenses more than a few times for a series of introspective, though somewhat uneven jams. “Stupid in Love” is both the album’s only traditional ballad and also the most skippable part of Rated R, as the singer plods through a somewhat embarrassing chorus: “This is stupid / I’m not stupid / Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid.” Other slow numbers, including the masterful, six-minute “Cold Case Love” and the guitar-heavy “Fire Bomb” all offer subtle clues as to how she’s feeling: “Your love was breaking the law, but I needed a witness / So wake me up when it’s over, it don’t make any difference,” she coos through “Cold Case Love.”

But if anything’s meant for Brown, it’s the soaring, gut-wrenching “The Last Song,” the album’s outro which may also go down as Rihanna’s most overlooked, artistic piece of work yet.

This album is not, however, the confessional many thought it might have been. In fact, Rihanna delves into a host of other topics and issues including the triple-take worthy “Te Amo,” which follows a female suitor’s unsuccessful attempts for the singer’s affections atop a swaying, Latin beat. “I’m all for feeling the love, but I don’t feel that way,” Rihanna pleads as the song’s bridge fades. Be it the young singer’s first foray into lyrically exploring her sexuality or simply a not-so-subtle round of homophobia, “Te Amo” proves about as earnest in its replay value as Rihanna’s unrequited love.

Whatever Rated R lacks in synthesizers and dancefloor vagueries is more than made up for in “Rude Boy,” the only dance-oriented number of the album. Grinding, grooving and downright filthy, “Rude Boy” is destined to be the album’s best kept secret, meshing the island sway from her Music of the Sun days with the naughtiest come-ons that Rihanna has ever brought into the recording booth: “I like when you tell me kiss it there, I like when you tell me move it there /So giddy up, Time to get it up / You say you’re a rude boy, show me what you got now.”

From an artist who already has enough trouble making “Disturbia” seem thrilling in front of a live audience, the moody, at times beatless contents of Rated R have made for quite possibly the worst concert experience of all time.

Yet as a body of work in its own right, Rihanna’s fourth studio album provides the Barbados-born songstress her transition from fleeting radio obsession to legitimate pop icon in the making. The album is immensely listenable from start to finish; one of the most delightfully unexpected major label releases of the year and certainly her best record to date.

Though Rated R is not nearly as commercially viable or even as accessible as her past three records, the album offers a taste of what Madonna‘s Bedtime Stories and Kylie Minogue‘s Impossible Princess provided in their under appreciated, experimental production value–a distinction that may not make itself apparent until years down the line.

Congratulations Rihanna, you’ve assembled the first few pieces of your new throne.

Purchase Rated R on iTunes | MySpace | Official Website

Three words: Oh. My. God.

It’s nearly four in the morning my time, so I can’t even begin to process the epic that is the video for Cheryl Cole‘s upcoming second single, “3 Words.”

I just can’t believe how quality this video turned out to be. It’s…but–the bodies…pretty lady…and then the blonde wig…

Stunned.

And now, the single cover of “Louboutins,” the not-that-bad-but-literally-guaranteed-to-commercially-flop ‘comeback’ single of Jennifer ‘J. Lo Lola’ Lopez.

Jallo always seems to pull out all the stops for her covers, doesn’t she?