Brian To/WENN.com

Kelly Rowland should be really excited: she’s been busy hosting red carpet shows for major awards shows and she’s prepping for a new album.

Rowland’s new album, Talk A Good Game, is due out in June and much like her last album, she has some heavy hitters putting their stamps on songs with hopes of her cranking out hits.  Her first single, “Kiss Down Below” was produced by Mile WiLL Made It (or just Mike Will) and is slowly picking up steam.  Also confirmed on the album? Tracks produced by Boy Wonder, The Dream and Pharrell, who, as usual, also lends his voice in vocals.  Kelly says the album will be very soulful and straight up R&B music.

But that’s not all. Kelly told Billboard that one of the songs on the album produced by Pharrell will feature her Destiny’s Child sisters, Beyoncé and Michelle. But don’t get it twisted: this is not a reunion.  As Kelly simply put it:

“It’s not a Destiny’s Child track, it’s me featuring Beyoncé and Michelle.”

Kelly told not only Billboard but Power 105.1′s The Breakfast Club that the album is really about her getting to a very honest place. She has no problem “going there” in order to reveal her feelings about a lot of subjects, whether it be life, relationships or sex.

Hopefully, Talk A Good Game will give Kelly the musical boost in the United States she seems to be seeking.  While her 2011 single “Motivation” was a hit, the album it was featured on, Here I Am, has still only sold about 270,000 copies.

Good luck to the gorgeous Kelly Rowland!

Are you a fan? Why do you think she isn’t a bigger artist at this point?

Source: TV One

Unexpectedly, I became a fan of the R&B Divas in Atlanta. Unlike most reality tv shows featuring casts comprised of mostly women, the R&B Divas had disagreements but they never resulted in blows or bottles being thrown. There was no physical drama but the show was never boring. So I’m happy to see that TV One is expanding the franchise and hiring a whole new cast for LA. We already told you who’s going to be on the show but here’s what we’re looking forward to learning and seeing from each cast member.

Source: JLN Photography, WENN

If you enjoyed the premiere season of TV One’s hit reality show, R&B Divas, you’re in for quite a surprise as the cast of the show’s Los Angeles spin-off, R&B Divas: L.A. has officially been announced. The new series will be starring Kelly Price, Chanté Moore, Lil Mo, City High’s Claudette Ortiz, Michel’le and Dawn Robinson, reports Broadway World.

The eight-episode series is said to revolve around the six ladies and their attempts to reemerge into the spotlight that they once dominated. Although the commonality shared between the cast members is their desire for the limelight, they each add their own touch of personal drama to the storyline, according to the show’s press release.

Kelly Price is seeking to “conquer the music business” while remaining devoted to her husband and manager Jeffery Rolle and their three children.

Hip Hop songstress, Lil Mo is returning to the music industry after an extended hiatus, which she took to focus on her children, who range in age from 10 years old to 4 months old and her husband/manager, Phillip Bryant.

A newly divorced Chanté Moore is gearing up for her 2013 album release as she continues to raise her two children.

Claudette Ortiz, former lead singer of R&B group, City High  is seeking to revive her music career and secure financial stability for her three children after her ugly divorce from City High group member, Ryan Toby.

Since her 2007 divorce, Dawn Robinson has thrown herself completely into her craft as she attempts to form a girl group and prepares for an upcoming book release.

Last but not least, Michel’le copes with single motherhood as she seeks to “reclaim her place” in the music industry, release a memoir and meet someone special by she re-entering the dating world.

The series is scheduled to begin production in Los Angeles this month.

What do you think of the lineup?

Source: AP Images

I feel like the caption here is “what parade?” considering during the Inaugural Parade yesterday in Washington DC, it was clear none of the Obamas were fazed by the festivities of the day the second time around. Reporters caught this candid shot of the first family doing their own thing as the day carried out, with Barack and Michelle taking the time to share a smooch, and Sasha apparently trying to capture a pic of her sister, Malia’s, tonsils it seems.  Basically, they’re being a regular family and I love that the Flotus and Potus took time to get in a quick peck. I do wonder if Michelle had to pinch her girls after and tell them to put the camera away with the world watching, though.

Caption this pic and tell us what you think was going on here.

Source: MUSIC WORLD/COLUMBIA/LEGACY

Before we go any further, let’s be honest: All of these wheels are starting to turn because “Bey season” is rapidly approaching. Can we agree on that?

Last Thursday, we told you that a compilation Destiny’s Child album will be released on January 29th featuring past DC love songs between 1997-2004 and a song that was never featured on any album.  It didn’t take long for the record label to let the world hear that new track.

“Nuclear” was released on the Destiny’s Child Vevo site (on YouTube) Friday and the internet was immediately buzzing. The song was co-written by James Fauntleroy, Lonny Bereal and DC member Michelle, produced by Pharrell Williams and Beyonce and Kelly are on the main vocals.

If you are a Destiny’s Child fan and were expecting another hard hitting, uptempo song from the trio, you might feel a little slighted with this one. “Nuclear” is a very low-key track that sounds like it could have been written back in the 90s.  It has more of a sit down, close your eyes and vibe type of song – there’s no “big” moment in the song.  If that’s more your speed, you’ll love it.

The word on the Super Bowl streets is that Destiny’s Child will reunite during Beyonce’s halftime performance with Bey debuting her new solo single. Should be exciting!

Check out the song below. What do you think?

source: Tweetbuzz.us

Are you on Pinterest? Our favorite First Lady Michelle Obama is! (And so is Madame Noire, FYI)

The President’s wife joined the popular site this morning and already has nearly 5,000 followers. So far, she has three Boards: “Around the White House”, “Great Memories” and “Father’s Day”. Her fifteen pins include pictures of the family, gardening, working out with the Biggest Losers, and even a throwback picture of her family when she was a baby. Mrs. Obama captions most of the pictures herself, adding “mo” after her comments, and there is one pin that has a link to sign President Obama’s Father’s Day card.

Just to give you a little presidential comparison, Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann Romney, joined Pinterest back in February. She has 8 boards, 66 pins and nearly 7,500 followers so far. Clearly Michelle is killing her.

For those of you not yet hip to the site, Pinterest is “a pinboard-style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections”. Or, another glorious way to waste a colossal amount of time while planning your dream wedding, designing your future house, cooking glamorous meals, gawking over incredible weight loss stories, putting together outfit ideas, collecting motivational quotes, or now, keeping up with the Obamas.

Created by two men, Pinterest users are largely women. The site grew from 5,000 users in August 2010 to a whopping 17 million in April of this year. So far, Pinterest doesn’t seem to be the celebrity hangout that Twitter and increasingly, Instagram, are but with Michelle Obama joining, I’m sure others will soon follow suit. Maybe bff Beyonce will get a Pinterest account next!

What do you think about Michelle Obama joining Pinterest? Are you on the site?

Alissa Henry is a freelance writer living in Columbus, OH. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink or on Pinterest! 

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It’s funny, every so often we’ll get an e-mail from someone who doesn’t understand why we, Madame Noire, exist. They feel the premise of the site encourages segregation. That is not our intention. You can celebrate black culture and beauty without berating others. We’re here to provide what’s missing in other mainstream media outlets. If there were ever proof that a site like ours is crucial, it was Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year list.

While the magazine picked some very noteworthy women like Gabrielle Giffords and Arianna Huffington, the list was completely devoid of any black women. I understand that Glamour is a publication targeted towards white women but not featuring at least one black woman is simply inexcusable.

So to remedy the situation, we compiled our own list of black women who distinguished themselves significantly in 2011.

Viola Davis

Viola’s leading role in the summer smash “The Help” is not the first time her name has received Oscar buzz. She was also nominated for her role as Mrs. Miller in “Doubt” alongside Meryl Streep. If you remember correctly, Viola also played the role of Antwone Fisher’s wayward mother to perfection. Whether you loved or loathed “The Help,” we’re grateful that it gave Davis a chance to, once again, showcase her talents for the world to see. Hopefully this time they’ll go ahead and give her the little gold man she deserves.

Historically, some folks side-eyed black male celebrities who would use white wives as status symbols. For real, these men would get a new house, a new car, and secure a new white woman as their way of proving to themselves that they were no longer “slaves.” Their white wife or girlfriend validated them. Nowadays however, men and women can marry whomever they want without folks thinking they’re doing it because “they’re slave-minded.” People of all shades and colors have found that racism is a crazy concept that inspired crazy people to enslave and colonize others.

Still, there are some celebrity men (uhm, I’m looking at you Slim Thug, and you too, random “entertainment journalist”) who are color-drunk and stuck in the 19th century–so some women do complain about who’s marrying the “sisters.” Well, we’re ALL sisters no matter the shade–light bright or cocoa dark, but if you’re referring to chocolate sisters, quite a few superstars have chocolate wives. Check out our list of black male superstars who have chocolate wives…

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by Lynn Sweet, of AOL’s Politics Daily

President Obama says daughters Malia and Sasha may be looking for babysitting jobs to supplement their allowances.

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