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Alicia Keys celebrated her 32nd birthday and love was shown via internet from all of her celebrity friends and admirers, fans and her husband, Swizz Beatz.  Her husband noted that Keys is a woman who often celebrates others but rarely celebrates herself and he was right. She posted on her Facebook that she was so overwhelmed by the birthday love that she wanted to give the fans something: new music. That’s right, Alicia released “Brand New Me (Part 2)” which is pretty much a remix to her current single. As she noted, the song samples Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman” and she pretty much just changed some of the lyrics to fit the message of her single.

There’s a little bit of hip hop in it so we wouldn’t be surprised if Swizz got his hands on the production.

Keys seems to still be working really hard on promoting her album, Girl on Fire. The album only sold 159,000 copies in its first week and to date, it has sold 478,000 copies. Her last album, The Element of Freedom, sold 417,000 copies in its first week so GOF is definitely her lowest performing album to date. However, album sales as a whole are down so in the bigger scheme of things, it makes sense.

Keys performed at the Inaugural Ball last Monday with yet another version of her single “Girl on Fire,” changing it up to “Obama’s on Fire.” Yes, yes she did. She’ll also be performing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl on February 3rd so if nothing else, she is keeping herself out there.

Anyway, here’s “Brand New Me (Part 2). Check it out:

Well…what do you think? Do you like the original or the remix better?

Source: celebrityviplounge

Man, I can tell you right now that the Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly and more are going to go in on Rih-Rih in the morning…

On her 24th birthday, Rihanna released a remix, aka, an extended version of her track “Birthday Cake” with Breezy on it. It’s very suggestive and at times a bit vulgar, but that’s ya girl Rih-Rih for you! She wants to make him her b**** and he can’t wait to “blow her candles out.” Looks like Rih wanted folks to know there’s no one else she would rather celebrate her birthday with. Well, alrighty.

Then on top of that, Breezy dropped the remix to his track “Turn Up the Music” and that joint was a bit more straightforward and fun.

One track is definitely rated R while the other is pretty PG 13. Either way, someone’s going to have a problem with this. And I’m sure Miranda Lambert is somewhere fuming in her cowgirl boots. However, it’s pretty clear Rihanna wants the world to stop trying to make her the “poster girl” for domestic violence (even though she got on TV and kind of did that herself). They’re on great terms obviously…but I can’t say this music is great. It’s aight.

But check out the link for the “Birthday Cake” remix below, as well as the “Turn Up the Music” remix video which is emblazoned with my favorite word, “YIKES!!!!!!!’ Oh, indeed…

Rihanna featuring Chris Brown: Birthday Cake (remix) (Click link to hear song…)

“Turn Up the Music (remix)” below:

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!! from Mechanical Dummy on Vimeo.

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell once said “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.” Interpret the song as you will, but that refers to the original version of something. No wack carbon copy, but the authentic, bonafide prototype of something is usually deemed as the best for most things (except when referencing the movie The Godfather II). But in music, since about the ‘90s, there’s always been room to flip a song, add some new vocals, a hot new beat and make it better–or worse. This is the art of the successful remix. Hence the number of remix albums put out by a number of artists over the years.

Diddy, then Puff Daddy at the time, used to claim he invented the remix. We’re not about to start pinpointing ownership, but we did find 10 remixed songs by 10 prolific artists that if you ask us, rival their predecessors for top status. Even if you don’t agree, at least you’ll have some new joints to add to a playlist in need.

*Note: all remixes are featured first, originals are linked to in the descriptions.