Simon Cowell has reportedly offered to give Eminem a guest spot on The X Factor after the disparaging comments Em made last week towards the show. Hey, it doesn’t make any less sense than naming Quentin Tarantino a guest judge (and mentor) on American Idol. More »

Last night at her stop in San Jose, Kelly Clarkson teamed up with her tour opener Eric Hutchinson to sing Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.” Though this duet doesn’t rank up there with our favorite Kelly Clarkson covers—they’re mainly just having some fun, dancing around the stage, rockin’ out to some MJ—it’s another example of her probably under-appreciated versatility. (Gosh, wouldn’t she be great on American Idol?)

So what are our favorite Kelly covers? Check out our Top 5 after the jump: More »

Oh, Michael Jackson Death Profiteers. Don’t stop ’til you get enough, isn’t that how it goes? Even as This Is It continues to play in theaters, Billboard reports that the DVD and Blu-ray editions of the Kenny Ortega-directed movie will be released on January 26, 2010. (D’oh! How’d they miss Christmas?)

Both versions of This Is It will include more than 90 minutes of extras, including the mini-documentaries “Staging the Return: Beyond the Show” and “Staging the Return: The Adventure Begins.” But if you’re a Jacko fan, the Blu-ray edition wins out, as it will contain the uncut music videos for “Smooth Criminal” and “Thriller” from the movie.

Meanwhile, the DVD release of This Is It will come shortly after the six-episode run of upcoming A&E reality series The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty is ending. Why does this not seem like mere coincidence? More »

UPDATE: By now, most of Timbaland’s Shock Value II has leaked online (happy hunting!) but we’ll do you a solid and post one more track—Tim’s collaboration with Miley Cyrus, titled “We Belong To The Music.” Miley’s hyper-treated vocals adorn what turns out to be a repetitive, mostly innocent track (although she does threaten to put on “a crazy outfit”—probably something backless?), while Tim limits himself to brief appearances in the beginning and middle of the song. Hear Miley—plus the Tim-assisted return of Brandy!—after the jump. More »

It’s been 25 years (!!) since both Wham!’s “Last Christmas” and the Band Aid single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” first nipped at our nose. So if you were moping around thinking what the world really and truly needs now is another holiday tune from George Michael, then bust out the egg nog and Kahlua.

The British singer debuted the animated video for “December Song (I Dreamed Of Christmas)” today—oh, you know how he is about Cyber Monday, right? Visually, it’s sort of a Coraline-meets-Spirited Away epic about a poor kid who’s whisked off to a festive wonderland. As for the song itself, well, it isn’t exactly the holly-jolliest. In fact, it’s a bit of a glum heart-tugger—but a graceful, melodic one at that.

Catch George Michael crooning “December Song (I Dreamed Of Christmas)” after the jump. More »

False alarm, folks. Chris Brown won’t be causing any (additional) double-standard controversy by singing on Good Morning America right after the ABC morning news show nixed a performance by non-babysitter Adam Lambert. Chris will now be promoting his album Graffiti by—what else—talking about his beating of Rihanna. Again. More »

Jason Derulo isn’t quite ready to move on. Yes, the singer and songwriter has a new single, “In My Head.” But Derulo recently took to Twitter to trumpet the MySpace-exclusive acoustic version of his monster #1 hit, “Whatcha Say.”

Of course, Derulo’s use of the term “acoustic” is a bit arbitrary here. Basically, he stripped out the snare, added the piano and put on a tie. Imogen Heap sample? Intact.

Catch the tinkly new version of “Whatcha Say” below. More »

After years and years of slowly making their way up the lineup, Paramore is finally taking the headlining reins at Bamboozle Music Fest this May. The pop-punk kids will take headlining duties on Day 1, while Weezer will headline Day 2. More »

What’s wrong with you Brits that you don’t fancy divas from this side of the pond? Rihanna’s Rated-R and Mariah Carey’s Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel are certified flops in the UK, entering the charts at a lowly #16 and #23, respectively (well, not so respectively). Looks like those X Factor appearances didn’t do a damn thing for either singer’s album (and somewhat to our surprise, Mariah’s seam-popping decolletage didn’t add any chart buoyancy.)

So what do British people like? More »

The 2009 Soul Train Awards aired last night on Centric. The ceremony was scrapped last year following the writer’s strike.

Terrance Howard and Taraji P. Henson hosted, Michael Jackson won Entertainer Of the Year, Keri Hilson (also a winner, for Best Collaboration) performed a medley of her hits and Beyonce pretty much swept things up by snagging Album Of The Year, Best R&B/Soul Artist Female and Song Of The Year (“Single Ladies”).

Throughout the night, Fantasia, Erykah Badu, Angie Stone and Ledisi paid tribute to Chaka Khan, while host Taraji P. Henson donned her best Diana Ross drag for a Motown revue that also included Chico DeBarge and Boyz II Men.

Check out the list of winners and other 2009 Soul Train Awards performances below. More »