Rihanna - Rated R

Can’t wait until Monday, November 23 when Rihanna’s long-awaited fourth album, Rated R, hits store shelves? Don’t live in Germany where the album comes out today? You’re in luck!

To ease the painful two-day wait, Rihanna and her label home Def Jam are offering fans a chance to listen to the full album right now — and legally! — in an exclusive listening party on her official website RihannaNow.com.

Also bringing you the exclusive first listen is mobile company Nokia. Earlier in the week Rihanna performed a kick-ass concert in London previewing tracks from the album, like the first single “Russian Roulette,” “Wait Your Turn” and “Hard” with Young Jeezy joining her on stage.

Head over to Nokia.com/Rihanna to see the performance again.

John Mayer and Justin Bieber - Wireimage

The music industry is breathing a little easier now that the lucrative fourth quarter has arrived to pick up its continuing slump. The first batch of major releases made its way to shelves this week and it looks like singer/songwriter John Mayer will come out on top.

Music industry publication HITS Daily Double is predicting sales of around 275-300,000 units sold for Mayer’s new disc Battle Studies according to one day sales from major retailers. The prediction places him well ahead of Norah Jones‘ new set, The Fall, which will more than likely slide in at No. 2 with over 150,000 records sold.

The other big chart story comes courtesy of Usher protege and teen pop sensation Justin Bieber. His debut album, My World, is on pace to sell over a whopping 100,000 copies. This number will trump American Idol champ Kris Allen’s predicted debut of 85,000 units.

Look for the chart battles to get even tougher when new albums from pop princess Rihanna and American Idol glam-rocker Adam Lambert hit stores next week.

Taylor Swift - Getty Images

Fragrances. Clothing lines. Too easy to Taylor Swift. Instead of following the flock, she’s breaking away and trying something new: the greeting card business.

American Greetings has announced today (November 18) that they will team with the CMA entertainer of the year winner to create a new line of cards that will help her connect with her fans even further and help them connect with people close in their lives.

“We are absolutely thrilled and honored to introduce Taylor Swift as the newest writer and creative contributor to the American Greetings family,” Chief Executive Officer Zev Weiss said in a statement. “Her abilities as a storyteller and songwriter make her a natural at writing cards for consumers of all ages. She has the unique ability to connect with her fans through life experiences and greeting cards do the same–cards help people express, connect and celebrate these events with the important people in their lives. We believe it’s a natural fit!”

Swift is just as excited about the partnership. “My idea of a great song is a song that says how I feel better than I could. I feel the same way about greeting cards,” Taylor says. “I’ve always been fascinated by feelings and how we express them to each other. Getting to write and design these cards is a wonderful experience.”

The cards will head into stores in spring of 2010.

Shontelle and Beyonce - twitter.com/shontelle_layne

For many new artists, the first year after the release of their debut albums are filled with highlights. Getting into swanky parties, meeting some cool fellow artists, maybe flying first class for the first time.

One of the biggest highlights for Barbados-born beauty Shontelle, is getting to tour alongside one of music’s most adored superstars, and her idol, Beyonce. The 24-year-old singer, who found success with her irresistible single “T-Shirt,” opened for the Mighty B on her tour across Europe and the UK last spring.

“That changed my life,” Shontelle told Neon Limelight in a recent phone interview. “Just that feeling that you’ve been embraced by one of the biggest stars in the world, and not just her, but her entire team, that made me really feel like I’m [doing this] for a reason.

“Even when it feels like everything isn’t going the way you want, or it’s moving slow, or it’s come to a stop completely, you have an experience like touring with Beyonce and it reminds you of why you do this.”

Beyonce, who Shontelle describes as “an amazing human being,” made it a point to sit down and meet Shontelle to share some kind words. “She literally looked me in the eye and said ‘You are so beautiful. I see your videos on TV all the time… I hear your voice every night and [it's] incredible. I want you to work really hard because you’re gonna do so well.’ And I’m like ‘Beyonce is telling me this!? Are you serious right now?’”

She says touring with Beyonce was a once in a lifetime experience she made sure to pay close attention to in hopes of picking up some pointers. “I watched how she’s not afraid to experiment. She’s not afraid to try different types of music and different things, and I feel like that’s why her fanbase is so huge.

“I watched her perfectionism. She won’t even hide that. She’ll tell you ‘I am a perfectionist. You had better get this right or I will get mad.’ I watched her soundcheck, her rehearsals, hung out with all of the dancers, the stylists, and everybody has a story to tell about Beyonce.”

Being on the tour with Beyonce, she says, pushed her from just being a fan of the Grammy winning singer to “stan status.” “I can’t thank Beyonce enough. It really did change my life.”

Up next for Shontelle is a promo tour in support of her new single, “Licky,” which will lead her as-yet-untitled sophomore album, in stores spring of 2010.

This year you can spend your Thanksgiving with Beyonce. No, she won’t be sitting across from you at the table hogging all of the mashed potatoes. Instead, she’ll be on your TV screen in her “I Am Yours” special airing on ABC.

Cameras follow the Mighty B behind the scenes as she prepared for her 3-night residency in Las Vegas this past summer, getting every bit of the action. From dance rehearsals, to working with the band, to just unwinding, you’ll get to see Bey like you’ve never seen her before. You’ll also get to see Bey work the stage like no one else can.

Check out the promo for the special and make sure you shake off that turkey coma so you can tune in Thanksgiving night, November 26, at 9PM EST.

Country singing sensation Carrie Underwood played both co-host and performer at last night’s (November 11) 43rd annual Country Music Association Awards. Taking the stage for a feisty performance of her current single, Cowboy Casanova, she showed just why she is the chart topping queen that she is.

Her new album, Play On, sold a whopping 319,000 to claim the No. 1 Billboard 200 chart position. This is Carrie’s second No. 1 album. Her sophomore set, 2007’s Carnival Ride, also topped the charts with over 500,000 sold in its first week.

While Carrie did deliver a smoking performance, it was 19-year-old country/pop singer Taylor Swift who walked away with the award for Female Vocalist of the Year.

There’s always next year Carrie!

Taylor Swift - Wireimage

Taylor Swift barely had enough time to recover from the shock of being named the Female Vocalist of the Year at the 43rd annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, but she found herself in the biggest state of shock possible when she was named Entertainer of the Year.

A genuinely baffled Swift took the stage to claim her award, which she won over some big male competition, including Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, and George Strait, in tears and mouthing “Oh my God” the whole way.

“I will never forget this moment, because in this moment everything that I have ever wanted has just happened to me,” the tearful 19-year-old star said.

She invited her touring band to come on stage to share the moment with her before thanking her fans for their support. “The fans that come to the shows with the shirts that you made yourself and the looks on your face…that’s why I do this. Thank you for this moment.”

When she accepted the award for Female Vocalist of the Year, she couldn’t help but take one more jab at Kanye West who infamously hijacked her VMA acceptance speech this past September. “I wanna thank every single person in this room tonight for not running up on stage during this speech.”

In all, Swift walked away with all for awards she was nominated for.

Watch her Entertainer of the Year acceptance speech below:

Taylor Swift - Getty Images

The accolades keep rolling in for Taylor Swift.

The 19-year-old country-crossover darling snagged the coveted Song of the Year award at the 57th annual BMI Country Awards, held last night (November 10) in Nashville, TN, for the second year in a row for her hit single, “Love Story.”

“I just want to say to every songwriter and every loved one of a songwriter, thank you, because you are the reason I wanted to try Nashville,”the Associated Press quoted Swift as saying at the ceremony. “You are all my heroes.”

Last year, Swift — who recently re-released her best-selling sophomore album, Fearless — took top honors for her breakout hit, “Teardrops on My Guitar,” from her self-titled debut album.

The big win could be a sign of things to come for Swift. She will vie for Entertainer of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards tonight, where she will also perform.

Rihanna and Beyonce - Wireimage

Awards show season is well under way with the announcement of the 2010 People’s Choice Awards. Some of pop music’s favorites will fight it out for an award in various categories.

Beyonce, Lady GaGa, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears and Carrie Underwood all rack up double nominations. Rihanna also scores two nominations but hers are in the same category: favorite music collaboration. She’s nominated for her work on the T.I. song Live Your Life and the Jay-Z and Kanye West featured Run This Town. She’ll go up against Cobra Starship and Leighton Meester, Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat and The Lonely Island with T-Pain.

In the rock catagory, Paramore will go head to head with the much hyped Muse, Kings of Leon, Green Day and Daughtry.

American Idol stars Adam Lambert and Kris Allen–who was on hand for the nominations announcement–will once again compete against each other in the favorite breakout star category. They face stiff competition from Disney starlet Demi Lovato, Susan Boyle and electro-pop diva Lady GaGa.

The awards show is set to air January 6th at 9pm EST on CBS hosted by Queen Latifah.

R&B/Soul singer Melanie Fiona has finally released her highly anticipated debut album The Bridge after several delays. With her single It Kills Me performing well on the 106 And Park countdown, Melanie stopped by the show to perform the song, which landed at number eight today (November 10).

Melanie took the stage like a true professional, delivering a vocal performance that actually tops the recorded version.

After the performance, she stuck around for a brief interview where she talked about the release and inspiration for the album’s title.

“Making this album across the world, I just realized music is such a universal language,” Melanie told show hosts Rocsi and Terrance J. “I didn’t want the music to be put into a box of any kind. So I wanted to infuse soul music with everything that influenced me. ”

Take a look at the sizzling performance and see the interview below.

Need to know more about Melanie? Check out our exclusive 12 random questions interview with the future megastar!