Janet Jackson - Harper's Bazaar (click to enlarge)

It’s been more than two months since Michael Jackson died suddenly at the age of 50 and many of his family members have spoken out.

His father, Joe Jackson, has given countless interviews and brother, Jermaine Jackson, has appointed himself somewhat of a spokesperson for the grieving family, but the one person many had hoped to hear from — the King of Pop’s baby sister Janet Jackson — has been relatively silent, until now.

Janet breaks her silence in an intimate interview with Harper’s Bazaar magazine. She admits since Michael’s passing, she’s shied away from watching television to avoid “going crazy” from seeing the media frenzy over who and what caused her brother’s death. “People can have rhinoceros skin, but there’s a point when something’s going to hurt you,” she told the magazine. “Not everyone is stone, stone. I haven’t watched the news in weeks. I had to ask my chef, How’s Obama doing? I haven’t read a newspaper. On top of that, [we've lost] a family member.”

She recalls the last time she saw Michael, just days before her 43rd birthday at a family celebration in May. “We had so much fun that day. We kept calling each other after and saying how great it was.”

While Janet gathered her strength to address fans briefly at the 2009 BET Awards just three days after Michael died, she chose not to speak at his public memorial on July 7 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Michael’s daughter, Paris Katherine, did speak, calling her father “the best daddy you could ever imagine,” a moment that made Janet “really proud.”

She admits throwing herself into her work — which includes a new album due next spring — has helped her deal with the grief, but has a hard time speaking of her brother in the past-tense. “My brother is, I mean was,” she slips up. “You have to forgive me, because it’s really hard to believe he’s passed.”

The interview does have its lighter moments, like when Janet remembers Michael’s simple style, how he began wearing his signature singular white glove, and her newly found acceptance of her mega-watt smile.

The issue is on newsstands now. To read the feature and see pictures from the cover shoot, visit Harper’s Bazaar’s website.

Lady GaGa - Ellen von Unwerth/OUT Magazine (click to enlarge)

Between True Blood, New Moon, and The Vampire Diaries, vampires are the hottest thing this summer, so of course it’s an epic mix when those blood sucking immortals meet the hottest pop star of the year, Lady GaGa.

But it’s not the newer set of creepy flicks GaGa is looking to for her latest buzz-making shots. For her eye-popping photo spread in gay lifestyle magazine, OUT, GaGa channels some of the most iconic monster movies of the ’50s, thanks to renown photographer Ellen von Unwerth.

The layout, von Unwerth says, is inspired by “a kind of Frankenstein’s bride who gets attacked by a sexy vampire and becomes one herself.”

As for the cover story, GaGa talks about why she credits the gay community with her success and her master plan to “turn the world gay.”

“When I started in the mainstream it was the gays that lifted me up,” she says. “I committed myself to them and they committed themselves to me, and because of the gay community I’m where I am today.”

“I very much want to inject gay culture into the mainstream. It’s not an underground tool for me. It’s my whole life. So I always sort of joke the real motivation is to just turn the world gay.”

Read the cover story here.

Take a peek at some of the hot pics below and click here for the full spread.

Of course now the comeback will never be, but amid the battles over his estate and speculation surrounding the circumstances of his death, Rolling Stone magazine talks to the people who were helping MJ make his return in their latest issue on newsstands now.

The King of Pop wanted the tour to erase some of the public’s skewed perceptions of him. “He wanted people to see his work and not just talk about his lifestyle,” AEG CEO Randy Phillips told RS. He also wanted to use the tour to help ease some of his financial woes, says insiders.

For more on the new issue of Rolling Stone and to see a video of the feature’s writer discussing the story, visit their site here.

Retailers tell Billboard Magazine this year’s holiday music shopping could look a little sad, but there is some reason to be excited when bands like Paramore have new releases on the horizon. The five-some cover Billboard’s “Christmas in July” issue dressed in some sweet festive frocks. In the issue, the band discusses the release of their new album, Brand New Eyes, hitting shelves on September 29 and what they’ll be doing over the upcoming holidays — touring like mad!

Pick up the issue on newsstands this week and take a listen to Paramore’s new single “Ignorance” here.

]]> http://neonlimelight.com/2009/07/14/paramore-celebrates-christmas-in-july-on-billboard-magazine-cover/feed/ 1 http://neonlimelight.com/2009/07/13/miley-cyrus-reveals-love-for-her-crooked-teeth-fashion-and-demi-lovato-in-elle-magazine/ http://neonlimelight.com/2009/07/13/miley-cyrus-reveals-love-for-her-crooked-teeth-fashion-and-demi-lovato-in-elle-magazine/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:30:24 +0000 TJ http://neonlimelight.com/?p=8809 Think you’re taking a clever crack at Miley Cyrus when you say something bad about her teeth? Try again. The 16-year-old actress/singer is fully aware that her choppers aren’t perfect and she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I like these crooked. I love my teeth,” she revealed in the August issue of ELLE magazine. Now whether or not she was forced to love them because her Hannah Montana co-star dad Billy Ray Cyrus “won’t let me fix my teeth or cut my hair” is another story.

Miley, looking very grown up, appears on the cover the fashion magazine and dishes on everything from her natural beauty to her natural friendship with fellow 16-year-old pop singer/actess Demi Lovato.

She says the friendships she formed with Lovato and former boyfriend Nick Jonas are the easiest because they’re all going through the same things. “It’s hard for all of us. There are so many people that could be using you. So me and Nick and Demi, we don’t need anything from each other. We got our own thing going on.”

In the spread, on newsstands now, Miley wears everything from bright, lemony yellow and cotton candy pink dresses, to all black punk-pop gear. Her wide array of clothing choices most certainly come from her budding fashion fixation. She recently started up a new clothing line with Max Azria for Wal-Mart in the hopes of making great fashions, especially jeans, more affordable. “The jeans are my favorite part of the entire line. Because, like, literally this is going to be good for, like, Middle America, and it will be great for kids that really want to be in fashion but that don’t have it available.”

Head over to ELLE.com for more on the August cover story and behind the scenes video of Miley’s photoshoot.

Adam Lambert

The American Idol season 8 runner-up comes out in the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine in his revealing cover story.

“I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay,” he told the magazine.

The 28-year-old rocker with an intense love for tight pants, eye liner, and spiked hair has never denied being gay. Idol judge Kara DioGuardi told hosts on The View he was out during the show, he just didn’t make it an issue. He has been spotted around town proudly holding hands with his boyfriend, designer Drake LeBry.

Lambert talks about his plan to officially come out and how he purposely chose Rolling Stone to break the news.

“Right after the finale, I almost started talking about it to the reporters, but I thought, ‘I’m going to wait for Rolling Stone, that will be cooler,’ ” he said. “I didn’t want the Clay Aiken thing and the celebrity-magazine bullshit. I need to be able to explain myself in context.”

He continued, “I’m proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.” But he’s not looking to make his career all about his sexuality. He wants the main focus to remain his music. “I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader.”

The issue is on newsstands Friday.

Click here to watch a video of his photo shoot.

photo: Matthew Rolston/Rolling Stone

Dressed in bubbles and nothing else, the Electro/Pop diva appears on the cover to the magazine’s Annual hot list issue, shot by renowned photographer David LaChappelle.

During the sit down with Rolling Stone writer Brian Hiatt, GaGa talks about her rise to fame and what she hopes to accomplish in the long run in her already success career. “My true legacy will be the test of time, and whether I can sustain a space in pop culture and really make stuff that will have a genuine impact.”

The Poker Face singer also talks about her bisexuality, her inspiration behind her debut album The Fame and what she’s like during her down time. “The truth is, the psychotic woman that I truly am comes out when I’m not working.”

To read the full cover story, pick up the issue on newsstands now.

If there’s one thing pop mega-star Katy Perry isn’t it’s shy. The Californian singer is best known for singing songs about kissing members of the same sex in her hit song “I Kissed A Girl” and baring tons of leg in what’s become her signature short shorts. The glamorous 24-year-old reveals more than leg on the cover of Complex magazine’s June/July issue.

Dressed in super sexy black lingerie and red lips, Katy poses for some extremely enticing modern day pin-up shots. Inside the issue she talks candidly about her type of man, her ex Gym Class Heroes front-man Travis McCoy’s love for her non-saggy blessing of boobs, and cute rappers that look like baby pit bulls.

On if Travis was her type:

Oh God, I don’t have a type. I guess one thing that’s the same with all of the men I’ve dated is that they’re all communicators and they’re all sensitive. I have a soft spot for musicians, a guy who can write a song or say how he feels and put it into a song, and is super poetic. Travis is really good at that, and he’s just so good at lyrics that I think that’s ultimately why I was so attracted to him. But I definitely do not have a type. You know, he’s artistic and he has that natural swagger. When he puts his hat on, that’s how he puts his hat on. He doesn’t stand in the mirror for like three hours, he just puts it on. So that’s sexy.

On why she’d pass on dating Lil Wayne but say yes to T.I.:

That might be too grindhouse for me. I think T.I.’s really cute, though. I like the guys that have this face about them, which is like…you know, adorable, and cute, and almost looks like a baby pit bull. A little pit bull is so cute, and all rappers love little pit bulls. They have to have two or three.

On being linked to random guys after her break-up:

If you have dinner with someone or happen to be at the same restaurant that the person is at, you’re either best friends or you’re bumping uglies. That’s just how it goes. I mean, I never hooked up and dated in the first place. I’m [into] a very one-woman, one-man type of situation; all the boyfriends I’ve had have been for at least two years, and I’ve only had like four boyfriends.

On getting Travis to abandon his butt-man ways:

I’m probably going to get into trouble for saying this, but he said he was never a boob guy, he was always a butt guy, until he met me. ’Cause my shit don’t sag.

Read the entire interview here and check out some of the pics from the shoot below.

photos: complex.com

Rihanna

The ferocious hitmaker’s Feb 8 altercation with R&B star boyfriend Chris Brown that left her battered and bloody and him facing two felony charges — both of which he pleaded not guilty to earlier in the week — has landed her the cover of Vibe magazine’s May 2009 issue.

The cover story, entitled “Tainted Love,” examines the Bajan beauty’s relationship with Brown by looking back at statements the pair has made about their relationship and their lives. Brown’s quotes are the most chilling. Pulled from an interview with the magazine in 2007, a then 18-year-old Chris spoke candidly about his demons growing up – one of which was the now infamous abusive relationship between his mother and step-father.

“I hated him. That was my demons I was fighting,” he said. ”That’s why in relationships I vow not to be that person because seeing that as a kid, you inherit what you see, so I promised myself, I’m not gonna be that dude. I’m never gonna be that person that takes the argument that far. I wouldn’t wanna put a female or child in that position, being that terrified.”

Read more from the issue here.

Taylor Swift is a lucky, lucky girl. In her short career, she’s already nabbed the coveted Seventeen magazine cover when she appeared on its June 2008 issue. And now she’s doing it again in less than a year on the May 2009 issue.

In this behind the scenes clip, Taylor talks about the joys of appearing on the cover again, her style evolution over the past year and her obsession with sun dresses in Spring.

All those admiring Taylor’s sunny, flirty look will be happy to know they can soon wear sun dresses designed by the superstar herself for L.E.I. and made available through Walmart stores. A star who wants to keep her fashions affordable for her fans?! Taylor is truly one-of-a-kind!