She has one of the hottest albums of the 2008/2009 season, she’s penned some awesome, radio-friendly tunes, and landed two of the stand out tracks on Kelly Clarkson’s latest, All I Ever Wanted. Thankfully for all of us, Kelly did a much better with the track “Long Shot” than Katy’s original demo. Here’s a extremely low budget music video for the song that Katy put together before her days of kissing girls. THOUGHTS?

Pop star and teen sensation, Hilary Duff, is all grown up and heading back to where it all began…T.V. The former Disney star is set to join the cast of the CW series Gossip Girl this fall for multiple episodes. After NBC passed on her pilot series, Barely Legal, an updated version of about a young law prodigy who soars through school and works as a high power attorney, Duff accepted the role of Olivia for the upcoming season of Doogie Howser, M.D.GG. Her character, Olivia Burke, is a movie star who enrolls in New York University to find the “real” college experience, but when she ends up rooming with…

Today the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, will be laid to rest in a “private” ceremony at the Staples Center with performances by Jennifer Hudson and Mariah Carey. His closest family and friends will join over 17,000 fans in the L.A. memorial. The ceremony will also be telecast on CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and E!. We will update the blog with video of the ceremony after it airs. UPDATE W/ HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MEMORIAL: R.I.P. Michael Jackson.

Earlier this year, Blender Magazine announced it was no longer printing any further print magazines. The publication still currently maintains a website, delivering the latest music news. But now, as a sign of the times and where the print industry is headed, Vibe, founded by Quincy Jones in 1993, will be shutting it’s doors. Official news broke last Tuesday that the August issue, featuring R&B power couple, Christina Milian and The Dream, on the cover, will be its last to hit shelves. R.I.P. Vibe Magazine – thanks for puttin’ the “VIBE” out there for all these years.

Britney’s new video for the single, “Radar”, was released online this week. The song, a standout on her Blackout album and a bonus track on the Circus album, has been a long running favorite among the hardcore Britney fans…I’ve heard (ha!). And while Britney looks great in the video, it is missing a key element of Britney: dance. Which came as such a huge surprise because the stage version of the song is so insane. The video just doesn’t translates, which is a bit unfortunate. But, check it out and let me know your opinion – It’s not our fave Brit-Brit video, but it is definitely not our least. What…

Happy 4th, All! CAUTION FIREWORKS AHEAD: As we continue to anticipate the release of Cobra Starship’s album, Hot Mess, the band dropped their new video for the single “Good Girls Go Bad”. Leighton Meester, our fave new “it” girl, is featured in the song (yes, she too is releasing a record later this year) and it is ferosh! Check out the hot new video and let me know your thoughts on these rising new artists!

Immediately after news broke that Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, had passed away work began on this tribute song, “Better On the Other Side”. The song, featuring The Game, Chris Brown, Diddy, Polow Da Don, Usher, Mario Winans, and Boys II Men, will be the first of many tributes to the late music icon. The song leaked to Internet by Friday morning after the news broke – it came together awfully fast. Check out the song’s video, edited by Taydoe.

When GMTV London sat down with Justin Timberlake and Trace Alaya to talk about their clothing line, William Rast, the recent death of Michael Jackson came up and this is what J.T. had to say…

During her press time backstage at the BET Awards, Ciara, who will be opening for Britney Spears on her 2nd North American leg of The Circus Tour, was overcome when she remembers her time with Michael Jackson and speaks to why he was such an inspiration to her.