Janet Jackson
When it comes to Janet Jackson's music, she wants her fans to know she's still in Control.
The wardrobe-malfunctioning superstar has put the kibosh on reports that some songs leaked online are tracks from her forthcoming album, tentatively titled 20 Years Old.
While Jackson admits that the songs making the Internet rounds, including one called "Put It On Me," are hers, she denies that they were ever earmarked for release on her new album.
"A couple of years ago I recorded some tracks with [music producer] Rich Harrison," Jackson said in a statement. "But none of that music will appear on my new album. I have a tight rein on all of the music that has been recorded."
Except, apparently, on the songs that were leaked.
As for what songs might appear on the 39-year-old's album, Jackson isn't talking. But several fan sites are.
"Pops Up," one of the tracks that surfaced online last year, is purportedly being reworked and rereleased as "Speed It Up." According to Jackson fan sites, the song's new incarnation is already being played on radio stations in Louisiana. But because Jackson is not expected to officially drop her first single until May, it's likely the track is a leftover from her Damita Jo sessions.
Named in honor of the two-decade anniversary of Jackson's career-defining Control, 20 Years Old is set for a fall release, most likely coming to stores at the end of September.
"It's a milestone year for us and for the collaboration," Jackson's longtime collaborator Jimmy Jam told Billboard. "It'll be 20 years since the release of Control, so there's definitely a little bit of a nod to that on the new album."
The singer's other longtime collaborator--both professionally and, since 2001, personally--Jermaine Dupri also worked on the album, as both a producer and singer.
"You'll hear my voice on some songs," Dupri told Billboard. "The world has no idea what they're about to experience--Janet has the best production trio possible--and I guarantee, we will deliver!"
The new album will be Jackson's first release since 2004's Damita Jo, which was more a victim of timing than anything else. It debuted at number two on the charts, but quickly suffered sales in the aftermath of Jackson's headline-making, fine-inducing, breast-baring Super Bowl performance.
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Dallas Days Ahead For Simpson
Jessica Simpson
Not learning from the bomb that was The Dukes of Hazzard, Jessica Simpson may now dip her toes in another big screen adaptation of classic TV.
Die hard fans of the staple 1980's primetime soap Dallas have already been grumbling about some of the casting choices made for the film version of the series, most notably the selection of Jennifer Lopez to fill the role of Sue Ellen. Now, in what could stir up even more bitter feelings, blonde superstar Jessica Simpson has told MTV that she has met with the film's producers to take on the role of troublemaker Lucy Ewing in the project.
While Simpson has confirmed that she's met with the producers, who include Michael Costigan and David Jacobs, she has not yet been officially cast in the role. "That would be an honor for me," she told MTV. "I'm a Texas girl, so you can't go wrong there. However it all works out, I'm just kind of going with the flow...one day at a time."
Actress Charlene Tilton played the seductress Lucy Ewing on the original series. According to the New York Post, she was quoted last year as saying the 25-year-old Simpson would be too old for the part.
Bend It Like Beckham helmer Gurinder Chadha was recently brought on to replace Robert Luketic as the director on the big screen take on Dallas. Luketic himself reportedly left the project after being unhappy with some of the casting choices. In addition to J. Lo, John Travolta is in negotiations to play J.R., Luke Wilson is talking about taking on the role of Bobby and Shirley MacLaine may fill the shoes of Miss Ellie.
After bringing helping the classic Dukes of Hazzard to the big screen as the sexy Daisy Duke, we're not sure everyone would agree that "you can't go wrong there."
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Angelina and Brad Pitt
If homesick Brad Pitt, 42, wasn't happy in Paris, how on earth is he going to feel about southwest Africa? That's the question that Brad's friends are asking in light of the news that Angelina Jolie, 30, has dragged the family — Brad, 4-year-old Maddox, and 15-month-old Zahara — off to the little-known African nation of Namibia, just weeks before she's due to give birth to Brad's baby.
And this isn't just a brief family vacation. Sources say that Angelina is planning to give birth there in a secluded beach resort — and that Brad's climbing the walls.
"Brad's a huge proponent of modern Western medicine," says the source. "His first choice of places for Angelina to give birth was Cedars-Sinai Medical Center [near his home] in L.A. Failing that, he was fine with Angelina having the baby in Europe." Instead, the whole brood left Paris for Namibia — which Angelina fell in love with while filming her drama Beyond Borders several years ago. On April 3, they booked into the exclusive Burning Shore Beach Lodge in Swakopmund. The couple and the kids then reportedly went on a safari in Etosha National Park, Namibia's wildlife sanctuary, which covers more than 8,000 square miles. On April 11, they flew 284 miles for a four-day stay at the Harnas Farm animal refuge, which is dedicated to saving wild animals and whose sole patron is... Angelina!
BRAD'S WORRIED
"Angelina feels that having the baby in Namibia will make the child bond more with its siblings [Maddox was born in Cambodia, Zahara is from Ethiopia], instead of being born in the United States and feeling totally isolated from their third-world roots," a source tells Star. But another source says that Brad "fears that taking the family to a continent where AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases run rampant, and where he thinks kidnapping and terrorist threats lie around every corner, is not the safest thing to do. He has told Angelina that he thinks she is putting the kids (and their soon-to-be-born baby) at risk by taking them there."
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