Bark + Bite

Chris Brown keeps the party going with "Turn Up the Music"

Chris Brown has pretty much been flip-flopping between hip hop-influenced R&B and straight dance-pop for the past three albums. And he's not even daring to switch up the formula now for Fortune, his upcoming fifth studio album. Which is fine, really, because of all the R&B cats doing the pop crossover stuff, Chris is one of the few who actually puts out convincingly good dance material

He already released "Strip" from the project, but that slightly warmed over leftover from the Boy In Detention mixtape seems more like a buzz single than a proper lead track.

So now Chris is turning from the R&B cheek to the pop cheek, with his unabashedly extasy-fueled club jam, "Turn Up the Music."

The lyrics to the song are an ode to the intoxicating power of music. There's also a pretty great "whooa oooh oohh" post-chorus section. The actual chorus barrels through the speaker like a cannonball. It takes no prisoners as Robo Chris (the man loves him some autotune) commands the DJ to turn the music up louder, while the Nintendo-sounding synths come crashing down like an aural tsunami around the listener's ears.

Taking a cue from his ex-boo Rihanna, Chris has the Underdogs sprinkle the production with some neck-snapping crescendo dance breaks that sound like they belong in Mortal Kombat. Forget the roof being on fire, Chris is aiming to burn the whole block with this track.

The energy on the song is on level 30 and you know that means the video and its choreography will be out of this world. Look, Chris Brown is down for a good time, are you? Fist pump the night away.

Listen to Chris Brown's new party anthem below

Chris Brown isn't doing interviews, so his manager does them for him

Chris Brown has avoided sitdown time with reporters ever since he went off the hinges on Good Morning America on Robin Roberts. After that embarrassing episode of testosterone gone wrong, Chris' management team put the muzzle on Brown and locked him away from the media. Of course, that doesn't mean Brown stayed out of trouble. He found ways to get into it with plenty of folks on Twitter in the meantime.

In speaking with Billboard's Erika Ramirez, Chris Brown's manager, Tina Davis appeared to be dipping the toes back into the water by saying, Hey, we've had Chris avoid you guys for a reason.

Davis, who was unfortunately caught in the glare of the media spotlight herself when she was accused of an affair with Brown, explains that Chris signed up "to sing and entertain," not talk about his personal life.

If people are going to judge anything, judge him for his talent. He signed up to sing and entertain. Not to talk about his personal life. We look at it as starting all over. Our grind, our choices are different than they probably would have been three years ago. But we are humbly trying to get back into the swing of things.

He has this movie and other scripts are coming our way. A couple of different companies have been talking to us about partnering with him. They're not afraid to stand next to him. They understand that hey, this young man has another 20-30 years to go. He has a right to be able to grow up and learn about being a man, being a person.

Funny. Chris never had a problem talking about his personal life in interviews until after he became a convicted felon for assaulting his ex-girlfriend Rihanna. What's so different, Tina?

Twitter and other forms of social media allow celebrities to cut the media out in ways they couldn't in the past. But Chris is only able to get away with this because the major TV networks, like MTV and BET, are playing nice and letting him perform on their award shows again. Cause when he was locked out of major media events before, Chris wasn't doing nothin' but boo hooin' all the way home.

Word of advice to Chrisopher: It's been at least 3 years since "the incident." You should be comfortable and confident in handling any questions about what happened on that night at this point. If you can't, that says more about your fragile state of mind than the media. How long will you tip toe around in fear of this land mine? Forever?

Chris Brown throws a goofy, naughty slumber party for "Strip" video

If sexy was what you thought would be on the menu for Chris' "Strip" video, you got served the wrong dish. Instead, Chris went for a mischievous, satyr kind of thing. Even though it's cold as hell outside, there's Chris Brown standing on the snowy mountains in shorts. And there's Chris Brown, adorned from the waist up in nothing but his avalanche of tattoos in this otherwise frigid atmosphere.

Throughout the video, Chris makes Roger Rabbit-like faces at the camera as girls walk around in bra and panties. But even though the song is called "Strip," the girls do far less than stripping than you'd think. If this goofy, cornball video is really the lead single from Chris' next album Fortune, he might want to retitle it Misfortune, cause this video's a miss.

Watch the video for Chris' latest single below

Ranking the Voices of 10 Men in Pop

What's in a voice? A powerful voice in pop music can leave a lasting legacy, eternal popularity, and cultural relevancy.

We've examined 10 male voices in pop music and we break them down according to their vocal abilities, or lack thereof. Sure, no one can touch Michael Jackson on stage but what about in the studio? Who is the 'Falsetto King' — Usher or Justin Timberlake? And what grade does Trey Songz's yelped ad-libs and seemingly painful technique warrant him as a singer?

Serving as perfect material for stan wars or just solid background info for the less rabid pop music fan, find out where your favorite male vocalist landed on the list and sound off below. And be sure to revisit the female edition of this feature, which ranked 10 women in pop.

Chris Brown cuts a rug on the Today Show

Photo: WireImage

Chris Brown was back on the morning show circuit on Friday and this time, no windows were shattered. This was largely because Chris Brown avoided an interview this go round, which is a good thing, since Today Show host Matt Lauer is the one who sent Kanye West over the edge last year. So you can only imagine how a sit down session between him and Chris would've gone.

Chris kept it clean with a tight set of dance-friendly cuts, which pleased the allegedly largest audience in Today Show history.

It's becoming a bit repetitive to say this, but Chris really would benefit from cutting down on the autotune and backing track. The dancing is great. We've seen it, we like it, we love it. But don't half-step on the singing.

To his credit, at times Chris did seem to be trying to sing over the backing track, but the sound team wasn't having it. During "She Ain't You," Chris is visibly trying to be heard above the track and he sounds quite capable of carrying the tune live. Somebody in Team Breezy just needs to make sure they're manning the knobs next time.

But Chris knows that when he cuts a rug and shakes his groove thang he turns his audience into putty. And so he turned his "I Can Transform Ya" performance into a mini Soul Train session, as he cat daddied and dougied like a pimp on national TV. You can't touch this.

Chris Brown is a wild thing

Photo: Wireimage

His mother Joyce Hawkins calls him her "angel," but Chris Brown has been looking more and more like a wild thing as of late. Maybe it's because he went back to that blond hair. Blonde women might have more fun, but it appears blond men are more dangerous. Or maybe all those "thug life" tattoos he got inked on his body have turned Chris into a hooligan.

The R&B star had a busy weekend full of Twitter beef and concert performances for radio shows in Boston and New York. And he did 90 percent of it all shirtless. He's still on that Incredible Hulk swag.

Chris' weekend kicked off early with a bang on Thursday when he got into a Twitter fight with members of Odd Future.

Click below to read the tit for tat on Twitter between Chris and hip hop's rookies of the year

Chris Brown tributes the King of Pop (again) in "She Ain't You" video

It's no secret that Chris Brown idolizes the late, great, King of Pop Michael Jackson. Ever since Chris stepped on the scene, Michael's influence over his career, seen mostly in his dance moves and performances, was obvious.

And after Chris Brown won the public's sympathy during a messy sobfest of a tribute to Michael at the BET Awards in 2010, Chris knows that drawing parallels between himself and MJ does him nothing but favors. Chris' mother, Joyce Hawkins, even proclaimed that Michael died so that her son could be redeemed.

But is Chris tapping a well gone dry with his latest MJ-inspired visual for the MJ-sampling "She Ain't You"?

Chris Brown dazzles in performance on Dancing With the Stars

Chris Brown has been in the news for a lot of the wrong reasons lately, but in his performance on Dancing With The Stars he proved to America why he's renowned for his skills as a dancer and a live performer.

While he let autotune and a backing track do the bulk, if not all, of the vocal duties, Chris spared no expense when it came to his fancy footwork and the spectacle of his performance.

Chris out-Black-Eyed-Peaed will.i.am. with his futuristic light show for the "Forever/Beautiful People" medley. It was mysterious and magical, like a trippy version of Tron crossed with Janet Jackson's "Alright" video. And Chris got to keep everyone focused on what he was good at: Entertaining.

He also performed his other F.A.M.E. single "Yeah 3X," but the "Forever/Beautiful People" medley was such a polished production that it felt a VMA performance. It's worth multiple views.

Watch Chris Brown's performances from DWTS below