Bark + Bite

Rihanna cries for Haiti on her cover of 'Redemption Song'

Video via NeonLimelight

Proving that she's more than just a high fashion, Barbie doll, Rihanna sang for the victims of Haiti's earthquakes on the Oprah Winfrey Show today. The mood was somber, with images of grief-stricken and injured Haitians flashing on the screens as she sang Caribbean legend Bob Marley's "Redemption Song." But her voice was triumphant and defiant as she encouraged us all to dig down a little deeper in the hopes that we will pull through in the end.

Wyclef, who recently spent time in Haiti helping with the recovery effort, seemed teary-eyed as he nodded in appreciation to Rihanna's performance. Rihanna also announced that she would be performing with Jay-Z and U2 this Friday at a global benefit concert for the victims of the Haitian Earthquake. Maxwell, who was raised by his Haitian grandmother, was also on hand to perform a tribute song "Fistful of Tears."

Both singers' tribute songs are available for sale on iTunes and all proceeds will be donated to the victims of the Haitian earthquakes.

Bad Romance: The YouTube Covers

Lady Gaga's sick love song "Bad Romance" is still cruising at the top of the charts, and like her previous hits, she's inspiring creativity on YouTube. It's interesting to watch YouTubers do covers of other songs, even though most of the time the people recording themselves singing aren't worth the megabytes your computer has to process to view them, because there are always a few diamonds in the rough. After all, Jermaine Dupri signed his latest singer Dondria based off of her covers on YouTube. So there are a few swans amongst the many ugly ducklings.

Here are three YouTube covers of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance" that are worth your time:

Chris Brown raids Ciara's closet for 'Graffiti' album cover

This album cover brings on many questions:

Why does Chris Brown have on leggings and how on earth did he get into those things?

What's the guitar for, did Chris decide to take up playing? Or is it there to be used as a weapon?

Why are the cartoon characters from "Cool World" on his album cover, cowering in the corner in fear? Maybe they read the police report.

Adam Lambert outdoes Mariah Carey on "For Your Entertainment" album cover

Mariah, the gauntlet has just been thrown down. Adam Lambert unleashed the cover art for his upcoming album "For Your Entertainment," and boy is it G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S. The world hasn't seen this kind of sparkle, glitter and twinkle since Mariah Carey's "Glitter" album cover.

The cover art looks like "My Little Pony" and "Rainbow Brite" humped, superman'd that ho, got pregnant, gestated and then gave birth to this monument to fabulous. The sad thing is that Adam Lambert actually looks more feminine than Kelly Clarkson does on her new album cover. With this album cover, Adam Lambert is definitively not letting up on the hair metal, androgynous angle that he played up on 'Idol,' but it begs the question as to why Adam threw a hissy fit about those pictures of him in drag that leaked on the web. He was "concerned" about those gender-bending photos not being "representative" of him as an artist then, so why try to out-Mariah the competition with a MAC-friendly album cover? Source: USAToday.com

He was worried that people would think the drag ensemble was typical of him. "I've only dressed in drag three or four times. ... I don't tuck and wear breasts, that's not me."

So he wants to be a gender bender in an Ellen DeGeneres, I-dress-like-a-boy-but-I-wear-make-up kind of way, but not in a RuPaul, I've-got-tits-and-a-dress-on kind of way? Either way, Adam Lambert is clearly a new kind of American Idol.

Lady Gaga's "Fame Monster" cover art better left in the hands of fans

Is that it? The visual art muscle squad that is the Haus of Gaga came up with "The Ring"-inspired, black and white photography for her re-release "The Fame Monster" and just called it a day? Damn.

In reality, the cover art probably won't matter to many in this iPod age, and as long as the music is hot the masses will scoop it up with their bare hands like thirsty beggars at a mall fountain. But Team Gaga probably could've saved time and money if they'd gone in-house and asked the fans to create the cover art for the re-release.

Check out these amazing fan-made covers of "The Fame Monster" below. (Note: I have no idea WHO created what, so if you'd like credit e-mail me and I'll be more than happy to give it.

      

The driest, most coffeshop cover of "Single Ladies" ever

What would happen if a Sara Bareilles and Colbie Caillat type with an Ellen Degeneres haircut, found its way to a coffeshop and sat down with a quirky musician guy to come up with a unique take on Beyonce's smash hit, "Single Ladies"? Apparently, this dry-ass rendition with the most soulless artist to hit the music scene since Brooke Hogan.

Pomplamoose is the name of the band and it's clear that she/they were trying to go for a unique take on the dancefloor anthem of 2009, but damn, way to suck all the Sasha Fierce out of it. There's whitebread and then there's Pomplamoose. The lead singer, Nataly, stares her big, bulbous eyes at the screen as she robotically recites the lyrics like a child being told to recite her times tables. "Single Ladies" is a kiss-off anthem and Beyonce delivers her lines with plenty of sass, flippant 'tude and neck-snapping hair flips. This woman, Nataly, possesses neither sasss, fierceness or a $2000 hair weave to throw about, so we're left with a butch lesbian haircut, a few "why am I here?" blinks and some soggy cocoa puffs to carry the visuals.

One huge offense Nataly of Pomplamoose commits in this cover, aside from its emotionless, empty interpretation, is the snip and shade she throws at Beyonce's lyrical genius. Instead of singing the bridge, "Don't treat me to the things of the world, I'm not that kind of girl..." Nataly scrunches up her face and says, "Don't make me sing this part of the song, the lyrics are so bad..." 

Bitch, please. You ain't writin' no lyrics like these.

Somebody call Kanye and tell him he needs to pay Pomplamoose a visit and educate them in the ways of Beyonce.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super C?

I present to you, Ciara's latest version of her album cover for her much-delayed, much-altered, and much-shifted album "Fantasy Ride." (The alternate colors are for the deluxe and standard editions.) At this point, with all the starts, stops, ups and downs, I think Ciara should consider renaming the album "Heart attack-inducing Roller Coaster," cause the release of this project has been anything but a fantasy.

And the Super C persona could've been cool and fun, much like Beyonce's Sasha personality, but Ciara decided to hit the cover of her album in housegirl  braids. With that look Super C looks more like it stands for Super Celie (from "The Color Purple") than Super Ciara.

Day26's new album cover is a cry for help

WTF?! Did they shoot this with a cheap digital camera from Wal-Mart or something? Why is this crap so grainy and blurry? What is this picture supposed to convey except uncertainty and a sense of no direction? Why is Will the only one looking at the camera and why does he have the most prominence?

And why is Big Mike scrunched up in the back looking like MIssy Elliot with bad gas? Fellas, did y'all approve this album cover? If so, y'all need to be smacked. If not, watch your backs and get some help. Whoever approved this isn't looking out for your best interests.

I'll make this prediction here and now: Day26 will go the way of Danity Kane and Da Band. It won't last. And the lackluster response to their new single "Stadium Music" reinforces that.

Solange tries on a little Coldplay

The saying goes that if the shoe fits, then wear it. If Solange is the shoe-wearer and Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" the shoe, then I'd say Solange has about size 5 feet and the shoe she's trying on is about 3 sizes too big.

I won't uber bash on Solange because frankly, she's already in the doldrums of the music industry anyway. Plus, I actually liked some of the songs from her album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. But what spoils Littler Beyonce's cover of the song is what has always plagued her career: Solange tries too hard. "Viva La Vida" is very much a sigh of a song. Chris Martin's vocals bounce and float with the instrumental with , which reinforces that with a very light and airy feel. It's the story of a leader looking back on his glory days, not a warrior unleashing his war cry.

But Solange decided, the hell with soft vocals, I've got something to prove! So she stepped out with peacock feathers in her hair and hooted and growled through the song, thinking if she just squeezed that note out just a little harder, maybe people won't bring up Beyonce in her next interview. Then she tried to "rock it out" by throwing some histrionic Christina Aguilera-like "Whhhooooa!"s on it, and the whole thing became a cacophony of barnyard noise.

It ain't easy being baby sister, y'all.

Usher's album cover for "Here I Stand"

There it is, folks. The cover art for Usher's highly(?) anticipated 5th studio album.

B + B Verdict: It kind of sucks. Usher needs a shave and the whole desert, on-the-road motif seems out of place with Usher and his music. He's not turning Country on us, (I hope) so why is he dressed in all black like he's Johnny Cash?