Bark + Bite

Bruno Mars travels down the yellow-brick road in Doo-Wops album cover

Rather than opting for a glossy, BOP!-friendly headshot that would make his lady fans tingle and squeal, Bruno Mars went with something more artistic for his Doo-Wops and Hooligans album cover. The artwork is bathed in yellow, with a small Bruno at the bottom, looking up at the long and winding road he has ahead of him. You're forgiven if thoughts of The Wizard of Oz come to mind.

This is likely an homage to the difficulties Bruno suffered on the long road to success in the music industry. He spoke about his penniless days in L.A. in an interview with EW,"I couldn’t pay rent. I’d always been a working musician in Hawaii and never had problems paying rent. And then it’s like, 'Now I’m in L.A. and my phone’s getting shut off.' That’s when reality hit."

There's nothing an eviction notice or a getting your phone and utilities shut off as far as reality checks go. Somehow that gets people motivated real quick. It's a good thing Bruno seems to be in a much better place these days. His debut album Doo-Wops and Hooligans drops October 5th, but should be available for pre-order on his site today.

Sara Bareilles, this is a crime against Beyonce

There need to be some ground rules set before people go about mucking with the postmodern classic that is Beyonce's "Single Ladies." This song, like James Brown's "Say It Loud — I'm Black and I'm Proud," is a declaration. It is a rallying war cry for single women to take their stand and refuse eternal babymamadom or perpetual live-in girlfriend status. (Shout out to Tiny who finally made it legal with T.I. after all these years) It is not a song meant for mewling or soft-spoken nudges and winks. So why do some white female singers insist on turning this rocking ladies anthem into a subdued coffee shop ditty? It ain't right.

Sara Bareilles covered Beyonce's "Single Ladies" for Billboard's Mashup Mondays and she did unspeakable things to Sasha Fierce. From the onset, Sara said she wanted to completely reinterpret the song. Great. Being a pianist, maybe that means we can get a smashing on the keys, dramatic, raucous piano jam? No. Instead, Sara Bareilles gave us a soft folk-jazz rendition of the song that was sickeningly "pleasant." It was like something out of a dinner theatre that only tone-deaf, senior citizens would attend. And frankly, even they might fall asleep listening to this snoozer.

Watch Sara Bareilles' cover of Beyonce below

Kanye West relishes his return to limelight, debuts "Power" cover art

For the first time since the release of his brand new single "Power," Kanye is reacting publicly. In a post on his site KanyeWest.com, Kanye pulls out his favorite quotes from reviews of the single by various publications, blowing up them up in gigantic, screaming, bold font. Guess he's happy to get a little good press, huh?

In addition to the review round-up, Kanye also debuted the cover art for the new single. If Grace Jones is still lashing out at imitators, Kanye might have to duck, since the cover art seems very reminiscent of her abstract style. It features, presumably, an illustrated rendition of the rapper with a very twisted face in either fury or anguish. The illustrated Kanye actually looks almost like a marionette, with its box-like mouth and Nutcracker-like chompers, which could be an allusion to his feelings about fame and his rant/freetstyle "Pinnochio Story" in which he pleads that he just wants to be a real boy. Oh, Kanye brings so much subtext and layered messaging to the table. Eat up, folks. It's only going to get better.

The-Dream and Jason DeRulo wrestle with covers of Aaliyah, Kanye West

File this under the "Who the hell asked you to?" folder. The-Dream opted to take on the alt R&B favorite "One In A Million" by the late Aaliyah for his upcoming mixtape "Love Sessions." The spare, space age production was originally provided by Timbaland when he was at his most experimental, throwing in the sounds of crickets chirping over drums and vinyl scratching. Paired with Aaliyah's breathy, inviting voice and Missy Elliot's songwriting, the trio helped reshape the sound of R&B music in the 90s with "One In A Million" and other hits.

The-Dream, part of the hit-making duo with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, is no slouch in the music production department himself having helped produce Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Beyonce's "Single Ladies." And while The-Dream, real name Terius Nash, has found some success as an artist in his own right, he is quite limited in his vocal capabilities. At his best, The-Dream is not an emotive, warm, intimate singer. He flourishes rather as a cool, distant, braggadocio, like on "Rockin' That Thing," an over-the-top, sexualized R-Kelly-like Romeo in "Falsetto," or a vitriol-spitting, "you-did-me-wrong" vengeful boyfriend on "Nikki." Instead of playing to these strengths, Terius instead tries, and fails, to match the warmth and intimacy that Aaliyah set in her version of "One In A Million." Check out the cover yourself below.

Trey Songz gets intimate on Unplugged special

Watch Trey cover "Use Somebody" at the 5:10 mark above.

Trey Songz may not dance in his shows, but he still manages to wrap the audience around his fingers with mood-setting candlelight, charm, a million dollar smile and some one-on-one nuzzling with a fan. During his performance of "I Need A Girl" Trey Songz called a fan up onstage for a serenada. Nothing unusual, R&B acts have been doing this little stunt for ages. But then Trey flipped the switch and dived right in to a sensual and personal rendition of Kings Of Leon's "Use Somebody." Trey translated the pent-up sexual tension and longing of the song perfectly but he might've startled his fan a little bit with all of his sexual napalm.

Also, check out this rousing performance of "Black Roses," a highly underrated gem from Trey's album "Ready" below. Trey's aiming for the crossover with this one.

Christina Aguilera is a Terminator on her new album

So one minute, Christina travels back in time to be a 40s/50s USO girl, the next minute she's a sexy android from the future. What's wrong with the present, baby?

The cover art for Christina's next studio album, "Bionic," was unveiled yesterday on her official site. The artwork features a Princess Leia-hairstyled Christina with half of her face exposed as nothing more than android-like machinery. The human/robot dynamic of course has been explored before in film and music, like when it was famously tackled in the "Terminator" film series. Of course in "Terminator," that dynamic turned very sour and essentially cautioned that removing ourselves too far from humanity can result in dire consequences. What is Christina trying to say with "Bionic"? That in order to thrive in the music industry, one has to submit to becoming a machine? Tell us more, Christina.

The long-awaited single will be teased on Christina's official site tomorrow, with the full premiere following on March 30th. With her new robotic aesthetic, maybe Christina should retire her Xtina nickname and go with something more mechanical. Like C-3P0.

Iyaz shoots blanks on cover of Green Day's "21 Guns"

Many have openly lobbied for the death of autotune, but what they may not be accounting for is the possibility that what lies beneath the autotune is even more wretched than the autotune itself. Iyaz, who scored a top ten hit this year with his song "Replay," sat down this week with Billboard.com to cover Green Day's "21 Guns," a song that he said made him feel "free." But what followed during his performance was four minutes of caterwauling and warbling, with a feeble falsetto thrown in for good measure, that will make the listener feel nothing short of enslaved. With a voice like this, Iyaz clearly should've been cast in this subpar season of "American Idol." He could've been the spoiled plantain to Alex Lambert's unripe banana.

Iyaz called his cover a sign of "appreciation." Green Day, however, might see it more as vocal defecation on their artwork. Tomato, tomatoe, no?

Watch and listen to Iyaz's cover of Green Day's "21 Guns" below.

Christina Aguilera is back to naughty on "Not Myself Tonight" cover

Christina Aguilera is finally rounding the corner and prepping for her new release, "Bionic," with the unveiling of her first single from her fourth studio effort, "Not Myself Tonight." The black and white photo has Christina wearing leather, S&M-inspired gear with a devil's horns and tail drawn on. Is this perhaps a sign that the "Dirrty" Christina Aguilera will be making a reappearance? The single cover also has tinges of Madonna's "Erotica" album photography, which was also shot in black and white and featured bondage fetishwear.

Whatever the new single ends up sounding like, it looks like Christina is ready to leave the 1920s behind her. If Christina is able to step up to the plate, Lady Gaga just might finally have some competition.

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: