THE FACTS
Whitney Houston’s comeback album is scheduled to be released by the end of the first quarter. 

THE SPIN
How many years has Nippy been coming back now? Though she hasn’t released an album in seven years, Clive Davis promises that this is the year Whitney will finally return to music. Uh huh.

The Macomb Daily quotes the longtime record mogul speaking on the album making process saying, “The process has begun. We’ve always said we were looking towards the end of the first quarter of (2009). I do feel good about the material we have and what’s been going on.”

I’ll believe an album is coming out when I actually hear it. To be fair to Whitney, over the last two years Whitney’s reportedly locked in time with Ne-Yo, Akon, will.i.am, R.Kelly, and John Legend. Do you believe a Whitney album will finally come out this year or should we put this story in the Lauryn Hill file?

YOUR SPIN: Are you excited about Whitney’s return?  Tell us here.

Images courtesy of timeinc.net.

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)

THE FACTS
The Associated Press reports that Akon pleaded guilty to harassment for throwing a fan off stage during a concert in upstate New York last year.

THE SPIN
Akon – a 35-year-old man – tossed a 15-year-old named Anthony Smith into the crowd last year while performing. He did so after fingering the teenager for throwing an object on stage. I bet Anthony will never throw anything again.

Instead of doing any real time for possibly harming the kid, Akon will perform 65 hours of community service and pay a $250 fine. In exchange the prosecution won’t press on with a child-endangerment charge.

Akon also apologized to the kid and his parents. No word on whether Anthony apologized for being dumb enough to throw something at a man who made his way onto the scene with a song called “Locked Up.” I mean, yeah Akon was later accused of fronting, but you never know.

YOUR SPIN: Does Akon need an intervention?  Tell us here.

Images courtesy of askmen.com.

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)

THE FACTS
Hold My Hand, a duet between Akon and Michael Jackson was ultimately scrapped from Akon’s latest album. 

THE SPIN
The song sucked. It sounded like one of those schmaltzy, dreary, overly sentimental reject ballads from yesterdecade. While I’m glad it was canned, Akon isn’t. Blaming Michael’s decision not to sign off on the song on internet leaks, Showbiz Spy quotes Akon saying:

“Musically we were on the same level and we wanted it to be special. We wanted it so that when people got my album, it was something that was never heard. But the leak stopped those plans. We will be doing more things together in the future, though. I want them to be able to put focus on Mike. He is the greatest artist ever. So long as the focus is on him, people are going to ask him about the song he did with me, so then my name pops up in his interview. It works both ways.”

Hopefully no one else asks him about it…and Michael Jackson gives Pharrell a call.

YOUR SPIN: Should Michael have allowed the release of the song?  Tell us here.

Images courtesy of jamati.com

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)