Rihanna is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of NME magazine. In addition to posting with a sequined bird on her shoulder, Ri Ri explains to the mag that she — unlike other artists — is pretty opposed to using product placement in her music videos. Here is our first look at Rihanna‘s NME coverphoto and some excerpts from her interview:

Rihanna said in a recent interview with NME Magazine that she despises product placement in videos. Some people have said that Rihanna was having a sly dig at Lady GaGa and her blatant product placement in the video for Telephone. Rihanna said: “I don’t like things to be so commercial. I hate product placement in my videos. Videos should just tell the story of the song. With product placement, it becomes this big ad campaign. I just don’t like that. Sometimes we have to (use products in music videos), for whatever political reason, but it’s never my first choice.” She added: “The mystique I have kept has been because I don’t say a lot. There are a lot of rumours about me, every day it’s something new. I guess by not replying people never know what’s true and they never know what’s not true.”

Gotta love Rihanna for keepin’ it real. I’m not a big fan of product placement either … commercials should be commercials and product placement should stay in commercials. That being said, tho, I kinda like seeing products that I love featured in TV shows and/or movies that I also love. I only like being sold things when I already have them … does that make sense? In any event, while I think it’s good that Rihanna is so open about her beliefs on product placement she should be careful … she may live to eat her words when a company throws a big, fat check at her to feature one of their products in the future. After the jump, check out another photo of Rihanna within the pages of this new issue of NME magazine …

New mom Sarah Michelle Gellar stepped with a friend this week to get her hair did at Anastasia salon in Beverly Hills, CA and decided to leave her baby girl Charlotte Grace at home (presumably with daddy Freddie Prinze, Jr.). Considering how much work it takes to care for a baby 24/7, I can’t say I blame SMG for venturing out babyless but I believe this is the first time we’ve seen her out and about in public sans baby since Charlotte was born last September:

I’m loving SMG‘s sassy new ‘do … it really suits her in that she-reminds-me-of-the-good-ol-Buffy-days … sigh. I bet she really enjoyed her day yesterday … not that Charlotte Grace is a burden but it must be nice to leave the baby-tending to the dad every once in a while. Come to think of it, I don’t think we’ve seen any photos of FPJ out and about with Charlotte just the two of them … HMMM. In any event, it’s always a pleasure to see SMG out in public. She looks fantastic, don’tcha think?

[Photo credit: WENN]

Country-pop superstar Shania Twain will be making her way back to the limelight after many years away in a new reality TV series called Why Not? with Shania Twain that will debut on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Apparently, this new series will be a way for Shania to re-introduce herself to the public after many years out of the spotlight (and maybe as a way to introduce the new man in her life to the world) … tho it is unclear if there will be a musical component to the show. Here are the deets that we do know about Why Not? with Shania Twain:

First came heartbreak, then a second chance at love. Next up for country superstar Shania Twain? Her own TV series. Twain, 44, will star on Why Not? With Shania Twain, an hour-long series premiering on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. “The show will follow [Twain] as she begins her climb back to the top, a personal journey filled with risk, revelations and unexpected adventures,” says a statement from the network. This won’t be Twain’s first foray in front of the camera since her marriage to Robert “Mutt” Lange fell apart in May 2008 over his relationship with her then-friend – and employee – Marie-Anne Thiébaud. The country singer has posted several personal videos on her Web site in recent months, chronicling her world travels, fun times with her son Eja, 8, and her blossoming romance with her boyfriend Frédéric, who is Thiébaud’s ex-husband. In February, Twain, who has recently been spotted in New York, posted a video – shot in Canada by Thiébaud – in which she visits a radio station, jokes about her junk-food cravings and the effect of the cold weather on her skin, and banters with her Swiss-born beau, whose French-inflected voice can be heard throughout. Last August, she posted a video travelogue documenting a skydiving trip in Florida, a camel-riding adventure in Egypt and a bike ride through a London park with Thiébaud, whom in an accompanying letter she called her “most constant companion.”

HMMM … I really hope this new show doesn’t feel like Wife Swap but, er, you know … but with Husbands. It’s still kinda weird to me that Shania decided to hook up with the ex-husband of the woman who her husband cheated with — especially since that woman was formerly her BFF. Maybe because the notion of the partner swap is so strange that this show is an attempt to make what went down seem more normal? Whatever the case may be, I can see how a show like this may appeal to viewers. I was a big Shania Twain fan back in the day but I’m not sure I really care anymore. I’ll prolly take a pass on this new TV show and wait for her to release new music. What do y’all think … is this something you’d want to watch? Does it even sound remotely interesting?

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Earlier this week we saw photos of Madonna and her children in Malawi at an event where Maddy laid the first brick on the construction site of a new all girls school there and today we learn that her family visit to Malawi hasn’t quite finished just yet. Madonna brought her children back to The Home of Hope to visit the orphanage where she adopted her son David Banda. Here are a few photos from Maddy‘s visit to the Mchinji orphanage this week:

Their heads craning to peer through the gates, children were desperate to see inside The Home of Hope in Malawi today. They were hoping to catch a glimpse of Madonna, who was returning to the Mchinji Orphange where she adopted her youngest son in 2006. The global superstar and daughter Lourdes were surrounded by hordes of excited orphans on their visit. Madonna adopted David Banda from the orphanage when he was 18 months old despite opposition from his biological father Yohane Banda. Mr Banda complained the following year that he had only been allowed to see his son once since the adoption. But he has since changed his opposition to support the star, saying he can see the benefits for his son, now four. Madonna arrived in Malawi earlier this week for a week-long charity tour to inspect projects she established since her first visit in 2006. She has pumped millions into the impoverished southern African country, where four in ten people live on less than a dollar a day and the life expectancy is just 41. She funds six Malawian orphanages, which feed, clothe and educate 25,000 children. It is Madonna’s first visit to Malawi since she controversially adopted a second Malawian child, Mercy James, last year.

I expect these sojourns to Malawi will be, at least, an annual affair. Since half of her children come from the region, it seems to me that Madonna is making a huge effort to ensure that all of her children grow up with a strong appreciation for Malawi. It’s unclear how much longer the family plans to stay in Africa but I don’t think there is any rush to cut this visit short.

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