Spankin' New Music Week is coming to MTV November 23 through 27. It's a celebration of five new mega-albums that are all being released in one big mega-week.

Lady Gaga's dropping The Fame Monster Limited Edition, which if you're sharp enough you've already heard The Fame: Monster on MTV's The Leak (a whole week early!). Rihanna's Rated R also hits on Monday and you've already seen new videos for "Russian Roulette," and "Wait Your Turn." Meanwhile, Shakira's long-awaited, hotly anticipated She Wolf album drops next week.

Beyonce has the Deluxe Edition of I Am, and on Tuesday, Britney's releasing the Deluxe Box Edition of The Singles Collection.

So what's in store? We have interviews with Gaga, Shakira and Rihanna, MTV News sat down with some of the girls as well, and we'll have performances, videos, and more. It's an unofficial "ladies week," but because we're not biased we're not forgetting that 50 Cent also recently dropped his fourth LP, Before I Self Destruct and we sat down and talked to him too.

Check in next week for more Spankin' New stuff on MTV, and, until then, watch Rihanna's "Wait Your Turn" video.

If we decide to file Chris Brown's new video, "Crawl" (directed by Joseph Khan and taken from his forthcoming Graffiti album) as another chapter in his never-ending apology to the world and Rihanna (which, let's face it, is exactly what we're going to do), then one thing is pretty clear: Chris Brown sure has a funny way of apologizing.

"Crawl," is a rather pretty ballad concerned with overcoming adversity, something Brown is entirely familiar with. In the video, Brown's mechanical heart skips a beat every time he's haunted by the ghost of a lost love.

Strangely enough, the lost love in question is R&B temptress, Cassie. That may or may not sit well with another R&B temptress we all know and love.

Elsewhere in the clip, Brown perches on a skyscraper (City Of Angels/Wings Of Desire nod, maybe?) and dances in the snow covered streets of L.A..

Nothing says, 'I'm sorry,' like dancing in the snow.

Rihanna's brand-new video, "Russian Roulette," directed by Anthony Mandler, is a dreadful and dark approach to end of a relationship. And while her emotional, cinematic "Russian Roulette" video can be interpreted as a somewhat literal look at the powerful song's metaphor, it's Rihanna's symbolic way of saying "No, REALLY, I'm done," leaving the past behind, and leaving little doubt that she hits back HARD.

It's Friday and Hurricane Ida is lashing against the east coast. So what better time to watch Rihanna dance around in various states of undress, nearly get attacked by what looks like a baby panther (or really testy black cat), lovingly call her assistants bitches and flaunt that too-cute-for-words Barbados accent of hers?

Check out this behind the scenes video of Rihanna's Rated R album cover photo shoot with legendary photographer Ellen Von Unwerth.

And while we all wait with bated breath for her album to drop on the 23rd, continue to get amped by checking out leaked tracks from Rated R like "Hard" and "Russian Roulette."

Rihanna is really, really back. If I may, I'd like to invoke a phrase popularized (if not invented) by the great American poet, Black Rob: "Like whoa."

Initially, when the visual motif surrounding Rihanna's Rated R began rolling out it was dark, it was film noir, it was post-war Berlin, it was lots of scarves and eye patches and trench coats.

But as Rihanna's singles have begun trickling out, and the each of those singles have gotten their own cover art, you may have noticed something: Rihanna seems to be losing layers of clothing at an alarming rate.

First there was the "Russian Roulette" art, in which Rihanna was dressed primarily in black masking tape. And now we get the art for her new, Young Jeezy-assisted banger, "Hard," in which she's wearing even less.

The heart flutters at what this lady is gonna dress up (and I use "dress" rather loosely) next.

Hopefully you didn't miss Rihanna on yesterday's episode of It's On With Alexa Chung. Yes, Rihanna -- whose new single, "Hard" could be the next "Umbrella" -- did touch upon the outpouring of fans who've supported her decision to speak out and help encourage other women who've been the victims of abuse. But she spent most of her time on It's On With Alexa Chung totally relaxed, joking around, meeting her fans (one of whom received a Rihanna makeover) and having fun with fashion -- specifically Alexa Chung's Museum of Rihanna Art, which exhibited some of Rihanna's best accessories to date and gave her the chance to discuss how and why she's adopted such edgy looks. It was a great look at a woman who's clearly taken back the power which is hers, moved on, and is back to being a fun-loving young woman who's living her life.

+ Watch Rihanna on MTV's It's On With Alexa Chung.

+ Check out more photos of Rihanna on It's On With Alexa Chung after the jump.

Read more...

In 2006, Rihanna was just starting to become a big deal. She had released her second album, A Girl Like Me, and found some success with the single, "SOS," but was nowhere near the level of "Umbrella" success she'd find the next year. In this MTV video interview, taken from that period, Rihanna briefly talks about all the places she's seen and people she's met in during that dizzying year.

There's a certain harrowing air to the clip, isn't there? Rihanna talks about growing up and experiencing so much. You have to wonder how she must be feeling now, after all that she's seen and experienced in this tumultuous year.

Thankfully, it seems like Rihanna is ending 2009 on a real upswing. She appeared on Good Morning America to finally give her side of the whole Chris Brown issue. She wisely used it as a platform to make an appeal to girls, imploring them not to stay in abusive relationships. Then, this past weekend, Rihanna joined Jay-Z onstage at UCLA, triumphantly joining Hov during "Run This Town." Here's hoping things just keep getting better for Rihanna in 2010. Her new album, Rated R, drops November 23,

Britney Spears is known for some positively legendary MTV performances -- her first-ever VMAs in 1999, featuring her belly-baring performance of "Baby... One More Time" with *NSYNC. Britney's "Satisfaction" performance at the 2000 VMAs, where she did a striptease followed by a sexed-up version "Oops ... I Did It Again." Her 2001 VMA "Slave 4 U" performance, featuring a live snake (watch it below). The infamous Madonna-Christina Aguilera kiss at the 2003 VMAs, and, of course, the wince-inducing performance at the 2007 VMAs in Las Vegas, which were, admittedly, no one's greatest moment, but paved the way for Britney's brilliant comeback at the 2008 VMAs.

But, one often overlooked Britney Spears performance is from the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards, where she performed a "Smooth Criminal"-inspired "Baby... One More Time" medley that featured tap dancing, sounded more Christina than Britney and felt like Backstreet Boys' "Everybody (Backstreet's Back") video, and, anachronistically, like Chris Brown's "Wall To Wall" video.

Watch Britney's performance from the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards, and stay tuned to Buzzworthy for lots more from tomorrow's 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin!

Rihanna's new record, "Hard," is leaking like the pipes in a third-floor walk-up apartment. Even Rihanna herself isn't immune to the piracy that haunts the airwaves these days. And maybe that explains the eye patch she's rocking in the newly released "Wait Your Turn" video off Rated R (watch it below.) It's very Captain Jack Sparrow-meets-Marlene Dietrich, no?

Anywho, "Hard." It's produced by two of everyone's favorites, the radio killers Tricky Stewart and The Dream. In a recent interview on Rap-Up.com, Stewart said, "We delivered a very, very big record, but I can’t say what the name of it is or anything, just for the simple fact that it’s actually top secret."

Well, loose lips sink ships and loose singles get leaked, dog. According to Stewart, who describes "Hard" as a monster, this will be his and Dream's only contribution to the album (much like "Umbrella" was their sole contribution to Good Girl Gone Bad).

Rihanna's "Hard" is well...hard. It's got a slight reggae vibe, with some incredible percussion and a really top-drawer verse from Young Jeezy.

+ Listen to "Hard" right here. Will it be bigger than "Umbrella"? Can anything be bigger than "Umbrella"? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Bold, bright makeup looks -- like Lady Gaga's baby pink lipstick, the spring green eyeshadow Adam Lambert rocks on the cover of his For Your Entertainment album cover or the statement-making dramatic deep-dark makeup choices Rihanna makes -- are a fun way to play with color, especially as winter rolls in. But neon looks aren't always easy to achieve. So I called on Doe Deere (that's her above), who's a model, musician, and owner of makeup line Lime Crime.

Doe Deere's constructed an entire modern-day Rainbow Brite universe of unicorns, cupcakes, candy, and cats (not to mention science!) So she's just the perfect person to show you how to properly apply crazy-bright, highly pigmented fluorescent lipsticks and shadows to get the perfect Gaga/ Lambert/ Rihanna/ pick your popstar look.