New Music - Battle of the RnB Babes

No, I'm not Nicki Minaj. I'm Ciara.

Ciara ft. The Dream - Speechless

Upon her debut, Ciara seemed destined for greatness. She went straight to #1 with 'Goodies' and had us all doing the '1, 2 Step' on her follow up. Subsequent releases have differed in quality, but she's dropped a couple of fun singles ('Get Up' and 'Work) that somehow failed to match the success of her first two songs. On October 5 Ciara will be releasing her fourth studio album, Basic Instinct, and is starting to gain some buzz with the music video to new song 'Speechless.' Unfortunately she's not showing off her incredible flexibility (see 'Love, Sex, Magic) but she still looks amazing. What about the song? It's pretty standard RnB and nothing special. Hopefully there's some glimmers of what made her a huge star in the first place on the new album. By that, I mean that I want some sick crunking beats that make you want to dance crazy. Not that I dance crazy.

Rating: 2/5

Jennifer Lopez ft. The Dream & Rick Ross - We Run The World

Honestly, I still thought I was listening to 'Speechless.' Did The Dream produce this one too? Maybe that's the problem. Where's Jenny from the Block at? Sadly, not here and again, it's just standard RnB fare that a lot of the ladies are releasing today. Luckily, Lopez doesn't even need to release music now that's she's pocketing a cool $12 million to judge Idol this year.

Rating: 1.5/5

Nicki Minaj - Right Thru Me

What was with everyone hailing Minaj as the second coming of Missy Elliott? Sure, she tore up 'Monster' alongside Kanye and Jay-Z. I'd go so far as to say she stole the show. But there's no sign of a rising rap star here. She's a capable hip-hop/RnB/rap star and has a ton of potential, but when she's releasing songs like this it's hard to differentiate her from the dozens of other young RnB stars.

Rating: 2/5

Brandy - Lifeguard

'Lifeguard' is far and away the best song in this bunch. It's also likely to be the least likely to gain any attention. Even though she's one of the biggest RnB stars of all-time (30 million albums sold worldwide), Brandy's struggled to achieve the success she had in the 90s. She might get some chart loving in the US since she's on Dancing With the Stars, and if she wins it she might even get a sales boost. Here's hoping.

Rating: 3/5

It's been a slow week for new music, ok.