Jennifer Hudson Steps Into the 'Spotlight' With New Single

I am excited to break this hot news in the blogosphere, that Jennifer Hudson, the black, bold and beautiful winner of an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a SAG Award for her unforgettable role in Dreamgirls has released her very first official single, Spotlight.

Jennifer Hudson Steps Into the 'Spotlight' With New Single. (PRNewsFoto/Arista Records) NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES 05/17/2008.

19 May 2008 14:00 Africa/Lagos


Jennifer Hudson Steps Into the 'Spotlight' With New Single

Highly-Anticipated Debut Album Set for September Release on Arista records

NEW YORK, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- After her critically-acclaimed performance in Dreamgirls, Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson makes her long-awaited foray into the music scene with "Spotlight," her official first single from her self-titled debut album, set for release in September on Arista Records. "Spotlight" impacts radio June 9 and will be digitally available at iTunes on June 10.


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/NYM040 )


Written and co-produced by Ne-Yo and produced by Stargate, "Spotlight," which addresses insecurities within a relationship, is one of many stellar songs which showcases Hudson's amazing powerhouse vocals. An all-star team of writers and producers have been assembled to contribute their talents to Hudson's highly-anticipated debut album, including Timbaland, Robin Thicke, The Underdogs, Diane Warren, Tricky Stewart and more.


"I'm beyond ecstatic about my new album," says Hudson. "I think people will be pleasantly surprised, because it shows a side of my work that no one has heard before. This album has a huge variety of sounds and one of my favorite songs is 'Spotlight' because it has this great infectious groove. This is completely new territory for me and I can't wait for people to hear it."


Clive Davis, Chief Creative Officer, SonyBMG Worldwide states: "With Jennifer's debut album we will be introducing a major new recording star. She takes on every genre of music and makes each her own. She's pure and simple a great natural talent and her album will very excitingly reflect that."


In addition to her debut album, Hudson continues with her burgeoning acting career in the much-buzzed about New Line Cinema version of the HBO hit series Sex and the City: The Movie, in theatres May 30. On October 17, Hudson returns to the silver screen in the film adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's best-selling novel The Secret Life of Bees.


Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/NYM040
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN8
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Arista Records

CONTACT: Theola Borden, or Arista-RCA Music Group, +1-646-840-5673,
Theola.Borden@SonyBMG.com; or Allison Elbl, +1-323-822-4851, aelbl@id-pr.com,
or Liz Mahoney, +1-323-822-4875, lmahoney@id-pr.com, both of ID, for Arista
Records


Web site: http://www.rcarecords.com/

N.B:
Jennifer Hudson acted as Carrie Bradshaw’s assistant Louise in Sex and the City: The Movie and she performed the soundtrack All Dressed Up In Love to be released on 27 May 2008 before the premiere of Sex and the City: The Movie on 30 May 2008.

The song is awesome! Here is the musical video as well as the complete lyrics.



All Dressed Up In Love

When you can wear what you feel
What do you wanna say?
Now love is a little number that you can wear each day
As long as you let me be the accessory
Simply send me on my way
Style of love
I look good in love
When it’s been out of sight and out of mind for such a long time
That’s how one forgets
So I reached in the back of my closet and pulled it out
And tried it on and it still fits
So I covered the pain up with lots of MAC make-up
But I can’t help but blush
Because I’m in love
All dressed up in love

(Chorus)
Cool in the summer, warm in the winter
I’m dressed up in love
I’m cool in the summer, warm in the winter
Cuz I’m in love
All dressed up in love
People are looking, some even staring
I don’t know it, when they ask me what I’m wearing
This or that, it’s made for any weather
My friend and I sit down and we both make it together
Now if you really want one of your own
I hope your shoes are made for walking
Cuz I found love and I you must find love
[Chorus]
Cuz I’m in love
And you must find love

NEWSWEEK: Newsweek's Annual Oscar Roundtable Brings Together Biggest Names of 2007: Clooney, Day-Lewis, Jolie, McAvoy

20 Jan 2008 18:26 Africa/Lagos


NEWSWEEK: Newsweek's Annual Oscar Roundtable Brings Together Biggest Names of 2007: Clooney, Day-Lewis, Jolie, McAvoy

On Prospect of no Oscars: "Nobody is going to cross the picket line," Clooney says.

"We're all going to George's house," says Angelina Jolie.

NEW YORK, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ --

If the Oscars come around and there's still no resolution to the writer's strike, "The world will end. It's fact. It's official. I was told so. [laughter]," James McAvoy tells Newsweek at the 11th annual Oscar Roundtable. "Nobody is going to cross a picket line. Nobody would even consider it. Would you want to be the only person at the awards?" George Clooney -- the class clown-says. "We're all going to George's house," Angelina Jolie adds. McAvoy, Clooney, Jolie, plus Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard and Ellen Page participated in Newsweek's annual event, moderated by Senior Editor and Movie Critic David Ansen and Senior Editor Devin Gordon.


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080120/NYSU003 )

Highlights include:

Clooney on getting involved in political campaigns:

"You know, Michael Moore -- and I like Michael a lot -- but that speech he gave at the Oscars was polarizing. It became Hollywood versus the heartland, and I always find that it's best not to raise the rhetoric at that point. I've been a big supporter of Barack Obama since his Senate run and I'm a friend of his, but I said to him, "I stay completely out of it." I don't show up at those things. And believe me, it's not because his group doesn't say, "Come on, help us out." It's just not the attention you want. I worry about that a lot, because you don't want to do harm."


Jolie on capturing the essence of Mariane Pearl and the symbolism of working with a diverse cast in "A Mighty Heart":


"She never came on the set. She was going to come the first day, and she walked in on me in a costume fitting for her wedding dress. I think she just realized in that moment that she could not see any of it. She said it looked absolutely exact, and then we had dinner, and then she said she was going to leave the next morning." On the cast diversity and political aspect of the film, Jolie told Newsweek, "Just having all those actors at the table was a nice balance, because during this time when our country is at war and there's so much happening, to be in India and Pakistan with Indian and Pakistani actors, who usually also don't work together and don't cross each other's border, to have them asking us questions about politics, to actually have open discussions about 9/11, about Muslim culture, American culture, sharing food, sharing ideas, writing each other's kids' names down -- that did something for us. It was really exciting to say, "God, that Pakistani actor or that Indian actor is one of the best actors I've ever worked with," and I don't often think of actors beyond, you know, the list we're all used to. I think that is very symbolic of what the piece represented."


Day-Lewis on acting with his 10 year-old co-star in "There Will Be Blood":


"He was just a great companion. He was my partner. I miss him a lot, actually. His mom was a state trooper, and his dad was a cowboy. They didn't know anything about the movies. There was a moment, which could have gone awry at the very beginning, when his mom quite rightly thought, "What kinds of people are going to be involved with my son?" She wanted to see what I was going to be like, because she knew he would be spending a lot of time with me. So she rented a copy of "Gangs of New York." [Laughter] And there was a flurry of phone calls. And the studio dispatched a copy of "The Age of Innocence" very quickly."


Cotillard on what she did to pass the time while getting makeup done:


"I slept all the time. We had almost 30 days of heavy makeup. I wanted to kill everybody, and especially everybody wanted to kill me. So they put me in a bed, and they did the makeup while I was sleeping. It was very funny because there's a guy who came to shoot video of me almost every day getting this done. And I saw the video, and they were doing things to me and I can't believe I didn't wake up. It was acrylic painting and latex and prosthetics, so there's glue and all that. Sometimes I had nightmares, and I would wake up with a big scream and cry. One day I was crying while I was sleeping, so the makeup artist's assistant had to spend four hours with tissues around my eyes, so the salt from my tears didn't spoil the makeup."


McAvoy on his experience with the paparazzi:


"I've only ever had anybody waiting outside my house once. We got in our car and we were followed, and it was very weird and disconcerting. We thought we would just go about our daily life and just ignore it, all that kind of thing. I think because we had once read that Clive Owen said just ignore it. Like, do whatever Clive Owen does -- he's a solid guy. We were going into town to buy something for the house, and we went into a parking lot that costs 10 pounds Sterling an hour, and on seeing the price of the parking, the paparazzi went, "F--- that." They left us alone. So the lesson is, if you're being chased by paparazzi, don't drive fast. Just find a really expensive parking lot, and you will be fine."


Clooney adds, "I just found out about 10 days ago that I must live 300 or 400 yards from Britney Spears. I found out because I came home at 10 at night and there's all these helicopters over my house with these spotlights on ... I thought someone had broken out of prison. Like something out of "Die Hard." I get my baseball bat, which is what you always do in every film ... and I called up my assistant, who I thought was in the guesthouse, and I said, "Are you OK?" And she said, "Yes." ... And I go out and I'm running around with a baseball bat in my robe. And it turns out it's paparazzi over at Britney Spears's house. So now I have to move. [Laughter]


Page on the movie that was the impetus for choosing to be an actor:


"It wasn't until I was about 15, when I shot a film with this Canadian actress named Molly Parker, who I just absolutely adored and looked up to, and became inspired by. For the first time, I felt something different. I felt myself being overcome by something I can't necessarily explain. But I wanted to keep feeling that and finding out what that was and learning more about it."


(Read entire roundtable and watch the video at www.Newsweek.com)


http://www.newsweek.com/id/96123 - There Will Be Oscar's


Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080120/NYSU003
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN2
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: LaVenia LaVelle of Newsweek, +1-212-445-4859


Web site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/