Sean "Diddy" Combs presented Janelle Monae, the newest addition to the Bad Boy Records roster, to music industry insiders last night (April 3) at New York's Blender Theater. The singer/songwriter/producer is signed to the label via her own Wondaland Arts Society imprint.
"I've been blessed with artists like Jodeci, Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J.
Blige in the past, but this artist right here ... you've just got to see it to believe it. I don't know if you ever felt the Holy Ghost, but that's the only feeling you're going to feel tonight," said an excited Combs as he introduced Monae before a full house.

After a 17-year hiatus, George Michael is giving the U.S. touring market one more try. Tickets for his summer outing, which begins June 17 in San Diego, go on sale this weekend.
Michael may also have a hit on his hands in the form of his retrospective album "Twenty Five," released earlier this week via Epic. The set is on course for a top 25 debut on The Billboard 200 chart next week, based on its first day sales on Nielsen SoundScan's Building Chart.
Michael promoted the tour and album today (April 4) on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," where he called in and offered up a pair of tickets to his June 25 Los Angeles show to everyone in the audience. DeGeneres' Web site is also giving away a pair of tickets to each tour stop.

Kelly Clarkson has shared with Billboard.com her thoughts on four unfinished songs leaking to the Internet.
The new material from Clarkson, never one to escape controversy, surfaced earlier this week via the Los Angeles-based music blog Pretty Much Amazing. The four songs -- "Close Your Eyes," "Ready," "One Day," and "With a Little Bit of Luck" -- have varying sound quality, indicating that the tracks are in different stages of the recording process.
"I write all the time -- lots of stuff not meant to ever be released, just working on ideas," Clarkson tells Billboard.com of the leaked work. "The fact that people have heard music that's not ready yet sucks, but I hope they like it."