None of the original line-up are involved so we’re not really sure why they’re called The Pussycat Dolls, as it’s essentially a completely new band, but what can you do.

The line-up now features X Factor USA contestant Simone Battle, Paradiso Girl and fellow Brit Lauren Bennett, Elise Estrada’s younger sibling Emmalyn Estrada and two other girls called Paula Van Oppen and Natasha Slayton.

To the side is a picture of them ‘harmonising’ and there are some more photos of them here if you’re interested.

Christina Aguilera gave a ‘full-bodied’ performance of ‘At Last’ at Etta James’ funeral on Saturday. (The Wall Street Journal)

The Pussycat Dolls are sort-of back: they will be returning with all new members in a GoDaddy.com commercial to be shown in the Super Bowl ad break on Sunday. (Ace Showbiz) All signs of a promising relaunch.

Rihanna has bought a fairly extravagant £100,000 portrait of Marilyn Monroe made up of 65,000 crystals, which the artist claims “constantly changes colour, sending rainbows round the room”. (Capital FM)

Like the rest of the nation, Nicola Roberts was “frustrated and angry inside every day” when Girls Aloud decided to take an extended ‘hiatus’. (Contactmusic)

Peter Andre will presumably be discussing the finer points of ‘Mysterious Girl’ and what ‘Insania’ really means when he speaks at the Oxford Union on Tuesday. (The Sun)

‘Woohoo’ hitmaker Nicki Minaj looks pretty happy in these Grammy promo pics alongside LL Cool J. (The Source)

Jessie J donates any of her unwanted onsies and safari-print monstrosities to her local charity shop, or directly to the homeless. (The Sun) As if the homeless haven’t got enough problems as it is.

And finally, there were some truly hideous outfits on display at France’s NJR Music Awards over the weekend, where Adele picked up the demurely-titled International Revelation Of The Year Award and Mika (!) won International Male Artist Of The Year. (Daily Mail) Scroll to the bottom to see Redfoo from LMFAO ‘striking a pose’ in his ‘Party Rock Anthem’ ensemble, complete with a toy zebra attached to his crotch. What a cunt, ladies and gentlemen. What a cunt.

THAT WAS some of THE NEWS.

The brand new dolls will ‘star’ in the ad for internet domain name provider Go Daddy as the object of two teenage boys’ fantasies.

The group has been ‘downsized’ to a five-piece that now includes (in order of obscure claims to fame) ex-Girlicious Christina Sayers, Paradiso Girls singer Lauren Bennett, So You Think You Can Dance runner-up Paula Van Oppen, and former professional cheerleaders Erica Jenkins and Vanessa Curry.

PCD CEO Robin Anton said: ”This the first time that the world is going to see the actual, new Pussycat Dolls”, describing the ad as “two very sexy brands coming together”.

Well quite.

You can watch the ad here here.

In a story that has definitely not been made up, Lady Gaga and Queen might be doing the new James Bond theme song together. (Daily Star) It is also ‘revealed’ that Simon Cowell may have a Bond night on The X Factor next year.

In other X Factor news, Adele will be singing at the final on December 11. (The Sun) It will be her first performance since her throat operation earlier this month. It is such a cruel twist that Craig will not be around to join Adele in a ‘looking defiant and pointing fingers upwards’ sing-off. :(

Katy Perry might play Marilyn Monroe on Broadway one day. (The Washington Post)

Lauren Bennett – who sang on LMFAO’s timeless ‘Party Rock Anthem’ – will be in the new Pussycat Dolls lineup. (Billboard) She is currently the only member of the group. Incredible.

This is an amateur video of ‘besties’ Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez singing on stage for the first time together. (YouTube)

Justin Bieber and his ”big bro” Usher caused some slight traffic delays when they performed at the Rockefeller Plaza yesterday. (Contactmusic)

Alexandra Burke has seemingly given up on being a popstar and is now promoting watches for Argos. (Twitter)

And finally, Britney Spears is the most ”circled” person on the social network phenomenon that is Google+. (The Atlantic Wire) We suppose she should probably be known as Britney Spheres from now on, right? Ahahaha hahaha aha ahha ahahaha.

THAT WAS some of THE NEWS.

Lady Gaga was a ‘surprise’ guest at the International Emmys in New York last night, presenting ‘Nasty’ Nigel Lythgoe the honorary International Emmy Founders Award. (Washington Post) Mind you it would have been a better surprise if they’d got Hear’Say or Darius Danesh to present the award.

Brace yourselves for another eight-year album campaign: Nicki Minaj’s second album will be out in the early part of 2012, but everyone is being a bit vague about it. (Billboard)

Matt Cardle doesn’t know if he’ll be able to emulate the success of previous X Factor winners like Leona Lewis. (964Eagle) Considering he was performing last night at Guildford’s G-Live venue – where the last big live draw was Shakin’ Stevens – he’s probably got a point.

An important discussion on whether Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez looked best in the “Sparkly Nude Performance Outfit” takes place here. (MTV)

Jessica Sutta, the least memorable member of the Pussycat Dolls, will be opening a “multi-media, star-studded, internationally known event of now enormous proportions” – The Dinah Shore Weekend – in March 2012. (top40-charts)

This is an incredibly tedious video interview with Olly Murs. (YouTube) Skip to 48 seconds in to watch him drinking bottled water in as irritating a manner as possible.

Madonna might be headlining the Isle of Wight Festival next year. (Gigwise)

One Direction have signed a US record deal with Columbia in an attempt to break into America. (The Sun) We wonder what Credibility Cardle thinks of that Columbia’s ‘real music’ roster now.

And finally, The Wanted are urging Frankie Cocozza to ”milk” his fame. (Daily Star) According to Jay, “We have our fair share of talentless women that are famous for being attractive – or even not ’cos there’s quite a few mingers that are famous for being famous – so maybe it’s time we had some men around doing it.” What a charmer.

THAT WAS some of THE NEWS.

» Following Lady Gaga‘s lead and dressing up like someone from the opposite sex can boost your career. (International Business Times)

» Despite slipping under the radar in the UK, Adele‘s criminally overlooked song ‘Someone Like You’ is now Number One in America. (Billboard)

» Joe Jonas‘ forthcoming solo album is a mixture of “urban, hip-hop, dance stuff, electronic stuff” (THANKS FOR THAT JOE) and is incredibly personal. (Rolling Stone)

» Leona Lewis doesn’t like to see people “dancing around a pole”. (Contactmusic)

» Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez have recorded a duet and it’s called ‘Mouth2Mouth’. (Idolator) The song shares the same producer as Iglesias’ tender ballad ‘Tonight (I’m Fuckin’ You)’.

» A 2009 lawsuit accusing Madonna of being a noisy neighbour will go to trial. (NY Daily News)

» One Direction stayed up past their bedtime the other night. (The Sun)

» Now Nicole Scherzinger is a solo singer she has to make sure she gets noticed by wearing “short suits, jumpsuits and lots of leather” as opposed to the boiler suits she wore as part of the Pussycat Dolls. (V-Blog)

» And finally, like all of us, Kelly Rowland enjoys singing ‘Part Of Your World’ from Disney’s The Little Mermaid in the shower. (AOL Music)

THAT WAS some of THE NEWS.

» Leona Lewis has had a poem about horses tattooed down her back. (The Sun)  It includes the line “to ride a horse is to ride the sky” which is perhaps not the most THERE IS NO WAY OF ENDING THIS SENTENCE WITHOUT DESCENDING INTO FILTH BUT YOU KNOW WHAT WE’RE THINKING.

» Kasabian‘s album is the best of the last year. (NME) (Kasabian’s album is not the best of the last year.)

» Rihanna has done a session for AOL. (Only VIP Media)

» Calvin Harris has added his support to the Mail On Sunday. (The Sun)

» Susan Boyle has been mistaken for The Queen. (Digital Spy)

» The shortlist for 2013′s UK city of culture has been announced. (Guardian)  Norwich is on the list.

» Lady Gaga has unveiled her new look. (BBC)

» Two members of The Pussycat Dolls are not exactly best friends. (Digital Spy)

And that’s your lot.

If you’re a fan of Ke$ha’s ‘look at me I’m drunk LOL’ schtick you might find Californian three-piece Millionaires – launching next year in the UK, having signed a deal with B-Unique – are up your street. They make Ke$ha look like Susan Boyle, and have songs called things like ‘Alcohol’, ‘Just Got Paid Let’s Get Laid’, ‘I Like Money’ and ‘Talk Shit’.

This is the ‘Just Got Paid’ video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2R03A0dWqo

As you can tell it’s all a bit ‘yes well done ladies how about a nice cup of tea’ and we suspect that the predictable slew of furious Daily Mail articles form a significant part of their early UK marketing strategy but we’ve felt for a while that some of their tunes (and some of the production) make the band more than just flimsy web-friendly tryhards. We very nearly put up some bits about the band about a year ago and for various reasons (not least the depressing slog of writing an introductory piece about an act with a quarter of a million MySpace friends) we swerved it, but Melissa, Allison and Dani are in the UK RIGHT NOW and if their plan pays off the trio will be unavoidable in the coming months.

They’ll be kicking things off with a download of ‘Just Got Paid…’ but today’s Popjustice Song Of The Day is one of the band’s new tracks, ‘Prom Dress’…

…and if you’re interested in seeing them live they’re in Leeds tonight, at Death Disco (London) tomorrow, in Portsmouth (!) on Thursday, then back in London on Friday for two more gigs, followed by a Glasgow date on Saturday. Full details on their MySpace.

(Amusingly, the post we wrote directly before this one accuses a different girlgroup of lacking Pussycat Dolls’ “subtlety or complex feminist agenda”.)

If you’re looking for this year’s most crass and self-serving Christmas charity single you may have found your winner: ‘Santa Bring My Soldier Home’ by US girlgroup The Stunners. The band may be familiar to a couple of you already – they’re like Pussycat Dolls without the subtlety or the complex feminist agenda and they’ve got a brilliantly-titled song called ‘Dancing Around The Truth’ which sadly has all the originality and natural energy of a mid-ranking track on the current Saturdays album.

‘Santa Bring My Soldier Home’ – which, it’s fair to say, slightly overestimates Santa’s true level of influence on the world politics stage – is a bit like last year’s X Factor Finalists cover of ‘Hero’ in aid of Help For Heroes except this release is unlikely to raise much in excess of twelve pence for the nominated charity and it’s therefore that very worst type of charity single: one which preys on what it perceives to be ‘an easy target’ (in this case the supposedly emotionally vulnerable families and friends of those serving overseas) and conveniently boosts the profile of the act singing the song, but doesn’t even make any bloody money.

We know what you’re thinking. “Surely what this inane pop release really demands is an emotionally manipulative TV performance.” Let’s ‘fire up the press release’ and see what’s in store.

The Stunners will be performing “Santa Bring My Soldier Home” on The Wendy Williams Show on December 14, 2009.  Viewers are invited to submit photos of loved ones in the Armed Forces to be shown during what is sure to be a touching performance.  More details are available here:  http://www.wendyshow.com/2009/12/04/santa-bring-my-soldier-home/

Nice.

Needless to say the song is shit, but wait until you see the video they’ve put up on YouTube to accompany the track, then HOLD YOUR HEAD IN HORROR as the band’s appeal for responses scrolls before your eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OMy_lzV7mY

If for whatever reason you wish to download this astonishing piece of music you can do so at Santabringmysoldierhome.com.