pop corner

AILBHE MALONEis packing her umbrella (ella ay ay ay)

TRACK OF THE WEEK

Stay Awayby Charli XCX. We haven't been this obsessed with a track since we first heard Nerina Pallot's Put Your Hands Up. Although Charli's stage name looks like a predictive text gone wrong, this 18-year-old is pushing all our buttons. Like Cher Lloyd's epic performance of Stay, this is lush MySpace goth, with tears on the synth and a spoken bit. Amazing.

N-DUBZ WATCH

It feels like only last week we were bemoaning the incoming lack of Dubz in our life. And it seems that the Dubz gods have heard our lament, as they've blessed us with the best news ever: Tulisa is to take Dannii Minogue's place on the X Factorpanel. The fat lady hasn't yet sung a note, but Tuls is keen to get started. A pal told the Sun, "this is a dream come true for Tulisa. This will catapult her to a household name. She is being talked about as the new Cheryl."

- Beyoncé's spilled the influences for her upcoming album, 4. Speaking to Billboardmagazine, she said "I found a lot of inspiration in '90s RB; Earth, Wind Fire; DeBarge; Lionel Richie; Teena Marie . . . I listened to a lot of Jackson 5 and New Edition, but also Adele, Florence + the Machine, and Prince. "Add in my hip-hop influences, and you can hear how broad it is." Sounds like she'd make a killer mix CD – we're first in line.

- Girly holiday alert! Rihanna has told Cheryl Cole she wants to bring her to Barbados . A well-informed source told More!the proposed itinerary. "There's a restaurant there called The Tides, and Rihanna's been saying they can go there for amazing food. No one will even recognise them. Then they'll head on to 1st Street, which is just a short walk away. They can go to one of the clubs there to dance the night away and see blokes." We're too excited to question any of this. We've packed our suncream and are figuring the best way to hide in Cheryl's suitcase.