girls rock !!

Carrying on from our Miley Cyrus post, about impressive youngsters bringing talent and freshness to music, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark is just one of the teens doing the same on the tennis court.

Now 18-years-old, and a former junior Wimbledon champion, Wozniacki is the daughter of Polish parents. Her mother played on the Polish national volleyball team, while her father played football professionally in Germany.

The family moved to Denmark when he was sold to a Danish club. Caroline’s older brother Patrick is a professional football player in Denmark.

As well as excelling on the tennis court, Caroline Wozniacki (photo 1 and 2) has plenty of hobbies and talents. ”I like handball, soccer, swimming, playing the piano and all kinds of different things.” Like many Europeans, Caroline is multi-lingual and speaks fluent Danish, Polish and English, plus a good understanding of Russian.

With an athletic and controlled style, Caroline is also an attractive competitor, with a smile that lights up the court.

There are some of us who much prefer to read what singers and musicians and actresses actually say - rather than the juvenile and copycat garbage of the gutter press and gutter web. So we love Twitter at the moment.

Our love for Miley Cyrus (photo with dad Billy Ray Cyrus) goes back pre-Twitter, however, although we now really enjoy Miley’s tweets. There is a wholesome quality, with strong family values, not to mention an inspiring work ethic. Our guess is dad Billy Ray had a lot to do with that.

If all the pop wannabees were even half as grounded and talented as Miley then the gutter press-n-web would be out of business already.

So we love Miley’s rock-chick passion, her headbanging concerts, and the lean and clean public profile. And it’s also highly visible thanks to Twitter. Go Miley - pure girl power !!

It could be said that Vanity Fair would have a reasonable idea of the World’s Most Beautiful Woman, but even they must have been surprised at the results of their recent online poll. Not just the winning margin, but also the low ranking of stars like Beyonce Knowles and Carla Bruni.

The explanation behind the poll included the thought that modern-day Helens of Troy could start wars - and that is a pretty close description of what we term modern amazons.

So huge respect to Angelina Jolie (photo) for such a tremendous result. Another surprise, and also pleasant, was the comparatively high result for Jennifer Connelly, who we happen to have loved for years - through thick and thin.

• 1) Angelina Jolie 58 per cent
• 2) Gisele Bundchen 9 per cent
• 3) Halle Berry 4 per cent
• 4) Penelope Cruz 3 per cent
• 4) Scarlett Johansson 3 per cent
• 4) Jennifer Connelly 3 per cent

Of course we could be biased, but Angelina and Jennifer are more “complete” women than some of the others, having both acting and personal talents which show strong minds and passionate emotions. A great combination from our perspective.

Looking very tanned and brunette, High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale has a new single out to start the promotion for her next album. With a rock sound similar to Miley Cyrus, it seems the new teen music stars are following Kelly Clarkson rather than Taylor Swift.

The premiere of Tisdale’s new song It’s Alright, It’s Ok was on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show this week, and she talked about the themes of break up and revenge. The 23-year-old explained the song feels “really empowering, and it’s like an independent anthem song, which is great because it’s something I’m listening to right now.”

Ashley Tisdale (photo) also mentioned her second album Guilty Pleasure comes out on June 16th, followed shortly after with her upcoming movie called They Came From Upstairs which is due July 31st.

The album comes from personal experience and she said it is a reflection of where she is in her life. “I’m growing up, but I feel like my fans are growing with me,” Tisdale explained.

The credit crunch has revealed that the so-called “adult” male-focussed business world got it all wrong. The money makers, in store and online, are products and services for the girls. You won’t find IBM, Microsoft or Nokia in the top 10 for girls, nor Toyota, McDonald’s or BMW.

The companies gaining success with the girls are the ones making big bucks. Which means Apple appear in the top 10 twice. The magic combination of the iPhone, iPod and iTunes give Apple a 97% majority for digital sales with teens - the consumers of tomorrow. That No. 2 slot for popularity with girls is worth 97 percent of sales in the sector.

The Apple Mac appears in the No. 9 slot because it works better and feels better. Therefore the efficient user interface and high quality design leave the Windows pretenders for dead. Girl-power on the keyboards, folks.

Freedom from male jargon and boy’s toys have made big impacts eleswhere, so Starbucks, which men think only ranks at 85, is No. 4 for girls. Again, think friendly and easy to use.

As Today.com requests we reduce post sizes and images, go to clik4music for the full rundown.

With an impressive list of female stars, it would not be hard to make the case that British girl singers are equal to their sometimes more famous male counterparts. As the two-part series revealed, some Queens of British Pop were talented but also troubled.

Starting with the troubled, Dusty Springfield was an icon and chart-topper with enormous talent and crippling insecurity, not least because of her sexuality. In contrast, Marianne Faithfull had no problem with her sexuality, but was one of the first stars to be crucified by the media.

Happily, there are fantastic good news stories to provide some balance. Sandie Shaw brought freshness and carefree fashion to the uptight British tv system, while Suzi Quatro (photo 1) and Siouxsie Sioux provided rock-chick power and punk antagonism in equal measure.

At the top of the charts, in many respects, are adopted-Brit Kylie and “new comer” Leona. For personal power and ability to stay “6 months ahead of the rest of the world” it is hard to beat Kylie Minogue. From ultra-teen pop to progressive-trance and even moody-indie, Kylie rocks the charts and concert halls all around the world.

For sheer vocal talent, however, none come close to Leona Lewis (photo 2) and her record-breaking rise to stardom. That rise may have received a huge boost from X Factor, yet even Simon Cowell has said that Leona would have been signed to work with some of the world’s greatest producers and songwriters - whether she won X Factor or not. That trust has paid off with wonderful results for the listening public.

As Today.com has asked us to keep posts short, and not use many photos, you can see the full report at Cheerleaders In High Heels with additional comments on Alison Moyet, Geri Halliwell, Amy Winehouse, Kate Bush and Annie Lennox.

Music prodigy Prince has discovered another princess in his role of band leader and tutor. It may surprise you to know his recording life began 31 years ago, altho that perhaps suggests he knows a good tune and a good voice if he hears one.

Bria Valente (photo shows album cover for Elixer) is the latest protegee to emerge from the Prince kingdom and her album is part of a massive 3-album simultaneous release that launches the new Prince interactive website, LotusFlow3r

So as well as a wide range of styles on the three albums, the website presents a novel way to buy the music, a sort of buffet of download all you can eat for a fixed price.

If you like velvet vocals and funky rhythms - think Janet Jackson, Alicia Keys, etc - then Bria should appeal.

With her Fame Ball Tour inspiring fans throughout America and Canada, and her singles and album setting chart records in the States and the UK, Lady Gaga could be said to have “arrived” at centre stage.

As well as her music, Gaga is just as concerned with fashion and says they cannot really be separated: “When I’m writing music, I’m thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It’s all about everything altogether — performance art, pop performance art, fashion.” To achieve the best, her own creative production team called Haus of GaGa create some of her fashion, stage props and hair treatments.

Never one to hold back, Lady Gaga (photo shows a typical fashion influence) also says, “For me, it’s everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us.”

New single Poker Face will remain at the top of the UK singles chart, while mid-week charts show debut album The Fame will rise to the top of the album chart. Meanwhile Lady Gaga is making US Chart history by becoming the first artist of the new Millennium to top the US charts with her first two singles.

A combination of playful and tearful Miley Cyrus had a good night at the Nickelodeon 2009 Kids’ Choice Awards. The playful was with host Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson who appeared in one segment in the same dress as Miley.

However, while accepting the trademark orange blimp of the Award for Favorite Female Singer, her voice wavered when she had a moment of self-doubt: “I really thought I was gonna lose, so thank you, guys.”

Miley won two awards last year, for Favorite Female Singer and Favorite TV Actress, so we think she is really great and can rest easy that she is doing a terrific job.

Also of note was American Idol winning an award for Favourite TV Show.

With over 90 million viewer votes being cast at Nick’s web site, the popularity of the winners can hardly be disputed.

The Motown musicians and singers have created a remarkable legacy of music. For those who doubt the importance of American Idol, the reality tv talent quest has become the first users ever of original Motown backing tracks.

Second, and again this is a major musical first, the tracks with Idol singers over Motown grooves are an exclusive on iTunes - proving the huge importance of Apple’s digital music platform in today’s music industry.

Just to make that plain, the Motown musicians are some of the most respected in music industry. Second, the singers those musicians worked with, and polished the music for, include people like Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas.

The songs by the Idol girls are:

Allison Iraheta (photo 1) - Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and they produced the original version for Motown’s The Undisputed Truth. The song become a hit single when it was recorded by the Temptations in 1972 and went straight to No. 1.

Megan Joy - For Once In My Life was written by Ron Miller and Orlando Burden and has been recorded by so many artists people may not realize it was originally a Motown hit. Stevie Wonder’s version spent two weeks at No. 2 in 1968.

Lil Rounds (photo 2) - (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave was one of the first hits for the writing/producing team of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland. It was the second chart single for Martha & the Vandellas and was a hit again when it went to No. 5 in 1975 for Linda Ronstadt.

This is a landmark for American Idol and for iTunes - not to mention Allison, Megan and Lil.