Christina Aguilera has finally confirmed reports she is expecting a baby with husband Jordan Bratman. The Beautiful singer has previously refused to comment on the status of her bulging belly, despite her father Fausto Aguilera and her pal Paris Hilton letting slip about the 26-year-old’s happy news earlier this year 2007.

The couple has also been spotted shopping at baby boutiques in Los Angeles on numerous occasions in recent weeks.

But Aguilera, 26, has now spoken out for the first time about her excitement at impending motherhood, revealing to U.S. magazine Glamour that she is expecting the tot in the New Year (08).

When asked about her New Year’s resolutions for 2008, Aguilera says, “That’ll be about the time I enter into mommyhood, so… I’m hoping to have started a beautiful family with my husband!” And music executive Bratman is delighted at the prospect of becoming a father. She adds, “Oh, he’s thrilled! He’s just great.” The baby will be a first for both Aguilera and Bratman, who married in November 2005.

Reports of 50 Cent’s retirement have been greatly exaggerated.

“No, I’m not retiring,” Fitty told me, in the wake of his Kanye West feud. You will recall he pledged to bow out if his album “Curtis” didn’t outsell West’s “Graduation,” which opened nationally at No. 1.

“[My album] was No. 1 internationally the week it came out,” he said at Philippe. “It was the No. 1 European album!”

Indeed, while West trumped Fitty stateside, “Curtis” scored both the top album and single on the Billboard European Hot 100.

Says Fiddy: “It’s all about the numbers at the end of the day.”

 Singer/songwriter Jewel has a new label and a new genre to boot. The artist has signed a multi-album deal with newly launched Nashville-based independent Valory Music Company and will pursue success on the country charts.

Jewel, who has cut five of her six albums in Nashville, says country has always been in her plans. “I’ve been wanting to do this record my whole career,” she tells Billboard.com, “but my label was always scared of country music. I’ve always had country songs on my records.”

Jewel, who previously recorded for Atlantic Records, has sold 14.8 million albums in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. She has scored seven top 10s on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 chart, including two No. 1s, “Foolish Games” and “You Were Meant for Me.”

“If I had been discovered now, living in my car in San Diego, I think I would have been signed as a country act,” she maintains. “As a singer/songwriter and as a storyteller, I’m old fashioned. I like a beginning middle and end to my songs. That’s pretty much just country radio now.”

Scott Borchetta, the president and CEO for Nashville-based independent Big Machine Records, is launching Valory. The label’s name is a variation on country icon June Carter Cash’s birth name, Valerie June CarterAlong with Jewel, whose album was produced by Big & Rich’s John Rich and is expected in the spring, Valory is also home to new artists Justin Moore and Jimmy Wayne.

Borchetta launched Big Machine in 2005. The label is home to rising star Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood and Jack Ingram, among others. It also handles promotion for Garth Brooks, whose current single “More Than A Memory” is one of four new tracks on his forthcoming “The Ultimate Hits” (Pearl).

Though she lives in Texas with bull-riding star boyfriend Ty Murray, Jewel has spent a good bit of time in Nashville over the last few years. Earlier this year she hosted the country reality show “Nashville Star” and she has made a number of appearances at Muzik Mafia events. She co-wrote and dueted with new artist Jason Michael Carroll on “No Good In Goodbye,” which appears on his debut album, “Waitin’ in the Country” (Arista Nashville). And she will be a presenter on the Country Music Association Awards show with Murray on Nov. 7.

“She’s just one of the best singer/songwriters in any genre,” Borchetta says, adding that a move to country is “a natural progression for her.”

Overall, Jewel says fans won’t hear a big difference in the new album. “It won’t sound like a huge, crazy departure,” she says. Among the songs due to make th cut is “Perfectly Clear,” a longtime concert staple and fan favorite that she has never recorded. “It’s sure enough a country song,” she says.

MONTE CARLO, Monaco - Canadian singer Celine Dion and R&B queen Patti LaBelle were honoured at the World Music Awards for their outstanding careers, while British newcomer Mika took home a clutch of prizes.

Dion, who has sold 200 million albums worldwide, received the highest accolade - the Legend Award - at the star-studded ceremony in Monaco on Sunday. In presenting the honour, the tiny principality’s Prince Albert said Dion’s voice “soothes the world’s hearts and creates smiles of love across the face of the world.”

Recalling her start as the youngest performer among 14 musical siblings, Dion dedicated the award to her family.

“Every time I go on stage, it’s all of them going on stage with me,” she said in her acceptance speech in English and French.

Dion then performed “Taking Chances,” the first single from her forthcoming album of the same name, slated for release later this month.

The 39-year-old diva from Quebec already holds a World Music Awards prize for the world’s best-selling female artist of all time. She won the so-called Diamond Award in 2004.

In an effort to further gray the area separating free speech and censorship, Brooklyn assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is demanding that the New York Comptroller withdraw an $84 million state pension fund invested in Universal Music Group and its parent company Vivendi unless Nas changes the title his new album Nigger. “[They are] profiting from a racial slur that has been used to dehumanize people of color for centuries,” Jeffries said. “It is time for Nas and other hip-hop artists to clean up their act and stop flooding the airwaves with the N-word.” According to the Comptroller’s office, he’s intending to the music company and “urge them not to release the album” under that moniker. Universal had no comment.

Rolling Stone’s Evan Serpick recently spoke to Nas regarding the controversy surrounding the new album. While the MC was reluctant to discuss the album’s specifics (”It’s not ready for me to talk about. The album is done, basically, but … it’s a piece of art”), Nas spoke openly about his, and the record label’s, decision to stick with the name. His last album, Hip Hop Is Dead, was supposed to don the title, but “the climate wasn’t right, and Hip Hop Is Dead is also what I was feeling. That went first, and now I’ve got to get this one off my chest,” he explains, turning to speak about the rash of hate crimes involving nooses around the country. “It’s the new act of hate, and probably because of Barack Obama, people’s ignorance and fear and jealousy is creating an outrage throughout the country, and people are reacting by putting nooses up. It’s been a really serious year,” the rapper explained.

So what of all the controversy? “It’s like talking to your child about sex. It’s hard, but it’s important,” he says. “It’s probably going to make people uncomfortable. I don’t expect a lot of people to sell a record called Nigger. Hopefully, people can open their minds up and lose some of their fear and deal with it. It’s just an album. It’s one piece of the many things I do, and this will be one of my favorite pieces.” And his label is firmly behind him, “It will be certain record stores that will be scared to deal with it. The record label is gung ho, and it’s ready to go.”