In the month since Your Boy last assessed Vibe, the publication found itself in a most unfamiliar position: For the first time in a very great while, folks such as your Idolatrix, a few other blawgahs, and various news outlets found selected content within to be newsworthy.

Two weeks ago came Robin Thicke’s complaint to Joshua Alston, the author of the October issue’s “The White Boy Who Turned You Out,” that he believes he was denied any consideration as the mag’s cover boy for this month because he’s Caucasian, and expanded on his theory elsewhere. It is very likely that the mag’s own tidbit was leaked by a Vibe staffer before the issue hit the stands, and with a wave of the wand and a presto or two, the attention that eluded Vibe’s 15th anniversary issue materialized!

(Incidentally, Thicke’s claim is more or less indisputable. While music magazines aimed at white readers, like Rolling Stone, Spin, and Blender, must put African-Americans on their respective covers from time to time in order to defuse any charges of de facto racism, Vibe probably would and very likely has faced accusations from readers that featuring a white cover subject like Eminem or Justin Timberlake would amount to the magazine “selling out.”)

This past week, rumors surfaced that poor lil' Ciara was crying foul over allegedly being Photoshopped to appear starkers on the mag’s cover. And the attached story, “Barely There”? Associate music editor Shanel Odum seems to proceed under the notion that, simply because her interlocutee either has nothing to say or is under strict orders to say nothing remotely interesting, using the “let’s pretend that this singer might be consenting to sexual congress with the reader” conceit is not hugely lazy. But she would be very, very wrong.

And so it goes. These are the kinds of brushfires that an entertainment publication must either manufacture or merely engage gamely should it wish to survive in an environment that threatens to swallow it. This month, Vibe has descended from its alternately fluffy and avuncular remove and seems part of some conversation somewhere. Thus editor-in-chief Danyel Smith has earned her keep.

While YB didn’t find either of the aforesaid articles otherwise very interesting, he’s pleased to say that he rather enjoyed “Boys To Men,” Hillary Crosley’s diligently reported story on the Floridian foursome Pretty Ricky. This is partly because YB is inordinately fond of melismatic R & B boy bands like Boyz II Men, B2K, and Immature, but also because Crosley has the good fortune to have as forthcoming as interviewee as Joseph “Blue” Smith.

Smith is not only the svengali of Pretty Ricky, and the father of two Ricky-ites. He evidently has no problem telling Crosley that “he didn’t mean to have 12 children with 'about eight different women.’ He says his ‘super-sperm’ breaks through most every birth control method invented.” YB is confident the moment these words left Smith’s mouth, Crosley offered a silent prayer of thanks to the deity of her choice.

She goes on detail the travails that Smith and his charges have endured since last year's acrimonious departure of frontman Pleasure P and the addition of replacement Christopher “4Play” Myers. While Smith denies that he fits the tyrannical Joe Jackson role common to boy band maestros, he admits that he “used to put the battery in the sock and throw it at them when they didn’t want to practice.” As much as the piece ostensibly regards Pretty Ricky —the awesomely dubbed Spectacular Smith is photographed unclothed, with only a hat covering his spectacularity—it belongs to the elder Smith. Well done, Ms. Crosley!

This issue is also the first that reflects a much needed design overhaul, one that was promised by Smith last month and one YB has thought necessary for as long as he’s been writing this column. Now, new artist profiles, photo features, shilly product rundowns and every piece that places no demand on the reader’s attention span are grouped in the Front of Book, as it should be, and the mag’s design is less haphazard and unpleasant to look at. Now YB would like breakfast in bed, Vibe! Chop-chop! Quick like bunny!

Easily the most notable change in the refurbished Vibe is that the “Revolutions” album review section has done gone bye-bye. Smith acknowledges this in her “EdNote”: “…In 2008, the most passionate conversations about music revolve around singles and remixes and playlists and who’s downloading what from where and how.” (She directs readers interested in album reviews toward the magazine's Web site.) The closest approximation of arts criticism in the mag will be represented henceforth by The Big Idea, a “helicopter view” essay that this month finds Music Editor Sean Fennessey seemingly alarmed by R & B performers like Ne-Yo not being thuggish enough for his liking.

It doesn’t surprise YB that Smith did not mention the fact that Vibe’s one- to two-month lead time prevents any sort of meaningful engagement with the way music is produced by the artists the magazine covers and acquired by her intended readership. It also doesn’t surprise YB that Smith did not mention that the record companies with which her magazine has traditionally done business have been loath in the past couple of years to supply leaky editorial types with finished music, upon which a bottom line depends.

Of the four magazines regularly considered in this space, it seems that only fusty ol’ Rolling Stone, which is published every two weeks, can credibly contend with newly released records. Increasingly, Blender and Spin are left to review highly anticipated records a month after they've been digested by their audience alongside a bunch of also-rans no one will remember six months from now. So you can’t blame Vibe for dumping a component that, despite being the cornerstone of music magazines for the history of the publishing category, no longer makes much sense. How long will it be until Blender, Spin, and Rolling Stone?em> follow suit? Probably sooner than you think.

"It's just dramatic," Smith said during the interview. "I'm actually really sad. Almost any photo you see on the cover of Vibe or any magazine is airbrushed [to some degree]. What I was thinking of doing, actually, was releasing the unretouched photos [on Vibe's] Web site, so people can see what the hullabaloo is all about."

Smith said she was not present for the shoot but was told by her staff "it was love and kisses and nakedness.

"I have so much respect for Ciara," she continued, "and Ciara was so happy when she pitched this idea to us, and the photos are actually striking and beautiful. ... It was pitched to me in a way that it was time [for her] to grow up and be beautiful and be free and be all the things she wanted to be."

Smith added that she suspects Ciara may not actually be as upset about the photos "as it's been made to seem," and reiterated that the magazine has not been sued by Ciara or anyone representing her. "Vibe would never put anybody out there — man, woman or child — in some way that they did not agree to be," Smith said. "We have no history of doing that."

Well, glad that's cleared up! Looks like the only mystery remaining involves who, exactly, picked out those not-even-stripper-quality shoes for the shoot, and whether or not they were fired for not having eyes.

Ciara Was Nude In Photo Shoot - Vibe Editor [MTV]
Earlier: Is Ciara Mad That "Vibe" Opened Her Up To A Lot Of "Goodies"-Related Puns?

THE RUMOR: Ciara is contemplating a lawsuit against Vibe, saying that her nude pics in the mag—including the one on the cover—were the result of Photoshop trickery, and not her posing while wearing nothing but a pair of super-ugly shoes.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 4%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: Ciara might not be all that happy with the result of her Vibe shoot, although I suspect it's more because they didn't exactly set the world on fire with their SHOCKING NUDITY!! than anything else.

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: Hey, look at this interview where Ciara talks about the shoot!

"It was pretty fun," Ciara revealed in a recent interview with Dimewars. "It was my first time being this open for a photoshoot. This was my first cover for my new project so it was a lot of fun. I'm in a different space now, I'm older... I'm in an even more experimental and really fun feeling phase right now so I think a lot of that just came out when I was doing my photoshoot...Just stepping into this setting today I was excited, I was very happy I'm in a different phase and very very experimental phase so because of that there is a very strong connection to what I'm doing today."

These rumors of her suddenly being unhappy with the pictures—which mushroomed from being mentioned on one blog Wednesday to much, much more today—seem more like a ploy to keep her name in the press than anything else. Did you know that a single of hers leaked this week? Yeah, neither did I, until I Googled around for something on this "lawsuit" beyond a whirlpool of sites whispering the rumor while all linking to one another. Bottom line, this smells more like a whsiper campaign designed to keep Ciara's name "out there" and simultaneously capitalize on the post-Jordin Sparks outburst era than anything else. Thankfully, I'm not alone in my suspicions.

Ciara suing Vibe for defamation?? [StreetCred.com]
Ciara Credits 'Experimental Phase' For Nude Vibe Cover [ciaraharris.org]

"First of all, I don't take pictures of myself," Brown told the mag. "If I'm gonna show somebody that, I'd rather show the person that's gonna be in the room with me at that time." So who might be that person be? Not Ciara, that's for sure. When asked about her, his face "curls up as if he'd just noticed a foul odor," Vibe observed. "I don't want Ciara," Brown said. "I don't want any industry girl." He'd prefer a "regular girl" — that is, provided she's also "a model."

That's cool, man, I understand. I'd like a girlfriend who's an amazon brain surgeon/ex-Top Chef contestant with a good line in burritos/part-time video game developer who gets plenty of free swag. Ah, the entitlement that comes from being young, pretty, moderately famous, and able to walk up walls. I wonder where we're going to rank in Google's search results for "Chris Brown nudes," especially in relation to "horny emo teens". (Kate's parents must be so proud.)

Chris Brown Doesn't Want Ciara [MTV]

^* Just kidding, y'all.

Ciara feat. R. Kelly - Promise (Remix) [MP3, link removed; via Smoking Section]

Ciara's The Evolution is one of the most self-absorbed albums of the year—a navel-fixated state-of-Ciara address with song titles like "I'm Just Me" and "I Found Myself" and a spoken-word interlude called "The Evolution Of C"; it's like she's reading a LiveJournal page with an assist from Lil Jon. But "Promise" is as devotional as it is emotional, and even though the liner notes credit the track to more than a dozen names, it's one of the more minimal hits of 2006, relying on nothing more than some synth squiggles and a scorching, relentless beat.

Ciara - Promise [MP3, link expired]

Biggest Debuts: Eminem's compilation album The Re-Up debuted at No. 2, selling 309,000 copies and ensuring that the ever-beleaguered rapper would at least have something to complain about on his next record; Gwen Stefani's collection of odes to the Gwen Stefani brand, The Sweet Escape, came in at No. 3, selling 243,000 copies.

Biggest Slides: Maybe Lefsetz was right; Jay-Z's Kingdom Come was the only album in the top 25 to experience a sales decrease this week, dropping from No. 6 to No. 15 after a 27% sales dip. It wasn't the most embarrassing decline, though: That honor would go to last week's No. 1, Incubus, whose Light Grenades tumbled all the way to No. 37, setting a record for a post-top-spot drop in the process.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: We could give this award to Chris Daughtry, whose Daughtry hung tough and sold about the same amount it did last week, but if we want to get really inexplicable, there's always the saccharine-sweet pop-opera group Il Divo, whose Siempre benefited from an Oprah appearance with a whopping 128% sales gain. We know, we know, they're a Simon Cowell-engineered juggernaut, but come on: have you heard their overwrought Italian-language cover of "Without You"? It makes us pine for the subtle vocal stylings of Clay Aiken.

Ciara, Eminem, Stefani Overtake The Billboard 200 [Billboard]

Ciara, Ciara: The Evolution
The artist: Dance-music darling who Lil' Jon christened "the first lady of crunk n' B."
The sound: Club-floor burners, with the occasional slow jam sprinkled in between Chamillionaire and 50 Cent cameos.
The first in line: Aerobicizers looking for a new workout soundtrack.

Brian McKnight, 10
The artist: Soul stalwart celebrating his 15th year in the business.
The sound: Late-night lover's rock—capped by a soldier's-story song that enlists country powerhouse Rascal Flatts.
The first in line: Ladies whose torch for McKnight has only grown brighter with age.

Various artists, Dreamgirls
The artists: A couple of R & B's marquee names (Beyonce, Jamie Foxx)—and the much-buzzed-about Idol cast-off Jennifer Hudson.
The sound: Motown gets the Broadway treatment.
The first in line: Idol completists, Beyonce fans, musical theater nerds.

Various artists, The OC Mix 6: Covering Our Tracks
The artists : Buzz bands of weeks past, including Pinback, Mates of State, and Rogue Wave.
The sound: Faithful updates to indie-kid classics like "Debaser" and "Pretty Vacant."
The first in line: Faithful indie-yuppies who haven't already cherry-picked their favorite covers from the filesharing wilds.

On The CD Front [Pause & Play]