Chris Brown was pegged early as the next Michael — or at least the next Usher — after his first single, the supersyncopated “Run It!” hit Number One in 2005. Four more Top Ten hits followed, but what really brought on the Jacko comparisons was Brown’s dizzying performance at the 2007 MTV VMAs, where his Super Mario-like dance moves made Justin Timberlake “feel old” and (almost) made up for Britney Spears’ catatonic opener. “When I was younger, I was in it just for girls,” says Brown. “But as I got into it, I wanted to show people I could become a great artist.” This fall, Brown will begin work on his third album. “I’ll be almost twenty, so we can get a little dirty,” he says. “But not R. Kelly dirty.”

-BRIAN HIATT