In the late 90’s and early millennium years, Southern artists were making their mark on the music industry. With prominent figures such as Jermaine Dupri with his So So Def camp, OutKast, Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz, and T.I. all paving the way for Atlanta artists to dominant the market.
In the midst of the crunk and snap music era, which we can refer to as the dance era of our time, a beautiful dancing machine erupted on the scene. Yes, I am talking about Ciara – The Princess of Crunk&B.
Stepping on the scene and turning heads with her “Goodies” track – a song (and album) that quickly garnered much popularity – Ciara was destined to have longevity as a star. With the success of her first album, Goodies, under her belt, CiCi wasted no time in dropping her second album, Ciara: The Evolution, in 2006 – which was another hit spawning album, that produced multiple hit records. Her chart-topping single, “Promise,” transitioned Ciara from young girl next door to grown woman who demanded much attention.
Although, it seemed as if Ciara’s winning streak wouldn’t let up any time soon, we soon found different. Her following albums, ‘Fantasy Ride’ and ‘Basic Instinct’ were both ‘let downs’ to consumers in comparison to her initial two efforts…
Now, three years after her last album release, a few push back dates, twitter beefs and relationships later, Ciara is finally back on the music scene! Her upcoming album, One Woman Army, will be released this summer, and it seems as if it will be bringing success back her way.
In case you’ve been living under a rock lately, along with her upcoming album, Ciara is in a new relationship; with popular ATL rapper, Future. So, we can’t help but wonder – is this new relationship bringing an elongated “future” to her career?
With past relationships ranging from Bow Wow, 50 Cent and that God-awful and messy situation with NBA player, Amar’e Stoudemire, it seems as if she may have a keeper with this one.
Both seem to be very happy with one another and the music that Ciara is dishing out shows it ALL. Rumors about the two began to surface when her remix to “Sorry“, which featured Future, dropped at the end of 2012. Definitely a catchy track, “Sorry” – both the original and remix – have garnered much success thus far. Her latest single, “Body Party,” is just as hot, if not hotter, and looks to be shifting momentum back up in the direction of her forthcoming album.
All I’m saying is, if this is what we needed from her to get great music again, and see her come back into the spotlight, then let’s keep him around! I’ve always been a fan of Ciara – although I was falling all over my parents living room floor attempting to replicate her Matrix move in the “Goodies” video – and I think she’s an extremely talented young woman. I’m hoping that this newfound relationship and upcoming album can shine much light onto her unfortunately dimming career. I guess we’ll see how it goes when One Woman Army hits stores soon! Until then though, let us know what you think? Is Ciara’s new relationship with Future, helping or hurting her new music?
– words by Ni’Kesia Pannell
Her singles have always been great in my opinion. I enjoyed her last album
I feel like he just gave her a positive redirection. She had time to focus on something positive rather than the negativity of 50 cent. Her inspiration became broader… so in a way yeah he did but she never had “bad” music.
Ciara has never had “bad” music, she’s always created good music & the lack of success of both her previous albums can be blamed on lack of label support & bad single choices. I do think that Future has, however, re-inspired her in a way. Even she has said that he inspires her. Sometimes we have to get rid of the old & negative & bring in the new & positive. She ditched Jive & 50 Cent & united with LA Reid & Future. I think that she’s just in a happier & more positive place in her life, she no longer has to worry about all the negative things that were once holding her down which means she can now focus solely on the music & because of THAT, she’s making better music. I’m looking forward to One Woman Army, I know it will be her best effort to date. JUNE 4TH!!
I disagree. I think her recent flops are her and her label’s bad attempts at crossing her over to a pop audience that has consistently rejected her. “Speechless”, “Gimmie Dat”, “Sorry”, “Got Me Good” and “Body Party” are the last 5 singles from her. The reason they were not hits is because they are wannaby crossover songs that did not work. In my opinion her last good single was “Ride (featuring Ludacris” but that was not promoted properly by her in favor of promoting “Speechless” as a single. Ride got instant urban radio play with hardly no promotion so obviously a more urban r&b / semi-crunk hit would work well for her if she wants a hit song.
What I think happened was 50 cent ruined her on many levels besides love. He brought out the worst in her and her music, career and personal life suffered. He wasn’t a good match for her and had her stuck in a place where she couldn’t make geniune love songs and she was still to sprung over him to make angry breakup songs and too urban in her head to do shallow dance music unless it was with a hip hop beat like Gimme Dat. Future is the first real love interest she had sicne 50 cent, I didn’t see her as serious with Amare so it had no effect on her so she experience no growth. With Future he challenged her to do better so she stepped up to the challenge. Don’t think it matter if it was Future or Ray J it just need to be someone that could bring positivity into her life.