Ciara may have had the lowest sales week of her career with the unveiling of her her sixth album ‘Jackie’ which dropped last week, but according to the singer..don’t get it twisted, she has been just as big as some of your faves.
Photo Via The Guardian
During a sit down with The Guardian, the ‘I Bet’ singer talked about her highs and lows in the music industry and says despite what people think, she has had hits just as big as Beyonce and Rihanna. She also revealed that she doesn’t look at them as her competition (not in a catty way) but that she sees herself as her only competitor. Via Guardian:
Despite her success – 2010’s Basic Instinct is the only one of her albums not to reach the US top five – she has never become a household name in the manner of Rihanna orBeyoncé. “You know what I think?” she asks, rhetorically. “Everything’s about timing. I’ve had records just as big as those artists, I’ve had No 1 songs around the world. My biggest competition is me.” That and her old label, perhaps. After Basic Instinct only reached No 44, she left LaFace/Jive,announcing on Facebook that they had not supported her enough. Her next album, Ciara, released on Epic, duly went to No 2. “There’s no doubt in my mind how high up this train can go,” she says calmly. “I faced those challenges. I don’t see myself beneath Beyoncé and Jay Z; I don’t see myself above them. I’m in my own world, hungry to grow.”
Ciara attributes any disconnect between herself and the music-buying public – the fact that she isn’t a household name – not to an inaccurate portrayal of her personality, but to her not making that personality plain enough. Hence her forthcoming appearance as a regular on NBC’s celebrity variety show I Can Do That. “Over the years, there was a perception I was trying to be too perfect.” She narrows her eyes. “I’m far from perfect.”
Its quite interesting that Ciara acknowledged the perception that the music buying public have of her based on her personality, as this is a point I’ve made many times. People don’t connect with Ciara the way they do artists such as Rihanna, Bey or even K. Michelle. Ciara is a bit more reserved and “polished” and in this day and age people want to connect to their artist, relate and feel a sense of realness.
Ciara also revealed in the article that she is not sure if she will still be doing music 20 years from now.
She’s looking beyond the album-tour-album cycle now, though. “I don’t know if I’ll still be doing music 20 years from now. It’s the foundation of my business, but I want to be a successful entrepreneur. I know I’m gonna be it.” Then she delivers her killer blow. “I’m on videotape aged 17 at high school graduation saying: ‘I’m gonna have a No 1 song in the Billboard chart and sell 3m copies of my debut album.’ One year later I had a No 1 song in the Billboard chart for eight weeks” – well, seven – “and I sold 5m copies of my debut. Now I’m on this next chapter in my life and I can assure you: give me 10 years, it’s gonna be great. I believe it.”
Well in the meantime get into clips of Ciara’s sold out performance from this week at Atlanta’s Center Stage arena below.
