Setbacks in an artist's career can either do one of two things: End them or make them stronger.
With two back-to-back flop albums under her belt, the pendulum for Ciara seems to be swinging toward her reaching the end of her career. But never underestimate the underdog. And if Ciara really is going down for the count, she's not going down without at fight, judging by the aggressive posturing in her new promo shots and the fearless title of her next album, One Woman Army.
"Sweat," the lead single for her new album, dropped late on Monday night. The dirty hip-hop dance track harkens back, once again, to a more "Goodies" sound for the singer. Just don't call it Crunk'n'B. She hates that.
Listen to Ciara's new single below
The song's not bad, by any means. If you liked "Ride" or "1,2 Step," this should be right up your alley. It's Ciara singing about dancing, which means the video is going to be a heavily choreographed affair. The muscle butt will be ready for the spotlight.
But this doesn't feel like breakthrough material. And Ciara needs to cut through the noise at this point. Dance-pop would've been a dangerous bet as she tried it before with Enrique Iglesias and didn't get many bites from it. So dodging that trend was wise.
However, lukewarm material could leave CiCi on the back-burner for good, like Teairra Mari. L.A. Reid, you better tell her.
