Ciara's Career Crisis: Is She Done?

Ciara needs a big heaping dose of "magic" to revive her album sales

R&B singer Ciara had some admittedly tough competition for her album's release week (like Michael Jackson's Michael), but no one could have really anticipated just how badly she would do the first week. The numbers are in, and with sales of approximately 37,000 copies, Basic Instinct, her fourth studio album, debuted at #44 on the Billboard charts.

That's right, #44.

Without question, it is one of the worst launch weeks for an artist of Ciara's status ever. To put it in perspective, both Kylie Minogue and Robyn, relatively unknown in the US, peaked higher than Ciara did when they released, at #19 and #41 respectively. What's worse is that this during the holiday shopping season, when album sales are typically higher than usual. Had Ciara released earlier like she intended to, there is a good possibility she would have flopped even harder.

So, what happened to Ciara, who seemed to be doing well with "Ride" earlier this year, and is it too late for her to turn her career around?

I wouldn't say that Ciara's career is done, but I would certainly say that she needs to make some serious changes and decisions, and make them fast.

One of the biggest decisions she needs to make is whether or not to stay with Jive. Honestly, had I not been the pop music junkie that I am, I probably wouldn't have known she was releasing an album this week. The promotion for the album was pretty weak, even though she did perform on some TV shows. There needed to be a bigger push, especially after the mess that was the Fantasy Ride era in 2008. Jive, despite having Britney on their roster, is pretty much a floundering fish these days, with the American Idol catalog and all. Ciara would probably benefit a lot from a change of scene, as long as that scene isn't UMG, which is tempting to change over. With artists like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Kanye West over there, Ciara wouldn't see the light of day. Whether she moves or not, she needs to figure out her relationship with her label, because it's not working right now.

Ciara's biggest issue, in my opinion, is what I believe felled Christina Aguilera this year. I don't think Ciara really knows where she fits in the current music landscape. When she first burst onto the scene, she was girl from Atlanta riding the Crunk music wave. That was in 2005, and musical tastes have changed drastically. After her failed attempt at pop with Fantasy Ride, she's decided to go back to that image and style with Basic Instinct, especially with her latest single "Gimme Dat". What she may not realize is that people have long since moved on from crunk, and she isn't big enough to revive it. What she's releasing is music that is so radio-repellent that it's no surprise no one really knew her album was coming out.

I'm not saying she should book a flight to Sweden and release an album of dance-pop (although it could work). I understand her desire to remain in her field. However, she needs to try something new while keeping to her roots. To do that, she really needs to ditch The-Dream, the executive producer of her latest album. The truth is The-Dream is a hit-and-miss producer, and it's doubtful that he is saving his hits for Ciara when he's got bigger fish to fill, like Beyonce. He's quickly spiraling to irrelevant anyway; he can't even release a hit for himself. She needs fresh blood, fresh producers, to revive her artistic output. Maybe she should give Max Martin a call after all.

Speaking of artistry (a word that American Idol made me despise), Ciara needs to look at herself and decide who she is competing with. Back when she released "Goodies", she was the it girl who could move in the same lane as Beyonce, while Rihanna was just a girl from Barbados with a song made for one-hit wonder-dom. Fast forward a half decade, and Rihanna is a megastar while Ciara is not. What Rihanna did was that she improved her music to put herself in the superstar category. Had she continued releasing music like "Pon De Replay", she would be nothing. Ciara needs to do the same thing. If she wants to be global, she needs to act like it, and record music accordingly. If she wants to be a strictly Urban artist, like Keyshia Cole, than she needs to stick there. My problem is, for someone who has tasted worldwide success, that may not be, and should not be, enough for Ciara.

Ciara is a very nice woman and she is talented, so I don't want her to fail. To be frank, though, she is dangerously close to being irrelevant. The dismal performance of Basic Instinct is proof of that. I don't think she's done, but she needs to get it together. Fast.