Ciara Talks Low Album Sales & Being Resilient

By: Taren Vaughan

Ciara rose to fame during 2004 with her debut album Goodies that included hit singles that won her numerous awards. Not only was Ciara’s music doing well on the charts, she always drew in much attention with her amazing dance skills that have often been compared to iconic figures in the industry like Janet Jackson and her brother, the late great Michael Jackson, two entertainers that Ciara says that she idolized growing up. Ciara’s music was not the only thing that kept people checking for her as her love life was another thing that kept her name in the press as she dated Bow Wow and has also been romantically linked to 50 Cent, rumors now buzzing about a new rapper beau that she supposed has on her arm now. As far as her music is concerned, Ciara saw much success with her first and second album but wasn’t able to pull in the same kind of numbers with the albums that followed. Often very private in comparison to other entertainers, Ciara recently revealed some interesting things about herself that most people didn’t know. And on a recent episode of MTV’s This Is How I Made It, Ciara talked about how she got started with music, reflecting on her short time as a member of the girl group Hearsay and how her experience with them motivated her to keep trying to pursue a music career and land a record deal of her own. And she also spoke very candidly about her career and the struggles that she has had dealing with low album sales and how it all has affected her, admitting that she has had some not so good days:

“My album Basic Instinct was the lowest sales I’ve ever experienced, extremely low. It was already the album before that that wasn’t as successful as my other albums. Then Basic Instinct was worse than that one. There’s nothing like having tons and tons of success and seeing everything go right to have something not work out exactly how you’ve been experiencing. It’s definitely a little punch to the heart when something like that happens. However, those are the moments that define you. I learned a lot not having best days.”

But Ciara says despite all the disappoint she has faced and criticisms from people calling her a flop, she never once thought about giving up:

“I definitely didn’t think about quitting. Life is what you make it. And I just decided to really take control.”

Ciara also talked about her latest album One Woman Army and what kind of angle that she was taking with her fifth studio album and how the bumps in the road that she has had have made her a much stronger person:

“My approach to making One Woman Army is so turnt up, it’s super turned up. Making this record is different this time because I think that through my journey, especially the past few years, it’s made me more and more confident. When I first started, I was a little afraid or fearful. If I’m not comfortable in an environment, I go into protect mode right away. And that’s what I did in the beginning ’cause I didn’t know where I was. But now it’s like I’ve got some scars, I done crashed a few times, you know. When you learn to embrace those scars, you become stronger.”

Check out the full episode of MTV’s This Is How I Made It: Ciara below: