The girls have been asking Ciara to take things back to her core where we initially fell in love. You know, those days when ‘Goodies’ dropped, had us recreating all the dance moves in the mirror, and yelling “Go CiCi!” at their top of our lungs every performance. That being said, she has obliged and is focusing heavily on R&B with her latest EP.
Ciara is back and stronger than ever. The Grammy-Winning icon and mother of four has reached a new stage in life. So it makes sense her latest project would reflect that journey. On Friday (August 18), Ci released her new EP, CiCi. The seven-track project features appearances by Chris Brown, Lil Baby, and Bounce legend Big Freedia. The project’s title was inspired by the moniker fans gave Ciara back in her debut era, in response to her captivating live performances. “Ci Ci is my nickname, and I feel empowered through my nickname,” she shared with the folks over at Apple Music. “When my fans chant, ‘Go Ci Ci, go Ci Ci, go,’ there is an underlying feeling that Ci Ci is THAT girl who will go get it, no matter what.”
Ciara has effortlessly established herself as one of the most versatile artists of our generation, tapping into multiple genres while still always maintaing a certain flavor that only she could properly deliver. However, throughout that journey there has been an overwhelming request for her to “take us back” to the earlier days where she delivered a certain style “ghetto pop,” universal music that appealed to the masses but still with a heavy R&B core. That’s something easily noticeable with one listen to the project that Ciara decided to do and she confirmed that when citing her through process going into this project.
“I have to give love to my friend Theron, who I executive produced this project with. We actually did Level Up together. We did also my song I Bet together, my song with Nicki Minaj, I’m Out. We had some really cool moments. But with this project we really wanted to be intentional, and we really talked about R&B being super important to us. And when you talk about CiCi, CiCi to me, when you say, “That’s CiCi,” that is some strong core R&B. And for lack of better terms, I always say my music was ghetto pop. It’s a record I could play in the hood and beyond, to the suburbs of London. I’ve always been very proud of that. We wanted to make sure we had those core elements for my fans, I think they always want from me.”
“There’s always an intentional tone of empowerment in my music,” Ciara revealed. “I always want to uplift my Queens and take them on my journey with me. There’s no better platform to be able to accomplish that than through my music.”
I’ll be honest and say that I’m a Ciara Stan.. so as far as picking my personal faves from the EP, that’s a hard thing to do and I’ll probably be stuck on a different one more than the other as the days go by, but as of today my Top tracks are “Type of Party,” “How We Roll,” “BRB,” “Low Key” and “2 in Luv.” Take a listen to CiCi for yourself and let us know your thoughts. Are you feeling it?
