Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 21, 2015 6:34:59 GMT -5
A) I posted the answer to your question before your post. B) I wouldn't necessarily call this a "ratchet movement" outside of a couple songs, which are more pop-R&B than "ratchet".
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Air Jordin
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Post by Air Jordin on Aug 21, 2015 7:26:01 GMT -5
Jordin will be performing in the Plaza on the Today Show on Thursday.
Hopefully streaming numbers will help her out on the charts - her mix tape had over 200,000 plays on LiveMixTapes.com and Double Tap has 6.5 million views on YouTube.
The reviews have been great so far though. I'm just happy that Jordin was finally able to release the music she has been wanting to/working on for 6+ years!
The album is currently #50 on the Pop Chart on iTunes. It seems like her new label really wants her to succeed, so hopefully they have some tricks up their sleeve in terms of upcoming promo.
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 21, 2015 9:34:44 GMT -5
Definitely rooting for her and picking this up today. Only $8.99 at Best Buy.
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toomuchboy
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Post by toomuchboy on Aug 21, 2015 9:44:22 GMT -5
I pre-ordered it a couple of days ago. It was $8.99 on Amazon, too. I hope she does a little something. I think she might have hurt herself with the mixtape, because the actual album looks like it turned out much better overall than whatever people first heard from that.
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Air Jordin
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Post by Air Jordin on Aug 21, 2015 10:10:49 GMT -5
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SHOOTER
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Post by SHOOTER on Aug 21, 2015 12:47:07 GMT -5
#27 on iTunes Pop; outside the top-150 on the main chart.
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 21, 2015 13:16:36 GMT -5
So...I did some hopping around trying to comparison shop during my lunch break. Went to Best Buy and Target in Brooklyn because they are next door to each other. First, I went to Target because I wanted the Target Exclusive of Carly Rae for $10.99 and the Rob Thomas Target Exclusive for $10.99. Jordin was there but it said $9.99 so I ignored it because Best Buy advertised for $8.99. I walked out of Target with only Rob Thomas because Carly Rae wasn't there. At Best Buy, Jordin's CD was nowhere to be found and they were selling a deluxe Carly Rae (without the two bonus tracks) for $12.99, so I grabbed Carly Rae and Dr. Dre and then ran back to Target to get Jordin, which rang up as $7.99. I would have saved myself the double trip to Target if Target employees advertised their CDs properly...or if I weren't so cheap. Anyway, looking forward to hearing this in full.
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Air Jordin
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Post by Air Jordin on Aug 21, 2015 13:37:47 GMT -5
Nice placement in the NY Post
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 21, 2015 14:58:25 GMT -5
I actually don't agree with the RS review, but at least they were kind to her. The ballads/R&B songs are the strongest on the album and yet, they claim that those songs drag the album down. Whatever. I'm still pissed that Best Buy in Brooklyn didn't carry her. Actually, only 2 of the Best Buys in Manhattan (out of, like, 7) are carrying the CD and they aren't even the major ones that everyone goes to.
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Air Jordin
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Post by Air Jordin on Aug 21, 2015 21:45:05 GMT -5
RHRN is currently Jordin's highest rated album on Metacritic:
Right Here Right Now 69/100 Jordin Sparks 67/100 Battlefield 63/100
(At the moment, Jordin actually has the highest Metacritic average (66) of any Idol winner (Kelly and Carrie follow closely behind with 65))
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SHOOTER
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Post by SHOOTER on Aug 22, 2015 0:21:33 GMT -5
Pound for pound, even with the corny/ill-fitted material, it is her best album. Sucks most of the world will never hear it.
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Post by K. on Aug 22, 2015 5:05:40 GMT -5
I think this is a very respectable R&B album, and I hope she does well with it. I don't like it quite as much as her pop material, but I don't think Jordin would be able to pull off a long-lasting pop career in any event. Her previous material was very young-sounding, which has a natural end date, which at 25-26, I think she is approaching. I think this move is good for her, strategically, as I think she could establish herself a solid, at least minor, place in R&B for a while. I love Jordin and think she's very talented - my only idol fav to ever take the crown - so don't mean any of this to sound negative.
I'd like to hear, in addition to this more Tinashe-like stuff, some more John Legend-ish classic R&B as well. I think she could probably thrown in one rhythmic power anthem like "No Air" as well, which I think could still have smash appeal.
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 22, 2015 11:44:13 GMT -5
The vocals on Silhouette that no one is mentioning though. Oh my.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2015 15:10:08 GMT -5
I don't like the album as much as I expected to, but it's still my favorite by her, and "100 Years" and "They Don't Give A" have been on a repeat. I think it would have been better if some of the ratchet songs were replaced by some uptempos that merged her older sound (like "One Step At A Time") with her newer, more urban approach (and given us something like a modernized "Fantasy").
The singles have been all wrong though. There's no major crossover smash hit here, but she could have had a few moderate hits at certain formats. "Casual Love" should have been sent to CHR/Pop. "100 Years" and especially "Tell Him That I Love Him" could be decent-sized Urban AC hits. It's like they tried to rebreak her as a trap-pop act, and when it didn't work, they just gave up.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2015 18:22:48 GMT -5
I think Jordin was in a tough position from the outset. She's been gone six years and not much of what she is doing now is reminiscent of what we last heard from her...but if she had come back with something even moderately reminiscent many would have said 'you were gone six years and came back with this?' She's on a label with a painfully obvious lack of budget and they chose to spend what few coins they had on three borderline-low-budget videos. It's weird to hear of all these appearances she's making b/c in my corner of the world I might as well be listening to crickets. Her tv and radio presence is nil and that's where she needs to be the most.
Nothing seems immediately pop-friendly for 2015 (I'll give it a few more listens before I commit to that), but there was no way she was going to capture urban's attention unless she released the "trap-pop" stuff. She's too youthful to be relegating herself to UAC already. Without a huge concerted push from her label (which she's not gonna get b/c there's not enough money for the blitz) she pretty much has no home as far as radio formats go. I do think Double Tap was honestly her best chance at anything getting the ball rolling, but she needed to do something to make it a viral hit, put it in a high-profile commercial, something like that.
I would suggest she should have gone completely indie instead of pretending that Sony was still going to do anything for her, but if you're not going to be doing some experimental, critical acclaim bait type of stuff there's not much motivation to go that route. At her core, no matter what style Jordin is doing, she always colors within the lines. She's built to be a major label artist, so watching her flounder like this hurts.
I'm glad she is finally able to release the music she wants, and more importantly I'm glad I actually like most of it; but it doesn't make it any less a bummer to go in already knowing that everything will flop and gain her absolutely no leverage anywhere. It's a terrible waste of talent and potential.
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SHOOTER
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Post by SHOOTER on Aug 22, 2015 20:21:51 GMT -5
There was one copy of her album on a random shelf at Target with no price tag. Just sad.
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Wavey✨️
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Post by Wavey✨️ on Aug 22, 2015 22:10:33 GMT -5
What type of promo, ugh. She should've went to Atlantic. With that being said, this album is hot as hell. It's a different lane, but it really works for her. Also, her vocals were on 10, but she's never been bad in that department. Jordin needs a proper push of a single, instead of just throwing things out with no coordination.
Work From Home Boyz In the Hood (Reminds me of Rihanna. The verses give me Mariah though.) They Don't Give Casual Love Silhouette Left...Right? It Ain't You (bish went IN) 100 Years Tell Him I Love Him
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Post by Live Your Life on Aug 23, 2015 8:07:32 GMT -5
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mamaloveme
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Post by mamaloveme on Aug 23, 2015 11:53:41 GMT -5
sadly the album is not OUT here yet, hope i can get it soon
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George
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Post by George on Aug 23, 2015 23:22:46 GMT -5
There was one copy of her album on a random shelf at Target with no price tag. Just sad. There were 3 copies (priced at $9.99) under the J section at mine. So I bought one (rang up at $7.99) and moved the two to the New Release display (since I had also bought the last Carly Rae Jepsen copy).
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Air Jordin
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Post by Air Jordin on Aug 24, 2015 15:29:07 GMT -5
Interview with Harmony Samuels:
Let’s talk about some of your biggest hits. “The Way” made Ariana Grande a credible pop star. I don’t know if that’s my biggest hit, but I would say it definitely put my name out there. A lot of people don’t know that Ariana Grande had been trying for two years and they hadn’t broken her. People wanted to know who gave her the record that made the whole world pay attention.
What do you remember about that session? It is funny to watch some become superstar. It’s just hilarious. She came by the studio the other day with security and I was like, “Jesus Christ, you could have come by yourself.” [Laughs]. To be honest with you, the song had been sitting on my computer for eighteen months. Maybe closer to two years. It was for Jordin Sparks.
She has a writing credit. Jordin Sparks was an artist I took time to invest in, and I believed in her, and I just felt she was going to be the next Mariah Carey in that I thought we had lost something in the music industry that represented a pure voice over hip hop and R&B. Jordin Sparks was that for me and we did “The Way” for her. She was part of the writing process. We cut the record and wanted to get Big Sean on it but the label said no.
I literally called the label like, “Are you sure?” Mind you, Jordin still believed it was her song. And I’m like, “You should probably tell Jordin you don’t want her to have this record.” They were like, “Not only is it not a hit, it’s not even going to make her album.” So months later I was asked to take a look at Ariana Grande. They wanted something cool and edgy. I was like, “Okay.” I had never heard of her, didn’t know she already had a fan base of three million.
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Wavey✨️
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Post by Wavey✨️ on Aug 24, 2015 17:29:28 GMT -5
I honestly hate how record labels act sometimes. Now it's egg all in their face cept for J cause she still gets recognized.
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Baby Spice
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Post by Baby Spice on Aug 24, 2015 18:34:34 GMT -5
I had no idea this was out until I saw it at Target, and not in the new releases. I didn't even know it had a release date. I was actually looking to see if they had Carly Rae's new album, but they didn't have it, despite the fact they advertised having an exclusive, like Active Aggressive said. About to check it out on Spotify.
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 24, 2015 21:42:51 GMT -5
This album gets a solid B+ from me.
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Air Jordin
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Post by Air Jordin on Aug 24, 2015 21:59:01 GMT -5
I'm hoping Silhouette will be the second single
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Wavey✨️
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Post by Wavey✨️ on Aug 24, 2015 22:03:31 GMT -5
I'm late on Double Tap. Gdamn.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2015 22:08:27 GMT -5
I literally called the label like, “Are you sure?” Mind you, Jordin still believed it was her song. And I’m like, “You should probably tell Jordin you don’t want her to have this record.” They were like, “Not only is it not a hit, it’s not even going to make her album.” So months later I was asked to take a look at Ariana Grande. They wanted something cool and edgy. I was like, “Okay.” I had never heard of her, didn’t know she already had a fan base of three million. The worst part of this is I'm pretty sure Jordin believed The Way was her song all the way up until January 2013, because she thought she'd be releasing it in February. So the label could not even be bothered to tell her the song she was preparing as her lead single wasn't going to be used? There seriously aren't enough eye rolls in the world.
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Wavey✨️
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Post by Wavey✨️ on Aug 25, 2015 19:45:49 GMT -5
Ok, I swear she's channeling Aaliyah on "100 Years".
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toomuchboy
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Post by toomuchboy on Aug 25, 2015 21:50:29 GMT -5
Some of her best vocals are on this. "Silhouette" <333
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 25, 2015 22:49:08 GMT -5
Yeah, I think the Aaliyah comparisons were brought up before when 100 Years and another song had just leaked. She is channeling Aaliyah all over this album.
Oh...Boyz In The Hooah has grown on me like none other. Would have made a MUCH better single than Double Tap (which features a rapper who is basically on his way out of the pop consciousness.) They could have added a Mac Miller or Big Sean and this could have been her The Way. Sigh.
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