{"id":1975671,"date":"2025-08-23T04:08:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T04:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1975671"},"modified":"2025-08-23T04:08:56","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T04:08:56","slug":"ciara-reinforces-her-passion-for-music-with-new-album-cici-news-sports-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/ciara-reinforces-her-passion-for-music-with-new-album-cici-news-sports-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Ciara reinforces her passion for music with new album, \u2018CiCi\u2019 | News, Sports, Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\tCiara poses for a portrait on Monday, Aug 18, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo\/Gary Gerard Hamilton)\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

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Ciara poses for a portrait on Monday, Aug 18, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo\/Gary Gerard Hamilton)<\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Ciara will deliver a new bundle of joy on Friday, but it\u2019s not the fifth child her husband publicly flirts with her about.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time. Honestly, I\u2019ve been working on this album for almost five years,\u201d said the R&B-pop superstar. \u201cI put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, as they would say, into this project \u2026 I literally gave birth to two babies while I was making this project, too. So, a lot has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expanding her 2023 seven-track EP \u201cCiCi,\u201d it\u2019s the Grammy winner\u2019s first album since 2019\u2019s \u201cBeauty Marks,\u201d her first as an independent artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was still actively putting out music on the project. So, it\u2019s not like I was five years chillin\u2019,\u201d said the \u201cLevel Up\u201d artist. \u201cIf I ever stop loving the process and experience, then I\u2019ll stop. But I have so much passion for it and I just feel so fortunate that 21 years later, from my first album \u2018Goodies\u2019 to now, that I still have the same excitement I had as a little girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her eighth studio album, \u201cCiCi\u201d includes songs from the EP such as \u201cHow We Roll,\u201d her 2023 Chris Brown collaboration which reached No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s R&B digital song sales charts, \u201cForever\u201d with Lil Baby and the sensual bop, \u201cLow Key.\u201d But the 14-track full-length record, with writing and production from Theron Thomas and J.R. Rotem, separates itself with appearances from Tyga, BossMan DLow and Busta Rhymes. Latto also joins her on \u201cThis Right Here,\u201d an anticipated reunion with Jazze Pha who executive produced her 2004 debut, hitting No. 3 on the Billboard 200.<\/p>\n

One of the preeminent stage performers in her class and lauded for her dancing, Ciara owns smashes like \u201cGoodies\u201d which topped the Billboard 100, \u201cOh\u201d featuring Ludacris, \u201cBody Party,\u201d and \u201cPromise.\u201d Four albums reached the Billboard 200 top 10, including 2006\u2019s \u201cCiara: The Evolution\u201d which hit No. 1.<\/p>\n

In an era where music is often released rapidly, Ciara\u2019s leisurely pace has been questioned by fans and critics, wondering if she\u2019s traded her love for music for a perceived socialite lifestyle with her Super Bowl-winning husband, Russell Wilson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I don\u2019t have to explain anything to anybody,\u201d said the \u201cRide\u201d singer, who\u2019s recently released collaborations with several Asian artists. \u201cNot every year has been about music. And sometimes, it\u2019s been about me just growing as a human. Sometimes, it\u2019s been about me finding my way obviously as a mom, and then I have family now and my husband, being there for him. These are all real things.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a perception she aims at on \u201cRun It Up\u201d with BossMan Dlow, singing, \u201cNo matter how many points I put up on the board, you know they gon\u2019 hate \/ I\u2019m in a league of my own, I\u2019m a wife and a mom \/ \u2026 You ain\u2019t gotta worry, you know that we straight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI go from the stage to the classroom. I go from the classroom to the football field to support my husband. Then, I got on my schedule we\u2019re gonna go school shopping tomorrow,\u201d said the 39-year-old who wrote on every song. \u201cThat\u2019s how my life is, but I would not have it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other standout tracks include the previously released slow jam \u201cEcstasy\u201d which she later remixed with Normani and Teyana Taylor, and the feel good \u201cDrop Your Love,\u201d sampling \u201cLove Come Down\u201d from Evelyn \u201cChampagne\u201d King. She continued her two-step groove on \u201cThis Right Here,\u201d recreating the nostalgic magic with Pha and resurfacing his memorable \u201cCi-araaa!\u201d ad-lib.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been love with Jazze and I \u2026 there was behind-the-scenes type of stuff that was beyond he and I,\u201d referring to the producer who crafted her megahit \u201c1,2 Step\u201d with Missy Elliott. \u201cPeople want the classic him. They want me to be me, too, in that moment. And so, I feel like we accomplished that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becoming one of the first celebrities to gain Benin citizenship as part of a recent law by the small West African nation granting rights to descendants of enslaved people, Ciara hopes to shed light on the country, as well as the continent which has exploded globally in the music market thanks to Afrobeats.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also expanding her Why Not You Foundation, the nonprofit founded with Wilson in 2014 to help disadvantaged youth with educational and personal development resources. With Why Not You centers already in Atlanta and Pittsburgh, they plan to expand in the New York-New Jersey area. Wilson signed with the New York Giants during the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess to me is yes, putting out music. Being the best artist I can be, hopefully being known as one of the best to ever do it \u2026 But it\u2019s not solely in that,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople lose themselves because they didn\u2019t live. I don\u2019t want to be that girl \u2013 I\u2019m not going to be that girl.\u201d ___<\/p>\n

Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.<\/p>\n

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