Loading ...
Last month, I wondered if Her Name Is Nicole, the forthcoming solo album from former Pussycat Doll leader Nicole Scherzinger, was en route to becoming a flop–the first single, the T.I.-featuring “Whatever U Like,” had lousy sales and bad iTunes feedback (it wound up not even cracking the Hot 100) and a second song, “Super Villain,” leaked shortly after “Like” tanked. Now, a third song from the album (”Baby Love,” featuring will.i.am) has made its way out to the Internet, and for some reason the PR people working the record are gamely calling the song her “first single.” Are attention spans in this decade really that short?
In addition to “Baby Love,” and its lengthy, at-sea video, being pushed out and rechristened as the album’s first radio offering, the release date for Her Name Is Nicole has been pushed back from Oct. 16 to Nov. 6. Last-minute reworking or schedule fine-tuning on the part of her label? Either way, here’s hoping the powers that be retool that godawful cover.
The most surprising thing out of all this? “Baby Love” actually isn’t a terrible song–its airy acoustic-guitar balladry actually makes me think of some of the tracks on the Siobhan Donaghy album, albeit in more Americanized, “soulfully sung” form, although the recessed vocals on the chorus sound kind of weird, given that they’re supposed to be the big punch of proclaming love and all.
Nicole Scherzinger – Baby Love feat. will.i.am [YouTube]
Earlier: Pussycat Doll Goes Solo, World Goes Back To Whatever It Was Doing Five Minutes Ago
I’m surprised that “Whatever U Like” still hasn’t climbed up the hip hop/R&B chart. I hear it on my local urban stations every day, way more than any Pussycat Dolls songs got played on that format, although maybe mix show DJs just really like the T.I. verse. I think it’s a good song, but it’s probably going to be looked at as a mistake to release a Nicole ’solo’ album when they could’ve put out pretty much the exact same album under the established PCD brand.
So, the label has pushed back the release date to 11/6, eh? Amazon’s “upcoming releases” schedule lists some of the competition she’ll face that week (in no particular order of artistic merit or prediction of sales):
* Jay-Z
* Chris Brown
* Angels & Airwaves (!)
* greatest hits sets from Garth Brooks (double) and the Spice Girls (!!)
* live sets from Jimmy Buffett (double) and Ricky Martin (!!!)
* and last-but-not-least, a Xmas record from Rick Springfield (!!!!)
Good luck with that, Nicole!
If I didn’t know any better, I’d posit that the label already knows this record will be a colossal flop, so they’ve decided to release it during a week in which they know it will get buried, and then they’ll spin it with “we’re really very pleased with the disc’s sales in light of the fierce competition this week”.
YMMV…
@DHMBIB: Ding!Ding!Ding! Nicely done.
We not so in love with Nicole, I guess.
It’s takes quite a long time to photoshop her into looking like an actual woman and not a tranny.
i wonder if this was “penned” in crayon