Loading ...Today Kelefa Sanneh wrote about All $tar, a Nashville rapper who’s been the city’s “next big thing” for three years now–excxept for the fact that his debut album, Street Ball, has been in limbo since 2005, thanks to his label, Cash Money/Universal, going over the preparation for the album with what seems to be the finest-tooth comb ever. (Sanneh: “…it’s not uncommon for rappers to wait months or years while labels try to figure out the right single, the right track selection, the right marketing plan.”) What struck me is that I’ve heard about so many delayed albums lately–from Amerie to All $tar to Nicole Scherzinger–that I can’t help but wonder if the music industry is further shooting its sales hopes in the foot by stoking negative buzz around albums by somewhat established stars or high-profile up-and-comers. Especially in the current environment of music, where people seem to have many excuses for ignoring records at the ready. After the jump, a few arguments against pushing release dates, marketing-department-emanating objections be damned.
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The Amerie Album: It Lives (Maybe) (Sorta) (Are We Being Too Optimistic?)
Either way, TNT and whoever’s responsible for promoting Amerie’s Because I Love It in the U.S. are making me wonder if the album–or at least a song or two from it–might get at least a weak, half-hearted push in the States. More »
The Year In Dropped Artists: Hold On To Your Amerie Imports
As a sort of companion piece to the news that Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard had been dropped from J, Entertainment Weekly’s Hollywood Insider blog ran a list of acts that had been dropped by/defected from major labels in 2007 last week. Frankly, I’m surprised that it isn’t about a mile longer, even though it does run the gamut from on-to-better-things artists (the White Stripes, Radiohead) to bands that seem to have hard luck follow them wherever they go (Mooney Suzuki, Blood Brothers). Full list after the jump.
THE GOOD: This is a pretty depressing list overall, but perhaps Liz Phair getting dropped by her label will make her think twice before recording her next ode to getting down with the Kotaku set, “Mii And You (Pushin’ My Trigger Button).”
THE BAD: After all that will-it-or-won’t-it-come-out? drama, it looks like Amerie has been dropped from Sony, thus leaving the status of Because I Love It’s US release date more unknown than ever. Here’s hoping she’ll make a second mix tape.
THE WHAAA? It’s not about the list per se, but the comment section of the EW post has turned into a kinda crazy-ass pissing match between JC Chasez fans and Bo Bice diehards. I mean I loved “Until Yesterday” probably more than anyone else, but really?
Idolator’s 2007 Top 40 List Of Awesomeness: The Story So Far
Three weeks and change ago, Jess and I started counting down our own year-end list, the songs from the past year that we listened to more than any others, a list put together through the not-very-scientific process of “smooshing together” of my top songs and Jess’ top songs. More »
No. 22: Amerie Pulls Us Out Of Our Funk And Into Hers
Idolator’s Year-End Top 40: Because You Can Never Have Enough Download Recommendations In Your Life
A reader inquired yesterday as to why Idolator publishes its “Year-End Analysis” series, collecting and scrutinizing “Best Of 2007″ lists from various music publications. There are many reasons, really, but the biggest is that, judging by the reaction to the handful we’ve written so far, you all really like them. (Well, maybe “like them” isn’t quite right, considering the tone of your comments. But you definitely feel something.) But occasionally we do yearn to let you know what were our favorite songs of 2007. Which is why we sat down with iTunes, hemmed and hawed for a while, shot a bunch of e-mails back and forth, poked fun at each other at least once, and made a list.
The Mya record–last scheduled to come out Sept. 18–now has no release date, which means we can put it right next to Amerie’s Because I Love It on the shelf of “phantom albums by R & B singers who are certainly better than Ashanti.” More »
Your Idolator Amerie Update: Every Hour On The Hour
It’s not a secret (or at least, not a well-kept one) that Amerie’s stateside release date issues are a sensitive subject around the Idolator offices, but in order to show the fine people at Sony Urban/Columbia Records that there are still some people on this side of the pond who are eagerly awaiting the release of Because I Love It, we offer an Amerie news rundown after the cut:
A Note From The New Editor: Waking Up At The Crack Of Dawn Because I Love It
Hello, everyone. Maura here. It’s my first day in the editor’s seat, and what better way to introduce my tenure than with the video for Amerie’s summer-single-in-waiting “Gotta Work”–even if I have serious misgivings about all the Pussycat Dolls biting, a.k.a. the obvious attempt to get her record noticed on these shores? (Here’s hoping there’s an alternate “headbanging in front of bucket-drum-players” version of the clip floating around somewhere.)
