Ciara’s oft-delayed Fantasy Ride album finally saw the light of day earlier this year. “Love Sex Magic,” featuring Justin Timberlake, earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, but after everything she went through while making it (a split with management, a spat with the editors of Vibe magazine) you’d think she’d want to take some time off before jumping right back into the recording process.
But Ciara is already hard at work on the Fantasy Ride follow-up, recording tracks with producer Tricky Stewart (two of which are reportedly called “Gifted” and “Speechless”) for what she promises will be a very hot album.
“Well, I have to tell you the new record is going to be pretty hot,” she laughed. “No, it’s gonna be fun. I’m going to have a good time. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I’m very proud of what’s happening right now. I’m working hard. I want to make sure I give my fans what they want, and I want to give them more. So I’m just taking my time and just trying to create something that just really feels good to the masses.”
While making Fantasy Ride was a struggle, Ciara said she grew during the process. And, emboldened by the album’s success, she’s ready to get back at it.
“The Fantasy Ride album, I’m very proud of that. And it was really a journey for me, behind the actual album, like, I made so many changes and so many things happened, so it really was a journey for me,” she said. “But I’m very proud of that, and I’m also very proud of one record in particular: ‘Love Sex Magic,’ was a very successful record for me off of that, so I’m proud of that. Grammy-nominated record. Who-hoo!”
“[...]Ciara is already on to the next one, though, working exclusively with Tricky Stewart and The-Dream on her as-yet-untitled follow-up.
There’s no release date yet, but Stewart-who’s executive producing-tells VIBE that recording is “going really well” and “getting close to the point where it’s done.”
The sound they’re going for, he adds, is along the lines of “Goodies” and “1, 2 Step,” the hit singles off Ciara’s 2004 debut, Goodies. “I really felt like Ciara’s first album was a classic. I just wanted to make sure that the people that loved that first album would love this album,” says Stewart. “I wanted to make sure that it kinda had that hood around-the-way feel to it again.”
For fans, that means more uptempo dance tracks than slow burners. “We’re definitely making sure when people put this album on they’re like, ‘I got my money’s worth. It’s a great album’,” says Stewart.”
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