Ciara is set to deliver a fresh musical offering on Friday, but it’s not a fifth child, despite her husband Russell Wilson’s playful public remarks about expanding their family. “It’s time. Honestly, I’ve been working on this album for almost five years,” the R&B-pop superstar said. “I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, as they would say, into this project … I literally gave birth to two babies while I was making this project, too. So, a lot has happened.”
Her new album, CiCi, expands on her 2023 seven-track EP of the same name and marks her first full-length project since 2019’s Beauty Marks, her first as an independent artist. “I was still actively putting out music on the project. So, it’s not like I was five years chillin',” said the “Level Up” artist. “If I ever stop loving the process and experience, then I'll stop. But I have so much passion for it and I just feel so fortunate that 21 years later, from my first album Goodies to now, that I still have the same excitement I had as a little girl.”
The eighth studio album includes songs from the EP such as “How We Roll,” her 2023 collaboration with Chris Brown that hit No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B digital song sales chart, as well as “Forever” featuring Lil Baby and the sultry “Low Key.” The 14-track full-length record also features collaborations with Tyga, BossMan DLow, Busta Rhymes, and Latto on “This Right Here,” a highly anticipated reunion with Jazze Pha, the producer behind her 2004 debut.
Renowned for her electrifying stage performances and dance skills, Ciara boasts chart-topping hits like Goodies, “Oh” featuring Ludacris, “Body Party,” and “Promise.” Four of her albums have reached the Billboard 200 top 10, including 2006’s Ciara: The Evolution, which hit No. 1.
In a fast-paced music industry, Ciara’s deliberate release schedule has sometimes drawn criticism, with some questioning if she’s shifted focus from music to her perceived socialite lifestyle with Wilson. “I feel like I don’t have to explain anything to anybody,” said the “Ride” singer, who has recently collaborated with several Asian artists. “Not every year has been about music. And sometimes, it’s been about me just growing as a human. Sometimes, it’s 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.”
Her stance is reflected in “Run It Up” with BossMan DLow, where she sings, “No matter how many points I put up on the board, you know they gon’ hate / I’m in a league of my own, I’m a wife and a mom / … You ain't gotta worry, you know that we straight.” “I 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’re gonna go school shopping tomorrow,” the 39-year-old said, highlighting the balance of motherhood, career, and family. “That’s how my life is, but I would not have it any other way.”
Other standout tracks include the smooth “Ecstasy,” later remixed with Normani and Teyana Taylor, and the uplifting “Drop Your Love,” which samples Evelyn “Champagne” King’s Love Come Down. On “This Right Here,” Ciara reconnects with Jazze Pha, delivering the nostalgic “Ci-araaa!” ad-lib and capturing the chemistry that propelled her early hits. “It’s always been love with Jazze and I … there was behind-the-scenes type of stuff that was beyond he and I,” she said. “People want the classic him. They want me to be me, too, in that moment. And so, I feel like we accomplished that.”
Expanding her influence beyond music, Ciara recently became one of the first celebrities to gain Benin citizenship, part of a law granting rights to descendants of enslaved people. She hopes to spotlight both the country and the continent, which has seen a global surge in Afrobeats popularity.
Ciara is also growing her Why Not You Foundation, co-founded with Wilson in 2014 to support disadvantaged youth through education and personal development. With centers already in Atlanta and Pittsburgh, expansion plans include the New York-New Jersey area, following Wilson’s offseason signing with the New York Giants.
“Success 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 … But it’s not solely in that,” Ciara said. “People lose themselves because they didn’t live. I don’t want to be that girl – I’m not going to be that girl."