Cassie: The new Ciara?

Cassie has 627275 friends.

... then why hasn't her first album gone gold yet?

It sold like 600,000 and she didn't even have a fraction of her current hype. Also Ciara has 292434 friends.

I mean, the second collection of tracks could be a digital-only deal.

she only sold like 300k in the US, Ciara's last album is 2XP

and there's like no hype for her album anymore since official girl flopped and all of the tracks leaked

but I think the video should restart things

why hasn't gotten a 360 deal yet??????

omg 'activate' <3

'my house' inevitably wormed its way deep into my heart, so fragile. there's a real secret-garden mystique about it which i love, like cassie's some sort of victorian gothic heroine. "this is my castle, babe..."

she has to release all of these songs! they are too good to be lost down the back of the sofa. but saying that she makes a new song every time one leaks is tremendously heartening.

i am particularly cassie-fan-club this week

"activate" is like "i'm that chick" vs. "migrate"

lol who would buy a double disc cassie album (besides you and lex)

-- The Brainwasher, Saturday, August 23, 2008 12:16 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Cassie has 627275 friends.

-- Tape Store, Saturday, August 23, 2008 12:33 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Tape Store, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you...it has 80 gazillion friends on MySpace.

also we're talking about the protege of a guy infamous for creating a ton of fake accounts to get on YouTube's most subscribed list.

"nobody but you" is by far her best song

"official girl" is really good of course. serious alliyah vibes from that video, mostly the wardrobe/hair

guys, i was joking but i failed. ok.

also wtf. nobody but you is really good, but it's not close to being her best song!

she's somehow managed to become even more awkward and lacking in charisma since she started making videos.

xpost - when you're really good at self-parody, don't be surprised when people are fooled by it!

her most affecting chorus

sounds like a low-key mariah song to me

Anyway, "Official Girl" is an official flop, any news on a second single Tape Store?

Should take out that Li'l wayne thing, re-release.

It's so funny how Cassie is so gonna be "re-discovered" as this retro-fetish act years from now.

The video blog she posted on her site (that first link up top here) is really adorable. Really upfront and meek and pleasant and friendly--'hey I just woke up and I'm sitting in my bed in my pjs not wearing makeup, uhh, what do you guys want my blog to be about...?' The closest thing to anything vain, which I was kind of anticipating, was like "my life's not very intersting, actually...I am getting a massage later...hmmm..." Well. That sounds nice.

Nice songs, too.

Really, I just listened to Official Girl in the Li'l Wayne free version, and the interplay between the nearly absent Danja character and her robot (really she's amazingly processed on this) voice is really beautiful. It's like an android love story, just slightly numb.

Anyway, "Official Girl" is an official flop

figured alex would use this as a zing one day

no, i've been working too hard on forgetting i ever heard it to think up zings about it.

It's so funny how Cassie is so gonna be "re-discovered" as this retro-fetish act years from now.

haha otm. "she was never appreciated in her lifetime!"

I can't believe it took me so long to get so much of this Cassie, I mean Me & U is maybe one of my favourite singles ever, but I'm falling over these really delicate pop-songs (Is it You?, Ditto, Long Way To Go). There's something really compact and minimal about all of them, Is it You in particular really lifts off without a whole lot, just that shoegazey guitar sound and those needly synths. She is really the most restrained singer. On Long Way to Go she barely even bothers to sing, the whole thing is just an excercise in barely-there remoteness.

yeah. the remoteness/minimalism is the only thing i can think off that's preventing her from taking off, because it puts the listener at a remove. at first listen there's so little to the songs and then they deepen and open up sonically the more you listen to them. i'm honestly not sure what it would take for Cassie to genuinely get another hit song.

Fuck hit songs, I just want more micropop

She is really the most restrained singer. On Long Way to Go she barely even bothers to sing, the whole thing is just an excercise in barely-there remoteness.

― I know, right?, Thursday, 23 October 2008 23:59 (Yesterday)

The bitch can't sing. Let's just call it what it is.

She's obviously got a limited voice, but she has a directness of tone that comes through over the pretty merciless processing that's sometimes used on her voice (which, btw, sounds amazing in super-synch multitrack)

Official Girl is a bit More Than A Woman, but way more concise, same feeling of lift though and maybe a little slinkier than the usual Cassie track.

like, there's some really loose lines working under the ice sheets of synths

Also Brainwasher, i think we should just realise that we really do not have the same taste in pop music

oh wait, sorry, i just re-read upthread, you like this one...

I actually like Cassie, I'm just not going to pretend like she's this amazing vocal stylist or whatever.

either is anyone, but any other singer wouldn't really work in these songs, and that's a large part of their charm for me.

despite her thin, technically limited voice, cassie's vocal presence is immensely powerful and compelling, and part of what makes her material so addictive is trying to get to the heart of what the hell she's even doing to make it so

i think what i'm drawn to most is the stillness of her voice - it's magnetic

good word, stillness

Y'all are too much for me.

lol!

nb: brainwasher started this thread! and has been as cassie-fan-club as anyone all over it

saying pretty much what i just said!!!

She doesn't have a very strong voice, but she's got tons of charisma, and the production is all-around excellent. I hope she stays around for a while.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, August 3, 2006 7:01 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i can't wait to listen to the acapella on repeat over some basic channel beats

― a name means a lot just by itself (lfam), Sunday, August 6, 2006 7:31 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^did this ever happen?

Latest news: Working on new tunes with Pharrell and Darkchild. Album release first quarter or spring 09. Go figure.

pharrell and darkchild? i am filled with trepidation

Sadly not too surprised that "Official Girl" isn't blowing up (I wonder if Lil Wayne helped or hurt...I prefer the version without him, much like I prefer the T.I.-less version of another should-be hit, "Lovin' U Long Time")

Rumor is that "Thirsty" will be the second single...

Billboard wrote this in January:
And although a first single hasn't been released, Cassie assures it will be "a club record -- something fun and danceable." Possible contenders include the Seven-produced "My House," the flirty "Thirsty" and the concept track "Push It," on which Cassie sings, "Want you to light me up / keep me on my toes / gotta hold it steady."

"My House" and "Thirsty" have both leaked; "Push It," to my knowledge, has not...Maybe it could be the second single? I'm not sure if Bad Boy would release "Thirsty," which has been making the rounds for quite a long time now (and would also probably bomb).

Oh, and something more interesting: Cassie just released this new vid. The song, called "Sell It," sounds awesome--fun and slinky like "Activate":

i really love 'thirsty' but it wouldn't be my choice of single...though given how badly the whole thing's going, hell, why not. it certainly sounds different enough that it could catch on.

it's horrible to think that when/if official product actually gets released, half the leaks will probably have been cut...so many great songs just discarded.

xpost - sounds like sa-ra

Interview on Hip Hop DX: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/lifestyle-features/id.1262/title./p.1

Stuff about new album:
DX: Yeah, I ask because I read somewhere that you said, paraphrasing, I want people to see more and I want them to see my talent. What steps have you taken so that people do see beyond it and see the talent on this new album?
Cassie: I really pushed myself. I’ve gone back and…doing a record in one night isn’t the same thing as it was before. Like, if I do a record, I’m compassionate. There’s no way around it. Now, I really need to focus. So, I can do something and then I hear it later, and I’m like, "Shit! That doesn’t sound right." Then, I have to go back and spend six more hours on it because there needs to be something else there, something’s missing. I don’t know. It’s just taking that extra step and that extra mile to really want to win. Like, you really, really want people to know that you have that in you. I didn’t get here off of just drinking water and eating bread. I really, really worked hard.
DX: Who did you work with on the new album?
Cassie: When it first started, I was working with B.Cox and Jim Jonsin and who else? A few others. I worked with Rodney Jerkins. Then time passed and I started working with Mario Winans and Puff in the studio. Just recently, I got in the studio with Pharrell and did some stuff with Kanye [West]. There’s a little bit of everything. Oh, and Danja did the single and a couple of others.
DX: So, have you been rhyming more or singing?
Cassie: Singing! [Laughs] I cut that rapping thing out really quick.
DX: Why?
Cassie: It was fun for that one record and I wrote on that record so it was just a cool experience. It wasn’t really anything that I was super serious about. I don’t think anyone was like, "Wow! She can spit!" [Laughs]
HipHopDX: So, how would you describe the sound on this new record?
Cassie: The sound is, you know…it’s hard to even explain because at this point, I’ve recorded so many different records. Some which are on totally different opposite ends of the spectrum and we’re going to pick songs in probably like a few months. So, it’s kind of hard to explain the direction. But, the main direction of the songs that I really love is that they’re just big records that people will love to sing. I have a couple that are a little sensual and a little bit more grown up. I’m not saying I grew up and I want to be gratuitous or anything. But, there are songs that are for my age group and there are songs that are for an age group a little younger, because I have a younger fan base too.
...
DX: What about musically? How has that been?
Cassie: Musically? You’d have to hear the music. My problem is I’ve had a lot of songs leaked. But, at the same time, it’s helped me kind of figure out what people want and what they like. There’s a few records that have shown me exactly what people want to hear from me. So, it’s a gift and a curse at the same time. But, I don’t know. I’ve never really been criticized on my songs like that. People will be like, "Wow! She always picks a great song!