Amerie Speaks On Label Drama

Published: Saturday 24th Nov 2007 by Sam
In a recent interview with popular UK urban magazine RWD, Amerie spoke candidly on her current label situation/frustrations. Check out the extract below {Thanks Adrian}:

How has your label treated you?
Er, you probably don’t even want to ask me that right now. That’s how I feel abut it. I personally love some of the people that work here in the UK; my publicist Shoshanna and Simon… but I really don’t want to talk about it cos I want to keep it all positive, you feel me?

Well, it seems the album didn’t really perform as well as it should have?
Cos they’re not pushing it like they should.

Why aren’t they?
We want to release Crush, but they feel there’s a lot going on. This is my thing; I’m an artist and this is not rocket science. Take Control was going good, so we knew we had to schedule the video for Gotta Work. But you need money to do a video, and by the time we got it cleared, it was late. They didn’t feel like that, but anybody with half a brain could see it was late. So then Gotta Work was going up, but it peaked and rapidly started coming down, so we knew we needed to do Crush. They said ‘Wait.’ I love the business and I studied the business and I told them we needed to do the other video, because you need to have another single when your other track is peaking. They’re talking about doing it next year, but I’m not doing it next year! So I don’t know what to tell you. I get that everyone’s filled with good intentions, but the road to perdition is filled with good intentions. There should have been no gaps.

I’m kinda surprised (yet pleased) she was so open about the whole thing. I guess, one can only be dragged through the dirt for so long. It’s a shame too as ‘Because I Love It’ is a really solid record – one of my favourites from this year.

Your thoughts?

Posted under:

Comments 9

Please Post Your Comments & Reviews

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Anonymous November 24, 2007

    Sad. You can only get kicked down so many times. How much more will she stand for? She’s not desperate and her voice is good (can get a bit strained e.g. Gotta work) so take your service elsewhere before you hit rock bottom.

    Lucy

    xx

  2. Shangay November 24, 2007

    Sad to hear. Amerie is really talented and listening to her one gets the clear impression she really knows what she is doing. “Because I Love It2 is a really cherent album and some very very interesting sounds (Beyonce wishes) so it’s a shame they have destroyed it… amazing a girls so beautiful, talented and groovy can be destroyed like this. We’ll she’ll find another way. momentum is everything

  3. Anonymous November 24, 2007

    Sad to say, but this is a clear case of Beyonceitis. I think she should just work on a new album, and try again.

  4. KidKlassic91 November 24, 2007

    She need to go lable shopping. she knows what she want and she’s not getting the time to do it because her record label is holding her back… that’s not right.

    Good luck to her.

  5. Anonymous November 24, 2007

    Crush if my favorite track, was really looking forward to the video.

  6. Anonymous November 24, 2007

    love the girl and i wish her luck. she representing the muti-artist out in the music industy

  7. Anonymous November 25, 2007

    Now I see why Amerie and Kelly Rowland have become such good friends; they both have alot in common. They’ve both been dragged through the mud by their record labels. I appreciate Ameries honesty and boldness. Hopefully her approach to what’s going on will get her the results that she deserves for her current album and career as a whole,and maybe she can give her girl Kelly some pointers. When she said that her label wanted to keep waiting to release a single I couldn’t help but think about Kelly Rowland because her label has done the same thing to her. I mean why on earth does it take nearly five months to release a single,and five more to put out a video. Both these girls need to drop their labels and start their own empire. They won’t get the respect or recognition that they deserve until and unless they take it.

  8. Anonymous November 25, 2007

    i agree completely! hearing the album (via download on an obscure blog), i was surprised. the album IS solid. i even have a couple favorites. ‘Crush’ being one of them!

    it’s a waste of music as far as i’m concerned. especially seeing how many people went crazy over all the timbaland 80’s stuff. Amerie has hardcore 80’s production on this album without all the extra played out sound of timbaland (now i loved shock value just as much as the next guy, but come on now. you could only hear ‘the way i are’ so many times…). she had a new spin on that sound, and she didn’t even get to play it out on american air waves! she needs to pull a monica and take the best of ‘because i love it’ and add some brand new s*** to it. new title. BAM! haha

  9. OmegaPatty December 3, 2007

    I think it must be pretty tough to be a solo female R&B artist, such as Amerie. She’s so gorgeous, and so talented. It’s gotta be tough because you know you’re gonna be constantly compared to BEYONCE. How frustrating! And if you’re not doing as well as Beyonce, then you get ripped-off. It’s so cut-throat, and sometimes, a load of b*******!

Recommended Posts
..**