Okay this issue can be attacked from many sides but starting first with this right here ---> "Some may even argue weight gain, but the successes of the Adeles of the world could counter that argument"

You cannot compare the success of a WHITE NON-AMERICAN FEMALE to a BLACK AMERICAN FEMALE! In America they will most definitely be treated differently regardless of weight! Adele is considered an anomaly. She's a blue-eyed soul singer making pop music. Her marketing has been quite different and more than Jazmine Sullivan could ever hope to experience!

I feel that the continued lack of resources put behind marketing R&B/Soul music is to blame. If an artist does not make Pop, Contry, or Hip Hop music, they might as well "give up the ghost"!