Knock Ashanti for many things, yet hold the fort when it comes to her hustle. It’s infallible.
The former Murder INC singer is hard at work promoting her latest single ‘The Woman You Love’, with her latest stop being Live With Kelly this morning.
Watch Ms. Douglas work it out below…
Oh Ashanti.
Next to Rihanna, she serves as one of the most frustrating Pop cases. Unlike the former, she actually has talent; an increasing amount at that. Indeed, as showcased in this performance, she has sprung leaps and bounds vocally and with her stage presence. Yet, for all her strides, the song still sounds like construction noise. A fact rendered all the more tragic when considering that she’s been plugging it non-stop for almost 5-months.
Yes, she’s independent now and releasing her new LP ‘BraveHeart’ via her own imprint, Written Entertainment. However, the performance or lackthereof of ‘Woman’ should serve as ample enough reason to move onto the next single. The album’s delay from April to June may seemingly have afforded her a bigger window to drum up buzz. Yet, at this rate, she’ll still be promoting this non-starter come then.
The moral of the story, folks? Independent isn’t for everyone.
Jill Scott, Ledisi, and other acts whose touring gross vs average project spend sees them laughing to the bank? Yes. However, for an artist such as Ashanti – who regardless of her desire to go it alone – will always be compared to the Beyonces of the world (due to the enormity of her past commercial success), I say it’s a “no”.
For, unless she can prove otherwise, the hassle of trying to align different parties for the recording, marketing, and servicing of her music to radio (vs a major label doing it all) just seems like a futile effort. Especially if the end result still sees her appear not only inferior to today’s acts, but also inferior to her own past success (including what she achieved when the going wasn’t good i.e. her ‘Declaration’ LP).
We’re all for her stacking her “coin”. But at what expense? No radio play, no buzz, no interest? Nonetheless, we wish her the best.
Your thoughts?