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Ciara - Fantasy Ride
Latest news
- New Songs from Ciara released! added on Thursday, 31st of March
- Ciara's new single 'If Only' released! added on Wednesday, 16th of March
- Watch: Cassie debuts her 'King Of Hearts' music video added on Tuesday, 14th of February
- New Songs from Ciara released! added on Thursday, 31st of March
- Ciara's new single 'If Only' released! added on Wednesday, 16th of March
- Watch: Cassie debuts her 'King Of Hearts' music video added on Tuesday, 14th of February
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| Guardian |
| Ciara's third album has suffered a somewhat tortuous gestation: for six months it has been subject to repeated delays, aborted lead singles and more leaks than a colander. One wonders, though, how RCA could have come close to screwing up an album as sleek as Fantasy Ride. The usual who's who of collaborators is present - Justin Timberlake, The-Dream, Young Jeezy - but impressively, it is Ciara's presence that is stamped firmly on the album. Evidence that she is an underrated balladeer comes in the form of Keep Dancin' On Me, a shimmering slow jam, and the morning-after existential haze of I Don't Remember, but a terpsichorean swagger remains at the heart of Ciara's world. Few artists go as hard as she does on her club jams, whether inviting the world to "kiss my swag" over kinetic freestyle beats on Pucker Up, combining outraged soprano braggadocio with thunderous crunk basslines on the broiling High Price or gliding smoothly through the delectable, sun-kissed Echo. At her best, her pace is furious, and keeping up is exhilarating....full text |
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| Allmusic |
| The final version of Ciara's third album, issued after several months of delay, is quite dissimilar from the one detailed in an August 2008 Billboard cover story. According to the article, Fantasy Ride was to be divided into three sections tentatively titled "Groove City," "Crunk Town," and "Kingdom of Dance." At some point between then and the album's May 2009 release, this concept was mercifully scrapped, quite possibly because the track list underwent some changes. Regardless, it would not be difficult to construct an imaginary three-part Fantasy Ride from the finished product, with each song easy to slot into one of the designations. Had Ciara stuck with the city/town/kingdom concept, "Groove City" would have been the most populous and happening of the three. A couple of these ballads and slow jams are up there with the highlights from Goodies and The Evolution -- no coincidence that both were written and produced by the-Dream and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart (Rihanna's "Umbrella," Beyoncé's "Single Ladies"), the Jam and Lewis or Neptunes of their time. On the hypnotically winding "Like a Surgeon" (not a cover of Weird Al's Madonna parody), the-Dream provides some of his best, gimmicky, post-R. Kelly similes and metaphors, delivered by Ciara with all the necessary arrogance: "I appreciate your recovery time, but you need a physical one more time." "Keep Dancin' on Me," its opposite in sentiment, is as resigned and alluring as the-Dream's own "Fancy," swapping dejection for a kind of blissful yearning. Blink and you will miss what was to be "Crunk Town": "High Price" is a decent "Oh" revamp, with booming, low-end, creature-feature synths and Ludacris all part of the mix, though Ciara's outlandish operatics are a new (and nice) touch. The five uptempo tracks that would have been "Kingdom of Dance" are uneven, exemplified by the hobbling flop that is "Love Sex Magic," an easily forgettable Justin Timberlake collaboration, and "Work," an over-stuffed dancefloor mess that does not benefit from Missy Elliott's hoarse hectoring. Even if Ciara imaginatively develops the "Super C" superhero introduced in the disc's booklet, she and her collaborators will have to work extra hard on the next album to ensure that she does not stall in a creative cul de sac. [The deluxe edition adds the bonus tracks "Echo" and "I'm On," both of which should have made the album proper, and a 50-minute DVD featuring three videos.]...full text |
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| Slantmagazine |
| Nearly half of the songs on Ciara's long-delayed third effort, Fantasy Ride, follow the slinky slow-jam template of the singer's 2005 hit "Promise," starting with the opening track, "Ciara to the Stage," which features what sounds like a slowed-down version of the maniacal Joker laugh from Justin Timberlake's "My Love." "High Price" is a ridiculous slice of crunk-pop that, if it weren't so supremely over-the-top, would be a supreme failure. Ciara's (presumably intentional) horrendous operatic vocals—first introduced to audiences on her debut single "Goodies"—match the song's (presumably intentional) horrendous lyrics: "I should be in Iraq, shawty, 'cause I am the bomb…Booty look softer than a McDonald's hamburger bun."...full text |
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