Split Infinitives

In twenty years time, Honest Jon's or the Numero Group ask you to put together a Ciara retrospective. What's going on there? from Anonymous

One of the more exciting things I’ve been involved with professionally was the redesign of VIBE magazine in 2008. Danyel Smith had taken over the magazine more than two years prior and some staffers weren’t fully satisfied with the way it moved, from section to section. The page construction, rubrics, style elements, even the masthead, all needed to be reshaped. So a handful of editors—by then a thin but obsessed crew led by Benjamin Meadows-Ingram—spent days and days brainstorming the shape of new sections, cobbling a wishlist, pretending we had more money than we did. Our Art Director Mark Shaw sought out the design firm Pentagram and its co-founder, the brilliant Luke Hayman. Probably the best decision anyone made at VIBE in my three years there. Luke streamlined everything, was receptive to our ideas, but insisted we take more chances visually, instituting more flow charts, graphs, sidebars, etc. In return he indulged our desire for more words. We compromised a lot in that first month, for a few reasons. The re-launch issue was October 2008, one month after the 15th anniversary Juice Issue, which was the best single issue magazine I’ve ever edited. Because Juice was so massive (more than 250 pages), the advertising team was tapped out. They were working in a time (2008 was harsh) when acquiring ad pages was like blood from a stone—especially at what was primarily considered a hip-hop and R&B magazine, a second-tier venture for most companies with ad dollars. Which meant October would be thin. Scarily thin. No Rocawear money, no Hyundai, no Crest. It was hard to not think that the lack of ad pages was somehow a reflection of the quality of content—it was a magazine after all, easy to dismiss, or just miss. It was disposable. That October issue is no masterpiece, but considering the conditions it’s well-made. The ideas are strong. Ciara was the cover star. I wouldn’t say she was our favorite artist, but she was in a unique position: As both a successful but never premier female R&B artist, she was forced to leverage her body against her career. She’d also, seemingly, discovered a sort of sexuality after dabbling in a maybe-maybe not relationship with 50 Cent. 50 has that effect on women, apparently. Ciara wanted to do something tasteful and risky; we wanted her to take her clothes off. Years before this, a smart but cynical former editor of mine once told me, “You get ‘em to take their clothes off on the lousy projects. They’ll never do it when they know they got one worth it.” We didn’t know at the time, but Ciara’s Fantasy Ride, the album she was promoting, would be sort of lousy. Eight months would pass after the cover debuted before it was released. Delays emotional, vocal and physical are a sort of theme for Ciara. Still, she came through. I visited the set of the shoot and, after catching a glimpse or three too many, was shooed away. Shoots like that are always a very odd combination of open and awkward. (The man-boys of Pretty Ricky also stripped down for the issue to less, um, fanfare.) The cover is excellent, in a magazine way. The fading logo, the preposterous coverlines, the way Ciara’s hand covers her right foot. She was not happy about it or any of the inside photos, which are even more salacious. The disagreements were never contentious, but needless to say, she did not attend the issue release party. It’s hard to think about an artist in the same light after a scenario like this. Still, as a go-go-go singer and dancer, Ciara has unmistakable charm. She’s better when she’s moving fast, and yet her best song is the languorous “Promise.” Mercurial, that Cici.

Longwinded, but here’s what I’d do for Honest Jon’s if they asked.

Like a Girl: Ciara In Time

1. “Promise”

2. “Oh,” featuring Ludacris

3. “Girls Get Your Money”

4. “Goodies,” featuring Petey Pablo

5. “High Price,” featuring Ludacris

6. “That’s Right,” featuring Lil Jon

7. Field Mob featuring Ciara, “So What”

8. “Get Up,” featuring Chamillionaire

9. “Ride,” featuring Ludacris

10. “Thug Style”

11. “You Can Get It”

12. “Turntables,” featuring Chris Brown

13. “Hood Girl,” featuring T-Pain

14. “Like a Boy”

15. “Work,” featuring Missy Elliott

16. “Bang It Up”

17. “One, Two Step,” featuring Missy Elliott

18. “Like a Surgeon”

19. “The Title”

20. “Promise (Go And Get Your Tickets Mix),” featuring R. Kelly

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