Ready or not, here I come

One of the most obvious changes that the Internet has brought, and which is particularly evident in relation to the entertainment industry, is the fact that it is more difficult than ever to hide things which are not intended, or simply not yet ready, for public consumption. The story about the X Men film which was leaked before it was even finished did not surprise me, because the same happens in music every day. YouTube is full of songs which artists have recorded for their next projects, long before their release is expected. From my experience of listening to a lot of these songs which appear in the early stages of an album’s creation, few of them actually make the cut, and I am always very surprised when (as with Lily Allen’s The Fear) they occasionally go on to be singles.

Several times recently I have even clicked on a song on YouTube that claims to be by a certain artist, and in fact it’s simply a demo which someone has recorded in the hope of said artist using the song on their next album. The chance of that artist ever so much as hearing that song is miniscule, but it is a clever way for unknown writers and producers to get their music heard. This new tradition of albums leaking weeks or months before their release can be a huge annoyance to some artists, but others have been rumoured to leak their albums on purpose, just for the free publicity it generates. There are even more benefits when a song leaks during the early stages of making an album, because it’s a great way to test the waters, especially if the artist is going in a slightly different direction, or if it’s ‘that difficult second album’, where the public perception of the artist has changed drastically since the last time they released something new.

The latter situation is what Jordin Sparks, and those whose jobs depend on her success, are currently facing. When she released her first album, strong initial sales were a given, simply because of the huge exposure she got on American Idol, but whether or not her success would extend beyond that was very uncertain. Previous winners of the show had ranged from Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood to Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks. No-one could be sure that Jordin would join the former camp, and since the last black woman and r&b singer to win AI had not done half as well as Kelly or Carrie, hopes were not too high. With Tattoo she did fairly well, but it’s not a very original sounding song, and since you would expect her to release her best song first, I pretty much gave up on Jordin. Therefore I was immensely shocked and, because I really liked Jordin on AI, delighted, to discover that not only did she have a song better than Tattoo, but it was also a duet with Chris Brown, one of the biggest names in her genre!

To me, No Air is one of the absolute best songs to ever come from American Idol, and my view of Jordin and her potential was immediately and drastically changed upon hearing it. It would obviously be a massive hit in America, where both she and Chris were household names. In the UK and the rest of Europe, where they were known only to particular fans of AI or r&b music, I had such confidence in the greatness of this song that I was still certain that it would be a success. And although I had to wait several months for it to happen, I was absolutely right. No AI winner had been successful in the UK since Kelly Clarkson, and with the disappointing flop of little Archie’s Crush, no-one has been since. Jordin may not be as big as Carrie or the Davids in America, but internationally she is only second to Kelly in name recognition.

When Jordin made her debut album, she may have been expected to sell more than your average first release, but how much more was anyone’s guess. Now she, and those she works with, have the mammoth task of following that up. The success of her first album means that no-one will want to stray too far from that sound, but without another song as strong as No Air, Jordin could easily fade into obscurity just as I expected her to when I first heard Tattoo. Without No Air, Tattoo was no use, and neither was One Step At A Time. Neither would have been UK hits if it weren’t for No Air. So, the pressure’s on to find a No Air for 2009, and what is the best way to test fan reaction to new music? Sling a few clips on YouTube, of course!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhcQmyJOcpU&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f]

I don’t know enough about the workings of Jordin’s career to say for sure whether these clips were purposefully leaked, but the fact that No Air was chosen as her second single by a vote on her website suggests to me that audience response will also play a large part in deciding which songs will make it onto the second album. Some may say it’s cynical, but personally I think it’s great. The fans get a little taster of what’s to come and it keeps us in touch with the artist as her musical style progresses. For the record company, getting a reaction from the same people who will ultimately make or break Jordin’s career by deciding whether or not to buy her next CD is the best market research you could possibly wish for. You can even have a say (although a very small one) in her career yourself if you listen to the songs above and write your opinions on YouTube or somewhere else it is likely to be seen.

So, listen up Jordin and co-workers: here are my opinions! Personally, I think all four of these songs would be worthy of inclusion on an album. They are all enjoyable in different ways, and that is quite rare to find in songs leaked so early in an album’s creation. The ballad, Faith, is a bit too soppy and unoriginal for my liking, but sweet and pleasant. Walking On Snow and Paper Cut both have a nice vibe about them, and I’m keen to hear them in full. However, it’s Let It Rain that I’m most excited by. It’s not quite at No Air’s level, but it’s definitely at least as good as Tattoo, and with a slight rocky edge it shows a new side to Jordin. I’m still waiting for the No Air of 2009, but I’m now really looking forward to hearing what this album has to offer, and on the basis of those four clips there’s a good chance I’ll buy it. This promotional exercise, whether or not it was intentional (and the quality of the songs suggests it was), has clearly been a big success!