Talent & Tabloids: Blu Cantrell

In the early 2000s, Blu Cantrell stepped on the scene with the looks, the voice, the style, and a chart-topping debut. However, as rumors got louder and the industry shifted, she disappeared from the public eye. What happened? In this episode, we revisit Blu’s career and examine how talent can be overshadowed by headlines, and how quickly the GP moves on. Stay to the end for a personal update on where I’ve been and what’s next! 

You can keep up with all things Vixen by finding links at https://linktr.ee/thevixenmemoirs, and if you’d like to sign up to the upcoming monthly newsletter, The Vixen Index, head to the website: ​​https://www.thevixenmemoirs.com/. 

Thank You’s:

VHS Logos On Soundcloud

BourgeoisGhetto On Instagram

"Shakin' Exploitation: Black Female Bodies in Contemporary Hip Hop And Pornography" By Amber Walker 

Mentioned: Metro, The Guardian, The Independent, Women’s Wear Daily, YouKnowIGotSoul.Com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04: 0:22

Hello, everybody. Hello, hello, hello. I know it has been an extremely long amount of time since you've heard this voice, since you've heard, since you've seen this podcast pop up on you whatever platform you listen to podcasts on. I know, I know, I know. Um, I'm sure a lot of people were like, that girl ain't never coming back. It has been a really long time to be exact. It's been like three years, which is crazy. And I know I I promise I am going to get to that. I'm gonna explain where I've been, what happened, what's next, all of the things, but I just need you to stick around to the end for that part. But I do want to say if you've been listening to Vixen for a while, thank you for coming back. Thank you for replaying the episodes. Thank you for reaching out to me um during my three-year-long hiatus. And if you're new and you're just like, girl, get to the story, don't worry. I got you. I definitely got you. But I just wanted to get that out and let you know I am going to explain, but just stick around to the end, please. Um, but for now, let's go ahead and dive in because today we're gonna talk about Blue Cantrail. Blue is an artist that had the full package, she had pretty much everything going for her as far as a pop star or RB star would go in the early 2000s. So she had the full package, she had a massive hit, she had the right debut, she had the right people working behind her, but somehow she's become remembered more for rumors and headlines than for her actual career. So let's talk about it. In the 1970s, Susie Franco was working as a model and jazz vocalist, meeting a professional NBA player and falling in love. That relationship produced Tiffany Cobb, who was born in Charleston, West Virginia, on March 16th, 1976. The relationship between Susie and Tiffany's father ended, and the family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where Susie had more children, raising them as a single mother. So Tiffany was the only biracial one out of all of these children, but this did not bother her at all. In a 2003 interview with The Guardian, she said, I hear a lot of people saying it was so hard for me growing up the only one. But come on, it's not that serious. Just because we're different races, we're all blood. The way I see it, you can be Chinese, honey. If you're hot, you're hot. And y'all, I'm so sorry if my voice sounds weird. I the new year tried to take me out for some reason, but still I rise, I am so stuffy. So if you can hear it, I am so sorry. And then also, side note, technology has changed. I have to catch up because to make a long story short, I don't have the proper mic anymore, so I have to replace. Um, I had to replace my old mic, and then the one that I got, it doesn't, I don't really like how it sounds, so I'm using this without a mic. I hope the audio quality is okay. I promise we will be better for the next episode. But yeah, I was just like, you know what? This mic doesn't sound good, and I'm already stuffy, so I feel like it might actually work in my favor because I feel like y'all would really hear how stuffed up I am if I was using a mic, but anyway, just wanted to say sorry for how I sound. If you can hear that, I'm like, sorry. Susie got married a lot, had dozens of photo shoots, and sung in many jazz cafes, all with Tiffany and Toe. Susie knew right away that her daughter was talented too, and pushed her to pursue singing. But Tiffany had a really, really bad case of stage fright. She said in a 2001 interview with Women's Wear Daily, I knew I would be a singer before I could talk. I used to sing commercials on the right key, and that's before I really knew how to speak. I've always known that this was what I wanted to do because it always brought me pleasure to do it. She always pushed me to do it. She's talking about her mom. Um, but I was extremely shy. I had to come out of my own shell. She used to want me to sing in front of my grandmother and friends and entertain them. Eventually, Tiffany got over the stage fright and started performing in talent shows across Rhode Island and taking on as many gigs as she could. So let's fast forward a bit. By the time she was 18, Tiffany had created her stage name, Blue Cantrail, from a nickname her mom gave her. So as a child, Tiffany was obsessed with the color blue, so it just stuck. So for the rest of the episode, we are gonna refer to Tiffany as Blue, y'all. Now let's go into the 1990s. So Blue has moved to New York City, she's working various jobs, specifically at bars, salons, department stores. Y'all know how that goes. Um, in her free time, she was singing in low-key clubs across the city, uh, performing weekly, getting recognition for her voice, but not really getting any real opportunity from it. In 1995, things had come to a certain point, really a breaking point. Blue was broke, she was trying to pay her bills, and she ended up posing nude in photos for Black Tail magazine to support herself financially. So if you don't know, Blacktail was one of the first adult magazines to focus specifically on black women. Um, and remember, this is at a time where Hustler and Playboy were very, very popular. So this is kind of like the African American like answer to those magazines. Blue chose to pose nude because Blacktail paid more for nude photos. So I think you could pose like in bikinis or whatever, you know, something a little risque. Um, but they were gonna give you more if you went full on nudity. So that's what Blue chose to do, and she went on about her business. But keep this in mind though, because we are going to come back to this later. Things started to turn around for Blue when she joined a group called Eighth Avenue. So Eighth Avenue was put together by Teddy Riley, the king of New Jack Swing, and they were signed to Interscope. So Eighth Avenue sung background on songs for Black Street. I cannot find any of their original music. Apparently, they did record a lot of their own music, but I can't find any of it. And to be honest, I can't really find out any information about this group at all. Like to the point where I don't even know who else was in the group with Blue. Like, I have no idea. It seems like they were really only together for like a year or so and were just kind of used more so for background. Um, however, Interscope ended up shelfing them after Teddy Riley left Blackstreet to go reunite with Guy. Um, then it seems like both Blackstreet and Eighth Avenue were dropped by Interscope. Random side story about stuff like this. So my godmother used to work for Arista, like kind of around this time when I was like, so I was maybe like eight, nine, ten, like around that age, so definitely 2000s. Um, and sometimes she would give me these CDs. Now I don't know if they would be considered demos. I don't, I don't, I'm not that familiar with like how the music industry worked. They would be like CDs of a random singer or a random girl group, sometimes a random like boy band that I you I would have never heard from them. And it would be like a song by them, a remix of that same song, and then like an instrumental of that song, or just like the song and then an instrumental. And these were like, I don't know if they would get passed out to the GP or they would just get passed around like the label and people would give their opinion. That's what I think they were. But my godmom would be like, Oh, listen to this, see if you like it. Like, you know, she would just give them to me. Um, so I would have never I had never heard of any of these people that she would give me the CDs of, and I don't remember ever hearing about any of these artists coming out later. And I feel like I would have, if I did, I would have remembered, but yeah, and I would I would always wonder like what happened to those groups because they never came out, nothing ever ended up happening. So I guess the CDs were just for people to get an opinion of like what people would think about these groups. This was in the days where people went through a lot of artist development, so you would be signed to a label for like months, years before we, the GP, like ever even heard of them. So maybe they just didn't make the cut to get pushed and ended up getting dropped. So I assumed that this is kind of what happened to 8th Avenue. I don't even know if they were properly credited on the songs that they sung background on. So it's like I wonder if they just had them in limbo on the label after they dropped them. Well, before they dropped them. So, anyway, a little side story. In a 2012 interview with you know I got sold.com, shout out to them. Blue said that when Blackstreet broke up, they took all of the girls that they brought into the group and took them with them. So I guess like maybe every member of Blackstreet was like, Oh, I know this girl, I know this girl, I know this girl, and like that's how the group got formed. So I guess when each person left, they were like, All right, this person's mine, and they took like whoever, you know, came with them. So that's how the group ended up disbanding after they got shelved. After the label dropped Eighth Avenue and the group disbanded, Blue went back to her previous lifestyle, just kind of working to make ends meet. Y'all know how it is. I always wondered how hard it was for people to adjust back to regular life, like once you got dropped from a group or a label. In a 2001 interview with Women's Wear Daily, Blue said, I was in a relationship for three years and my boyfriend wanted me to work a regular job. I loved him a lot and eventually got a regular job selling high fashion clothes to try to make him happy. Her boyfriend was like, you know, you just need to be realistic and get a regular job. He probably was also jealous. That relationship ended, and Blue had pretty much given up on being a singer overall. Then things got worse. One of her sisters had a really bad car accident that put her in a coma. Blue went to Atlanta with the rest of her family to be by her sister's side. And while leaving her hotel one day, someone tapped her and told her she looked like a singer. It was a guy, a dancer, but Blue can't remember his name. Um, this unnamed dancer introduced her to Tricky Stewart, one of the execs at Red Zone Entertainment. He ended up giving Blue his number, saying he wanted her to join a girl group he was putting together called 321. Nothing came out of this, but then she ended up meeting him again through Usher, actually. So I'm not sure exactly how Blue and Usher know each other, um, but I'm assuming they were good friends because there's a lot of pictures of them. But Usher ended up like reintroducing her to Tricky Stewart, right? So Blue ended up going to record music with 321, who's the girl group that Tricky wanted her to join. He ended up loving her voice so much, he was like, Can we work on a solo song together? They went into the studio, he played a few notes on his keyboard, and those notes ended up with Blue creating a whole song around them without writing out the words, just kind of like flowing, freestyling, and it ended up being good. So this was pretty much the moment where Blue's career like jump started, and I think this is where she finds her love for music again. Blue and her family were planning on going back to Rhode Island and New York because her sister was pretty much ready to leave her rehab center, and like but Tricky told Blue, We don't want you to leave when your family leaves. We want you to stay here and we're gonna record with you and I'm gonna get you a record deal. So in that interview I mentioned with You Know I Got Soul, Blue said, It's not that I didn't believe it, but I really didn't even know Tricky or his work. I just liked him as a person and his family when they were all involved in the business. I didn't come from a family-oriented life. I was kind of on my own when I was young, so I wanted to be a part of their family. So that's why I said, Okay, I will absolutely stay and work with you. So Blue ends up staying in Atlanta. Um, and she moved in with Tricky and his girlfriend, actually. She was working on um songs for a solo album while also singing backup for Gerald LeVert, Aaron Hall, uh Faith Evans, Diddy Puffy at the time, and more artists. Tricky started pushing Blue's demo, and it wasn't long before he put her in the room with Antonio LA Reed, who was the head of Arista. She performed one of the songs they recorded, and that one actually ended up on her debut album. It's called Till I'm Gone. So L.A Reed ended up loving this song, and after a bidding war with a few different labels, he signed her to Arista two weeks later. Four months after that, Blue's first album was done. On April 23rd, 2001, Hit Hem Up Style was released. So this was released a year after Blue was signed to Arista, and everybody was gagged basically. It was written and produced by Dallas Austin, and I actually didn't know this. It was it sampled a Frank Sinatra song called The Boys Night Out. I'm sure y'all know Hit Em Up Style. If you don't, if you're too young, go back and listen to it. But this song was everywhere. So it's basically an instruction manual for how to get your leg back on a cheating partner. So Hit'em Up Style entered the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was number two for two weeks straight. And like I said, this song was everywhere. I was really surprised by these stats because you could not convince me that this song wasn't number one for several weeks. Because I feel like sometimes a song can be a hit nationwide, but even more of a hit in our community specifically. Because sometimes when I see stuff like this for certain songs, I'm like, really? Not that, like, you know, being in the top 40 on Billboard Hot 100 is anything to frown at, but it just seems like this song was much larger than that. I don't know. Maybe it was just like a black community thing. I don't know if you know what I mean. But anyway, the song did have worldwide success as well. It was the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand. Um, it was later nominated for a Grammy. So here's another quote from that Women's Wear Daily interview. I came up with the concept for Hit Him Up Style from a girlfriend of mine and her relationship with someone. The song is about a girl angry at her cheating boyfriend who one day decides to go on an all-expense paid shopping spree with friends at Neiman Marcus on him, of course. Some of the guys think it's insulting, but I think they'll get over it. Let's take a quick detour here because I do want to talk about some of the looks in the video. But when Blue goes into Neiman Marcus, she's wearing these jeans that have like a Baroque style print on them. They're super cute. She was styled by Tamika Foster, Usher's ex-wife for the video. Um, in that interview with Women's Wear Daily, she said, I have a disease when it comes to fashion. My mom has the same problem. Girl, I can relate. Um, she was a professional model and actually was in the Mrs. America pageant as Miss Rhode Island in 1985. She's very much into fashion and I caught on to it from a very young age. The article, I really like this article, by the way. In Cantrell's closet, there are a lot of vintage jeans, stiletto heel boots, and unique accessories. I'm into jeans, she said. I'm into Henry Duarte jeans, Marc Jacobs jeans, old worn-out jeans, dirty jeans, jeans at Fred Siegel. You'll also find aviator glasses, hats. Blue does wear a lot of hats. When I was looking at more pictures of her, I'm like, she stay with a fedora on. So hats, my Chanel mules, some old Western shirts with the little pearlized buttons on them, and a lot of funky old belts with turquoise. According to Cantrell, her personal style is the same as her onstage presence. I don't like to look primp and clean, she said. I like that 20s vibe. I have a lot of Native American blood in my family, so I wear a lot of Native American jewelry. End quote. So that's just a little break in the story for a little style, a little style corner there. Later in the summer of that year, her debut album So Blue was released. So two weeks after it came out, So Blue set at number eight on Billboard. 89,000 units sold in the first week. And isn't that crazy? I don't know how often you guys are on Twitter. Well, X now. Um, but I like a couple weeks ago, a lot of people were talking about the first week sales. I know 21 Savage's new album was in the conversation. I think there was another album where people were talking about the sales, but I feel like that's like always on Twitter. Isn't it crazy like to think that someone who was relatively unknown, right? Like blue at the time, like she has we don't know who she is. She comes out with this huge hit 90,000 albums sold within the first week. But then you think about now where it's like people who are bona fide superstars in been been been solidified in the industry. Now they're barely doing 50k first week. I feel like it just shows like the juxtaposition of that, it really just shows how much the industry has changed. There are people who build their career years on years on years, and you can barely do 50k now. I don't know. Things have definitely changed in the last 20 years. Barely a month after the release, the album was certified gold. And another fun fact about the album. So there's a song on here that Sierra is credited as a writer on. It's called 10,000 Times. And I was like, how old was Sierra at this time? She would have been like, I think 14 or 15. Um, but yeah, just wanted to call that out. And Blue herself did co-write several songs on the album. This was actually her first time doing so. So here's a condensed quote from Blue from the You Know I Got Soul interview. It was just natural and it was a fun process. I don't really write. Mark Pitts, who was the VP of the urban department of Arista, he calls me the female Biggie Smalls because I would go in the booth and knock it out at the same time. It usually takes hours to make songs and I would do it in 15 minutes. The process was basically me picking out an instrumental. I can just hear a few seconds of it and go, no, that's not it. If I hear one that I like, I'll go, yes. And the emotion that I feel for that song, it's like we don't wait for later. I want you to play it right now. I go into the booth and I sing whatever it is that I feel that the song is making me feel, and it just comes out of me. Melody is there, and then I usually throw in the words, and whatever words are missing, I just fill them in because I was never professionally trained. I just taught myself. Everybody has a different process, but again, I don't really write. I'm not the type of writer that has pads and pads of lyrics. Whatever mood that songs put me in, that's what I bring out, and that's how it's done. Let's talk about like just public perception of the album. So I want to share a few reviews of it. Um, People magazine wrote, Most of the best songs on So Blue are torchy, gut-wrenching ballads. On these tracks, the Providence-born Shantuze, whose mom was a jazz singer, really shines. She lacks the vision. Wow, come on, y'all. She lacks the vision of Jill Scott, Mary J. Blige, or Erica Badu, but the 25-year-old newcomer is clearly still searching for her musical identity on routine RB numbers. But at least the jazzy, introspective title tune seems to be so Cantrell. Stephen Thomas Irwin from All Music said that the album, quote, was conventional, but it still sounds vibrant, thanks not just to Cantrell's impassioned vocals, but how the songs and productions are wrapped in contemporary mores, but delivered as if they were a classic. This is a record that maintains its momentum from beginning to end. So I did listen to So Blue. I don't know if I've ever like heard her album in full. Um, but I did listen to it while I was writing the first part of this episode. And it's definitely it's interesting because it's a it's like a pop album that was designed to be a smash hit at the time. Like it has how can I describe it? It has like the perfect formula, but it shows a ton of range. Like she has a lot of songs that all have different sounds, like what the People magazine um review was saying. Like there are gut-wrenching ballads where she's really good, and there's a lot of songs where you can hear, like, that she has jazz influences, and then she has like those songs that are designed to be hits, designed to be easy listen, um, easily listened to. Like, it's kind of like a perfectly formulated album, I would say. So I I do feel like you know, there's a lot of range there. Arista did a lot of promo behind So Blue, like they had the right idea because the album ended up being very, very successful. They did a lot with the album rollout. In our RB roundup for Billboard's August 2001 issue, Aliyah S. King wrote, shout out to Aaliyah, Arista executive VP Lionel Rydnor thinks Cantrell's raw emotions will make her a radio success story. This is a quote Her performance as an artist is broader than even what you hear on the first single, which is a great launch record. Radio PDs have been scrambling to keep up with requests for the Austin produced single. It's innovative and it sounds so much different than what we've heard at the radio this year, says Maurice DeVaux, PD at Philadelphia's WPHI. Felana Williams, Aries' director of marketing, says the single success has definitely paved the way. We've already put her on a nationwide promotional tour, William says. Airsa is planning a number of contests, including a free BMW giveaway. Dang, they are they doing it like this still? Um well other labels, because I don't Ares is no more. Royce Fortune, owner of Fortune Records, is already getting album requests from customers. I'm looking forward to that record doing very well here. He Ads. End quote. I I agree with what this executive VP is saying. I mean, it was his job to say these things, but I do feel like when I think about that song, especially like hearing the Frank Sinatra sample, it did sound very different from anything that you hear. And I feel like whenever it comes on now, I have to be like, oh, mmm, mmm. Like nobody was like kind of like almost scatting like that on the track at the time, especially like not like a big hit like that. You can really see um that jazz influence like in that song. So it's just really cool to like revisit songs. I of course I was like 10 when this song, I think I was eight when this song came out, and I remember it very well. The video, everything, but it's fun to like listen to these kinds of songs like later as an adult with my own opinion. Um, and you just like you compared and like this was different. This was fun. Back to the story. So it was a very, very busy time, as you can imagine. Hit album, hit song. Blue is at the height of her career. So Women's Wear Daily says on a recent trip to New York, Cantrell's energy was in high gear. She checked into the Muse Gym and began her daily cardio workout regimen. The next day, she was off and running, attending meetings with management to discuss the album's release. She wrapped up her second night in town by heading to the Hamptons, where she performed at Club NB slash tsunami. I don't I've never what club is this? Uh it's like slash both. I don't know if it had two names. Um, Cantrell, here's another little fashion bit. Cantrell wore a pair of low-waisted DK and Y vintage jeans with a turquoise buckle belt. Cute. Uh stiletto boots by Sergio Rossi and a ruffled blouse by DG. Her third day in town, she performed at Metronome wearing a Mugley outfit. Later in the week, Cantrell does an eight-page Vogue adventorial shoot and a Macy's appearance slash performance. Remember when that would happen all the time? Um, a Macy's appearance slash performance at DK and Y's new shop. By week's end, Cantrell is back on a plane. This time to Los Angeles to continue her ongoing promotional tour. So they they were putting her to work. This is when some rumors start to kick in, and I feel like if you like know about Blue, even if you don't, you may have heard this before. So this is where the Jay-Z rumors start to come in. So it was rumored that Jay briefly dated Blue when she first came onto the scene. But the issue with that is that around the same time, this is when Beyonce and Jay-Z start dating. Let me see, because I feel like the year that this came out, this is when Bonnie and Clyde, yeah, because it's Bonnie duh Kimani, it's Bonnie and Clyde 03. So yeah, this is literally when that song comes out. So that would mean technically that these two women overlapped. Now, that's to me, I know that was a big scandal at the time, but like again, looking back at stuff like this when you're an adult, I'm like, what's the big deal? Like, people date around, people overlap. I feel like we've all had people overlap, and we may have overlapped with other people if we were just dating and like you know, being courted or courting. Um, like it's not that big of a deal, but whatever. This was a big deal because it's Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Blue involved. Um, now Blue denies ever dating him. I am gonna reference a 2003 interview that Blue did with Wendy Williams a few times going forward. Let me just say this about the interview. I'm gonna try to insert some clips from it. I I think I can, yeah. Um, the energy in this interview is so funny to me because okay, let me just set the scene. So her and Wendy are at the W. They have a bunch of Apple martinis, they got champagne bottles, they got caviar. Um, so like cute little setup, but they're like playfully but not so playfully shading each other, but fake, like still trying to be respectful. It's like fun shade, but then it gets like kind of nice and nasty. But they're still trying to be respectful. Well, not really on Wendy's part. I feel like blue is trying to be respectful and professional, and y'all know how Wendy is, especially like in these days. We're talking about 2003. Blue is really trying her best throughout this entire interview to take the comments on the chin. And like, she does a good job, but it's just like it was funny to watch. But anyway, Wendy straight up asks her if she has smashed Jay-Z. Like, and she she uses the F word. I'm I I'm sanitizing it by saying smash. She's straight up like, have you F'd Jay-Z? Now, Blue hesitates a bit before she starts. She first says, you know, that him and Beyonce are in love. She starts out with that. Then she says, and this is a quote, I have a big crush on him though. I really like him though. I don't care who he's dating, I've always had a crush on him. So then Wendy asks Blue if she would do it if no one else was around in the hotel. Like basically, if Jay-Z was there at this hotel, I wasn't here, cameras weren't here, it was just you and him. Would you sleep with him? And Blue answers this by saying, 'I wouldn't turn it down.' You can't just go around sleeping with guys like that because it might not even get you anywhere. You gotta be smart with who you lay down with. End quote. Okay, now. Later in this interview with Wendy, Blue talks about people she's actually dated. She talks about an NBA player who approached her at an award show, says that he was faithful but insecure, and that he couldn't really handle that she was a star, or that his friends found her attractive. Um, she talks about that a lot, and then she talks about I mean it was a fun little interview. She doesn't give a whole lot as far as like names of who she's dating. Um, she does say that she is dating at the time of this interview. I think she says he's like a a white actor who like is pretty well known. I wonder who. Um, she talks about that, talks about a nice ring that he got her. You know, she's kind of, you know, playing coy. Again, this interview is just a trip through and through. Example Blue is talking about her parents. Wendy makes comments about black men, of course, referring to Blue's dad getting on and then getting with a white girl, um, who would be Blue's mom in this scenario. So extremely awkward, but like I said, Blue really does take the comments on the channel. And that's one thing that I've learned about her from doing the research for this episode. She's like very open in these interviews. Like, she's not going, she will name drop, like even if she chooses not to name drop, she is extremely open. I mean, she will sit and discuss almost whichever celebrity you ask her about. I feel like she will, you know, respond with her real opinion of them. And you know what? I love that because bring back messy celebrities, like nobody is messy. I I don't know if people are just too media trained now or like people don't want the backlash because I mean it's easier to get canceled these days for sure. But I feel like you know, we had a lot of people who were just messy as hell. Like, I don't know if you guys have ever I can't remember it's this interview J Lo does where she's talking about other actors and like just their tales. I can't remember if it's with like the Hollywood reporter, it's with some publication, and like she's just like she's going in. And I just feel like we don't get stuff like that anymore. So The Guardian also does a piece on Blue in 2003 where it literally begins. She indulges everyone in the room with a gossip session about her peers. This is how the article starts. So here's a few excerpts from that interview. It's a very long quote that I want to share with y'all. One subject she'll discuss off and on the record is an apparent beef with RB dreamboat Beyonce. Well, no RB story would be complete without a little backbiting. It was reported around the release of Blue's first single, The Brilliant Man Bashing Hit'em Up Style, that she had been enjoying liaisons with uber ugly rap god Jay-Z, the now boyfriend of Beyonce. Alright, y'all, like why would they say this? Shout out to Jay. Why would they say that? Anyway, British media is so ruthless. The Guardian is British, right? Pretty sure. Yes, it's I feel like in general, early 2000s media was just nuts, but the British media at that time, my god, today. Anyway, back to the quote. So me and Jay-Z were said to have been dating. It was major press. I have to say to you that we weren't, she says, enunciating every word and sounding a little like a French and Saunders impression of an RB singer. It seems people are saying she took him away from you, but that's not true because there was nothing to take. We were just friends, she says, peering forcefully over the top of her sunglasses. So I guess, like kind of to insinuate, like, hmm, just friends, you know? Um, after much prodding, persuasion, and a little bit more Bacardi, Blue slowly admits that there may be certain grounds for the gossip. Yes, Beyonce and Jay-Z Bonnie and Clyde video is incredibly similar to her roundup promo. Blues came out first. Yep. Both have collaborated with Dance Hall Don Paul. Again, Blue beat Beyonce to it with Breathe. And indeed, on her forthcoming single, Baby Boy, Beyonce says the line, Let Me Breathe. See what she did there? So let me pause that real quick. So we haven't gotten, they're talking about Sean Paul, of course, we didn't know. We haven't gotten to that part, that era of Blue's career yet. I do feel like a lot of this is a little bit of a reach, and you're gonna see even more of what I mean in this next part of the quote. Now I am a big Beyonce fan. I am a big, big fan. I don't call myself like a full stand because I'm not gonna defend anyone blindly, but I am a huge fan of Beyoncé. But I feel like this is a and this, I'm not even just saying this as a big fan. Like I truly feel like this is a reach because listen to this part. Okay, this is another part of the quote. Furthermore, when we hear Beyonce murmur, I was in love with a Sagittarius, I've been hurt by a Pisces on her album track, Signs. Yes, Jay-Z's a Sagittarius, and I'm a Pisces. So Blue says that part. Then she says, I'm an adult, she's younger, and if she's doing what you're saying, then she's being a little immature. Maybe she's trying to do it to get pressed, but I want to make her understand if she goes there with me, it's the wrong move. She needs to understand what she's doing and what she's getting into. I'm a master at singing. Immodest, maybe, but blue does have one phenomenal voice. I don't have any animosity towards Beyonce, and I don't like that whole rivalry type of thing. Maybe we should get on stage and battle it out live, each sing a song in true beef style. But she doesn't want to do that, she says, ordering another drink and pursing her gloss to within an inch of their lives' lips. If she is being negative, she doesn't need to be because she's a beautiful girl. But if you have issues with your man, and I don't know what the situation is with them, I don't want to speak on that. But if you have issues, address it with the guy, don't take it out on the girl. It's never the way to go. So again, like I said, end quote. Um, this is a stretch to me, but let me know what y'all think. Cause like to me, I'm like, all right, I was in love with a Sagittarius, I've been hurt by Pisces. We know the song signs, and then Blue is like, but I'm a Sagittarius, I'm a Pisces, and Jay-Z is a Sagittarius. It's like, girl, I don't I always took that line to me. Like, she like has been hurt by Pisces herself. Not necessarily not you, girl. I don't know. Maybe it's just me. I was talking about this with a friend the other day. I like this level, and I I'm not calling blue delusional, don't get me wrong, but I do feel like sometimes when people like people do find like a lot of little things to say, like, oh, she's trying to come at me. Like, people be connecting the dots in some crazy ways, y'all. I'm just like, this feels like a reach. But anyway, let me know what y'all think about that. So I'm gonna go back to the year prior, which is 2002, because like I said, this interview is referencing a time that we haven't really gotten to to our story. 2002 was a very good year for Blue. She was able to ride high and enjoy being a celebrity after the success of So Blue. The album was nominated for two Grammys that year: Best RB song and best female RB vocal performance. Blue also made cameos in movies like Bad Company, Drumline. She attended the BT Awards, VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards. She was busy. Also, at this time, she's working on a sophomore album. But however, remember I told y'all to remember that nude shoot that she did with Blacktail in 1995? That has come back around because those photos, which were nude, started to circulate again this year. So much so that Blacktail decided to reprint the photos for their May 2002 issue with the headline, What about those pictures? We've got them all. Hot RB song Bird Spreads. So gross. Um, but rarely do people who sign those release forms, especially when you're that young and you need money, very rarely do people know that you know they can legally do what they want to do with the photos after they're initially published. Like these people continue to own these photos and they can kind of do what they want. And it's unfortunately like it's predatory. When people want money, you're not gonna go have a lawyer look at something, you're not gonna take it home and think about it, you know. Blue, however, did warn LA Reed about them. She said to The Guardian, I told LA I've done some nude pictures and they might come out. So I think they were cared for this in a sense, or like they at least knew about it. This, unfortunately, is a story that we've seen before. Like nudes all of a sudden come back to haunt someone when their visibility is at its peak. It's happened to a lot of singers, um, actresses, artists. It happens to a lot of people. This is where Blue's image began to shift in the public eye. And it it's really sad because this happens almost immediately after her success. I feel like today, something like this would still be a scandal. Of course. Like, of course, I'm not gonna downplay that. However, it may give a pop star a little bit of edge, you know, some notoriety. Ooh, bad girl. Like it may do that for you now, where you kind of become like infamous or you can like turn it around into a new era. But in the early 2000s, image control was everything. How you were viewed, how marketable you were, can you cross over? Like all of that really, really mattered. This is why Beyoncé came on the scene the way she did, you know, trained, ready to go. Okay. Um, this is why the whole marriage scandal thing with Brandy, like, and that's no shade at all. I'm just trying to paint a picture for you guys, was for the best to be heavily sanitized. You wanted your image to be sanitized, you wanted it to be to have crossover appeal. So this was like a nightmare then. Competition was so crazy. So women in RB, especially at this time, were competing in a very overcrowded, unforgiving market. So this kind of scandal, it just really, really mattered, and it didn't end her career overnight at all, but it did shift how she was discussed. You really see a shift that happens fairly quickly. Like if you look at interviews with her in chronological order, around this time, the questions that they ask her in 2003 and onward, they become more scandalous, more risquette. They they just to be honest, it gets a little disrespectful. And it's it's definitely her interviews are much less about her talent now, and it's much more about sex, who she's been with, who she doesn't like, bringing up the new photos, asking her opinion of celebrity men. It's just much less questions about her talent and more about her sexuality. And you can say also at this time, and I think this is a fair point, it may not be specifically on blue. This is a time where like tabloid culture gets even more popular from 2003 all the way up until like when was the whole Perez Hilton and like the dirty dot com? Like, when was all of that happened? Like 07. All of that started to really start to ramp. It started to ramp up. Of course, we had the Britney um like shaved head thing, um Lindsay and Paris doing all of that shit, getting caught on camera, um, or like on camera talking shit about each other, really, really, really, really, really ramp up. It was already terrible. So it could just be like tabloid culture at the time, but I also think what happened with these photos did not help them coming back around. You can tell in her interviews that things get more scandalous for her. So, for example, in that Wendy interview from 2003, and I mean it's Wendy, so of course, but Blue explains how the photos came into existence. She's basically just like, I was broke and I needed money, and she's not shamed about it. Um, she's kind of just speaking openly, and Wendy is shading her throughout the interview for this. Like, she finds a way to come back to it, like various times. She calls her a nappy dugout, which I what kind of term is that? Like, what? That is crazy. Uh, so she says that. Um, then blue, like they're talking about something else, and blue says that she's the eldest out of her siblings, and Wendy goes, damn, what an example. Wendy, please. Please. Then also, she has an interview with the independent where they first of all, they ask her multiple questions about Prince William. I have no idea why. I know at that time, like everyone thought he was sexy, so I don't know if like that's why they asked about him. I don't know if she had previously said something about him in an interview. That's what I got. Like, that was the impression I got from it, but they randomly asked, like, what would you do in a room with Prince William? Something like that. Then at the end, like, y'all, this is their closing question. It's not funny because it's just like weird, but it was so it was just wild to me that this was their closing question. They said, Is your body a temple or a shed? What? What? Like, this is how they were playing in her face in her interviews. But anyway, like I said earlier, blue, she really does try to be a good sport throughout these interviews. You can tell, right? And I don't want to assume because I don't know, but I do wonder if she sexed up her image a bit and kind of played along with it because it was all anyone could talk about when it came to her at this point. And again, she was very open in her interviews, even before these photos resurfaced. But I feel like she became even more so at this time. She says to The Guardian, I was 18, it was uncomfortable, but I had to pay my bills. You know, recently I was with Puff and some comment was made about nudity. He was like, Well, I've seen you nude. Ew. He was like, Well, I've seen you nude, and you looked cute, babe. It's all different now. I'm more in shape now, I'm more toned, but you know what? She lowers the volume a little.

unknown: 39:59

It's

SPEAKER_04: 40:00

Me in the press, so it really helped. Controversy sells, she exclaimed of the media fixation with her pre-brazilian wax front bum bearing days. Yuck. Yuck. Anyway. The independent asked her how tabloidy her career became after the release of the photos, and they asked her, like, did you feel targeted by how negatively you were spoken about? And she says, nah, they've just been doing what they do to everyone else. I'm very non-emotional about the press. If they weren't talking about me, then that would be something to worry about. Have you heard of any artists that they're not going to say something negative about? I mean, think about it. It doesn't bother me at all. I actually find it quite humorous. I laughed so hard one time I almost peed myself. Cheers to the press, end quote. So yeah, Blue didn't shy away from questions about the photo. She was open about it, but the media redirects the narrative away from music, away from talent, away from any new endeavors, and they go right into very coded language about her past, her choices, and respectability. We know how it goes, and it sucks. Um, and this had real consequences with some stations like Radio One pulling her music. I think they eventually put it back, um, but they did pull her music. And once the narrative changes, it's very, very hard to get it back. Now, she did get some opportunity from the nudes resurfacing. She did get um an offer to shoot with Playboy. They asked her to be the cover girl for their August 2003 issue. I've seen different numbers from different sources. It looks like they offered her anywhere from 750k to 1 million. Um, and this is in what like 2003 money, which would be let's see how much that would be today. 1 million, it's almost 2 million today, so big money. The Wendy interview, she tells Blue she heard that she got paid 750k to do it, but Wendy's like, that's a lie, I don't believe it. Um, Blue won't disclose herself how much she got paid, but she does talk about how tasteful her photo shoot is and how everyone on set got naked to make her feel comfortable because she was very nervous. Now I've seen the the Playboy photos and they are gorgeous. Like they she was right, they're tasteful. I love how she looks. It's like she's like a bronze goddess, she looks amazing. Um, they're not easy to find, and she wasn't used for the cover. They did go with um some people from Survivor on that cover and said Survivor used to be so I've never seen an episode of that in my life. But I feel like the people who were on that show were everywhere. And I don't know if they get like as famous as they used to. Survivor, The Bachelor, all of that. Big Brother. The photos didn't end up being published altogether because I don't see them on Playboy's website, and they keep a pretty good archive of everything. And then also in this interview with Metro in 2003, Blue is asked why the photos never materialized, and she says no comment. Um, I kind of wonder with that. Like now I'm just speculating. I couldn't find like any additional info. I wonder if, like, maybe her label was like, it's not a good look. Like, you don't want, like, you want people to kind of forget about that. Like, maybe they were just like, you know, we're gonna go with the people from Survivor instead because they're like more famous right now, which is insane. I don't know what happened, but these photos end up never being published. Lou keeps a very strong stance when it comes to casual interviews that bring up the photos, as you can see. But I think when the theme of the article is like a little bit more insightful, she speaks more about how the photos make her feel. Telegraph published this article called The Music Business Is More Brutal Than the Sex Industry that year. And they speak about how risque music videos are getting. They interview Blue for this. Um, and they start off talking about her song Breathe with Sean Paul, which we're gonna talk about right after this, but they're referencing that video, and this is a quote It is a great, sensuous, hip shifting dance record, but the accompanying video leaves little to the imagination. It features the two stars bumping and grinding and panting over one another with a lot of close-ups of pouting red lips. A mother's a mother whose six-year-old son was a huge fan of the record told me she worried about him watching the video because it was about as close as you could get to pornography without anyone actually taking their clothes off. Um, okay. Can I just say like this kind of commentary? I'm like, just cut the TV off. Like now I watched music videos. I don't know if I was six, but I definitely started heavily watching music videos. Earliest memories, maybe like eight, but like I probably did watch them when I was six, but like cut the TV off. Like, why why does him being a huge fan of Breathe is so funny to me. Literally, cut the TV off, cut something else on. I'm not a porn star in Cis Cantrell. Actually, a rather charming, outspoken, good-humored woman who is slimmer and pr This is what I mean about the media, y'all. They say who is slimmer and prettier in person than in her revealing pictures. I'm not ashamed of what I've done because it was a tough time and it paid some bills, but it's not like I made a career out of it. I think my talent definitely overrides one nude shoot. To me, music is not about sex, it's about emotion. But I'm not kidding myself. I wouldn't have got a record deal if I didn't look cute. If you're an OG listener of mine, you probably already know what I'm about to say, but I do want to point out like Kim Kardashian's sex tape scandal happened a few years after this, and instead of ending her career or framing her as a liability, and of course it's different because Blue was like a talent, um, it became the foundation of Kim's empire. We all know this, and she was able to reframe the narrative around herself, but blue was not, and I feel like this contrast matters because blue didn't lack talent, success, visibility, health. She had more of all of that than Kim did when it happened to her, but she did lack permission, and we know why she lacked permission. I want to read you guys a condensed excerpt from a study called Shaken Exploitation: Black Female Bodies in Contemporary Hip Hop and Pornography. I'm gonna try to link it for you in the show notes. It was written by Amber Walker in 2011. It's one of my favorite things to read on the show. I believe I've read it in previously or read excerpts from it in uh sex tape scandal episodes or like maybe my vixen episodes about video vixens. Um, but shout out to you, Amber. I love this paper. But there's a section in it called Look Back at Me, Jezebel, the Black Lady, um, and constructions of black female sexual identity, and that's where this part comes from. I kind of like chopped and screwed it to make it shorter. The Jezebel stereotype of African American women was developed during enslavement. In her book, Aren't I a Woman? Deborah Greywhite discusses the origins of the Jezebel, beginning with the first contact Europeans had with Africans upon reaching Africa to procure slaves. The main characteristic of the Jezebel stereotype is hypersexuality. She is described as animalistically sexual. Terms like the black widow, tiger, puma, and panther were all used to reference black women, to refer to black women, excuse me. This discourse was rooted in the notion that black women were lustful and primitive. Not only were black women incapable of resisting sexual advances, they also encouraged and initiated them. The intersections of sex, race, gender, and power are key to understanding the relationship between the Jezebel and contemporary erotic entertainers. Like the Jezebel image that came before them, erotic entertainers are defined by their sexual traits and seen as sexual objects and property. Artists, record labels, and producers use women's bodies in music videos and pornography as social and economic capital. These women enable artists to garner status and recognition by engaging the viewer of the videos in visual fantasy. End quote. So when you hear all these rumors and all of this stuff back to back, um, it stops sounding like random gossip and it starts to sound a little bit more familiar. So none of the rumors about blue even agree with one another. I feel like one minute it's like, all right, she's like the seductive mistress, then she's like the side chick whose career got sidelined because Beyoncé was gonna be bigger, so she was more important, then she's unstable, she's too sexual, she's too talented, and they wanted her out because she was more talented, then she wasn't talented enough. That's why she's a one-hit wonder. It is a lot, right? But they don't all have to line up to stick. Um, and then they're all pulling from the same very narrow idea of who a woman is allowed to be. So blue's openness, her body, her relationships, even her confidence. Because, like I said, she's very open even before like the nudes and all of that came back. Like, she was always very open about herself, even her confidence gets twisted into evidence of something being off about her, and that's where the Jezebel stereotype really comes into play. Because the rumors didn't just follow blue, they gave people, how can I say this, like a lens to look at her through, like a ready-made lens. And once she gets slotted into that very hypersexual, morally suspect box, everything she says gets reinterpreted to fit that narrative in general. Her interviews, her career choices, her successes, her success, um, even coincidences years later. And you kind of just see how all of this works, right? Like I said, her interviews become much more salacious. They're asking her much less music questions, much less about her talent, much less about what she has coming next. And it's just all rumor. You're a side chick, you're this, you're that. Um, the Wendy interview is a really good example about that because it's more about like who she's dating, gifts that she's gotten from men, the sex tapes playboy, more than really anything else. Um, so yeah, you just kind of see how all of that works. I'm gonna go ahead and move on because I don't want this to become like a sex tape scandals mini episode within an episode. If you do want to hear an expansion on that contrast, you can go back and listen to previous. Um, I had a series called Sex Tape Scandals. I've done episodes on Mel B's sex tape scandal, also Nicole Norain. Um, I think it's just those two. Yeah, if you want to hear like more of an expansion on that contrast, feel free to go back to those two episodes. Okay, so let's get back to what really matters Blue's talent and her career. So I want to talk about the bittersweet era. So this is where Breathe is gonna come in. So in 2002, same year that So Blue comes out, they immediately start working on Blue's follow-up. So the direction of this album was different. So Blue, like I said, it had a lot of like it was very um, there was a lot of range on that album, various types of music. You could really see like the range of her voice and like her background. Um, it had a lot of nods to her jazz upbringing, but this album was supposed to be a little bit more upbeat, a little bit more mature, um, more like hip-hop inspired, a little dancehall flair. You know, they wanted it to be like a more fun album, I guess. So Arissa brought Tricky Stewart back into the fold and a bunch of other producers. Soul Shock and Carlin, Shep Crawford. Wreath was slated to be the lead single, and it did use an altered instrumental version of a song by Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Exhibit called What's the Difference? Now that song originally used a sample from a 1966 song by Charles. I might butcher this last name, I'm so sorry. Charles Asnivore. Um, so it's like a sample of a sample. It's interesting though, because even though the song features Sean Paul and it's like a sample of another song, Blue didn't get to work with anybody directly on this because she recorded the song solo on her own, and then Sean Paul was later added to it before the release, which was probably the best decision because I do feel like it made the song pop. So Bittersweet, that's the album, was supposed to come out in late 2002, so I guess like six months or so after So Blue, but it got pushed back to properly roll out Brieve. So Brieve came out in February of 2003, and it ended up peaking at 70 on Billboard, um, which isn't, you know, it's not the same as the success that Hit'em Up Style or like So Blue saw. Um, but the song did become a much larger international hit. So the video, it's directed by Hype Williams, perfect, amazing. Um, definitely one of Blue's best. It's very sexy, it's fun, lots of blue, lots of orange, it's clean, it's summery. Um, and it really fits with the vibe of the song. So, since we did a little fashion corner, a little style corner for a hit-em up style, we can do it again for Brieve. So, Blue is wearing a lot of Dior pieces. This is John Galeano era. These came out the previous year before the video. She's wearing a lace up denim set, she's wearing sunglasses, Calandre sunglasses, all of which I know from Mahogany Mommy. You can find her on Instagram, bourgeoisie ghetto. She knows all of the pieces. I love following her. She's the go of of like sourcing and just like identifying what people are wearing from this era. So, shout out to her. Lou's also wearing this very distinct peachy pink lipstick shade as well. In an interview, she calls it Sunset by Mac, but I think it's actually called Painted Sunset, like Painted Sunset, and I believe that this has been discontinued. But if you wanted to know like a little bit about the look, that's what she's wearing. Bittersweet ends up coming out on June 24th, 2003, and it sold 29,000 units in its opening week and hit 37 on Billboard. So this is very different from So Blue, right? Um, reviews were pretty mixed. Vibe said, though her voice lacks distinctive personality, she bows you over with jazzy vocal looks and a pyrotechnical intensity that's pure holiness church. They also say that they found the upbeat songs on the album generic compared to her stunning ballads. The Guardian found it problematic that, and this is a quote, the laid-back jazz of Cantrell's debut has been replaced with myriad styles and a more calculated, dance floor-friendly sound. You can't help but feel that this sugar-coated package is meant to attract a mainstream audience rather than develop Cantrell as an artist. Rolling Stone called out that bittersweet still flaunts a dexterity and worldliness that sets her apart from her streetbound peers. What do you mean by that? Streetbound peers. Anyway, but lackluster lackluster lyrics and mediocre melodies make the poorly sequenced album's overwhelming blandness neither bitter nor sweet. God damn. Um, then All Music calls it another fine slice of contemporary RB propelled above the ordinary by her arresting voice and the sympathetic and interesting production. The record has a melancholy tinge, and Cantrell sings with a depth of emotion that many of her contemporaries can't reach. Cantrell is a real talent, and Bittersweet is the kind of record fans of modern soul music should champion. Tough, smart, sexy, and impassioned with a sound that shows imagination. It would be ashamed if it slips through the cracks. And all music, I fear you were right, because that that's kind of what happened. Bittersweet had something over Soul Blue where it did appeal more to international markets, and that's something that you know the first album wasn't able to do, but it definitely did not match the domestic success of the first album. So, from research from this episode, I can tell that like the media coverage in the states was much more muted, and also like things could have been erased. It's the internet, so much has been removed, but it just seems to me like the coverage there was much less coverage for bittersweet than there was for So Blue, and it was pretty much regarded as an underrated album, like immediately after its release, which is really interesting. Um, and I think like in the wake of these nude photos coming back out, also like it being pushed back, and I think yeah, the song came out in February, right? Brieve. I feel like that's a song that definitely needed summer release, but neither here nor there. Um, but I think all of that, plus like the very stacked competition, it just did not have enough promo, it didn't have enough backing, and it just wasn't able to like really solidify blue as an RB mainstay. And I had to look up what came out in 2003. I already knew Dangerously in Love was released that year, but y'all, I would have said push it back to 2004, y'all. I would have said push it back until 2004. And I know artists don't really have that kind of pull when an album needs to come out, needs to come out, but I'm just like, bro, this is crazy. So, like I said, Dangerously in Love had come out, but also the Diary of Alicia Keys, y'all. The diary of Alicia Keys came out this year. Tasty by Khalise, that's the album with Milkshake on it. Fearless by Tamia, that album did really well. Worldwide Underground by Erica Badu. Then Ashanti had two albums come out this year. I was like, why the hell did Ashanti have two albums? But then I looked, it was chapter two. I think that was Can You Rock With Me? Not yeah, I think that song was that was on chapter two, I'm pretty sure. Then Metamorphosis. And I was like, What was Metamorphosis? I had to look that up, but it was like a remix album, but still, she had two albums come out in the same year. So that is crazy. I would have said fuck that. I'm sorry. I would have said fuck that throw in the towel. Come out in 2004. Now it's possible that it would have been different had it come out in 2002 like it was supposed to, but 2003, it just it was just a really unlucky year for her album to come out when you think about like just the level of competition, like all of those albums, and those are just like the top girlies, y'all. Like, I'm I'm sure, and I'm I may even be forgetting some top albums, and I I only looked at female singers who would fall in the RB categories. Who knows what came out like for rap? Who knows what came out for male RB that year? I can't even think of anything off the top of my head. So that is a lot of musical competition, and then a lot of your peers, direct peers, who are um releasing a lot of good work, like all at the same time. That's just crazy. A lot happened in 2003. Bittersweet was competing in a very crowded marketplace, and when you look at the landscape of that, I bring that up because it makes it very clear why Blue's sophomore album really struggles for oxygen, even though it had a global hit. Like it's Breathe was not as big as Hit Hem Up Style, of course, but it was a global hit, and it still got nominated for best RB album. It did lose to Luther Van Dross, but I still feel like even being nominated is a crazy feat, especially with everything that it was stacked up against. So a couple months later, Aristotle rolled out the second single from that album. It's called Make Me Wanna Scream. So I had never heard this song before, but it is a fun song. You can tell that the label was taking notes on feedback and was trying to get back to what made Blue Pop in the first place. So they were reheating the nachos, as the kids would say. Um, the song, if you go back and listen to it, it's very similar to Hit Hem Up Style, not really in sound, um, but like the content of the song is very similar, and the concept of the video is very similar. The theme of Hit Em Up Style, as far as the video and the song content, and then they tried to replicate Brieve's success as well because they add reggae artist Ian Lewis to it, and then they also bring back Hype Williams for the video. But this song does not do well stateside, it does do pretty well like internationally and a couple other places, but it just doesn't do well domestically. One thing about this video, it's much sexier than her previous work, which I've it kind of just seems like a response to the black tail scandal. So here's another expert from the Shaken Exploitation paper. The commercialization of hip hop had a huge effect on the image of women in the industry. On the coattails of this commercialism began the third and current wave of female MCs, characterized by their commitment to the visual culture. These female MCs promote sex, power, status consumption, and the Punani concept. Sybar, I hate the word Punani. But I feel like here it really works. And I think that that comes from um that book Pimps Up Hose Down. I cannot think of the author of that book's name right now. God, it's something to my time. But I I feel like a lot of y'all have probably heard of that book. I may have referenced it in an old episode, I can't remember. But I think um that's where like that term comes from, the Punani comes. Concept, but anyway, I'm sorry to say, like that, I hate saying that word. Anyway, but it really fits here. The here's um the continuation of the quote: The onset of this wave brought with it attention to the physical aspects of women's bodies, both as artists and video extras. Jeff Chang begins to articulate in Can't Stop, Won't Stop the history of the hip-hop generation, the shift from lyrical message to visual image that occurred with women and the rise of commercialism in the industry. During the late 1980s, videos had been a boon to women rappers. Queen Latifah, for instance, presented herself in the Fab Five Freddy directed video for Ladies First as a matriarch, military strategist, and militant. Others, Salt and Peppa, MC Light, Roxanne Chante, established their own personalities, equals alongside their male peers. A decade later, successful artists like Missy Elliott and Lauren Hill were the exceptions rather than the rule. Scantily clad dancers seemed in endless supply, while women rappers were scarce. Big money clearly had a distorting effect. Artists such as Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Trina, and Remy Ma glorified sex as a part of a young woman's arsenal to gain power, respect, and notoriety. Their lyrics, as well as their dress on album covers and in their music videos, were overly sexual. This power through the physical is used as an attempt to assert female dominance. End quote. So I feel like at this time there was a lot of big, big budget behind music videos. There were directors who had never done movies but had, you know, they've specialized in music videos specifically. I feel like that's something we don't really see that much today. Where there are great videos that have come out like in the last 10 years, but there was the budget behind them is nowhere near how it was in the early 2000s. So like as videos become more popular, and then as they mention this quote unquote third wave of female MCs, female visibility in the hip hop industry, you see it become more sexual. Mind you, we're talking about a time like when we're referencing Blue Cantrell and the height of her fame. Like we're talking about BET Uncut hours here. I think BET Uncut came on in 2000, if I'm not mistaken. Um, so this is like the height of that. Um, and yeah, like everybody was just like more sexy, everyone was sexier, everyone was showing more skin, everybody's belly button was out, like we had the video girls everywhere, like it was just a lot of sexual innuendo happening. I mean, we don't gotta name the songs Tip Drill, Uchi Wally, all of these songs, right? So um it's talking about that time, and you kind of see Blue talking about this shift as well as it's happening. Um, and this is before there were studies, um, I'm sure there were some, and probably like some think pieces too, but things kind of shift from like talent alone is just simply not enough, and a lot of visibility became about how you looked just as much as how you sounded, and that's kind of why I brought up like blue had the look, she had the fashion, she had everything. Um, so it's just interesting what happens with her career overall, but you do kind of see like the image and the look um becoming even more important than it was previously. And I want to be clear because that doesn't mean that women don't have agency here because a lot of these choices they were strategic, they were intentional, and really just about survival, like in an industry, um, and to be able to hold your own. I think that brought a lot of empowerment to a lot of women. Y'all know I love it, I stand, but the problem isn't sexuality, it's kind of more about like how narrow the options became overall. So blues visuals get a little bit more sexier, and it just kind of feels like a woman adjusting to the rules of the game in real time, especially because there's so much competition at this time. There's so many like beautiful RB singers who are doing their thing and are also extremely talented. So it's really just about like trying to stay seen and working in a system that's like telling, you know, people, you know, you gotta be a part of the package. If you want to get down, you gotta get down. Not in that way. Well, maybe in that way too. But like if you want to, you had to embody the look, you had to have all of the things basically. Here's another excerpt from that 2003 article with the Telegraph. If you listen to her album Bittersweet, you will discover that Cantrell is predominantly a ballad singer, but she's been marketed as a kind of sexy diva on the back of a handful of up-tempo tracks, including her latest single, Make Me Wanna Scream. That's the way RB is now, she says. You shouldn't have to take off all your clothes to get attention, but that seems to be what the public wants. But where else can you go after that? Now I'm no prude. Music, dancing, and sex have always been interlinked. I just think there is something imaginatively bankrupt about the profusion of highly explicit sexual imagery being used to market pop. An advertising executive once said to me that when sex is used to sell a product, it means that everyone has run out of ideas. I don't think the sex business and the music business have much in common. The sex business is straight up front. It's sex, sell it. The music business is much more brutal, it's conniving and deceitful. At least with the sex business, they're gonna give you your money in your hand when you're done. The music business, you get screwed and don't even get your money. End quote. Now remember this quote, because this is foreshadowing for later. In 2004, LA Reed left Arista and the label went through internal restructuring, which in their case means focusing less on female RB artists like Blue and more on female pop artists who had crossover appeal. Remember, I was saying like this was a big thing at the time. Um, and specifically these artists for Arista would be like Pink and Avril Levine. So for their RB business, they mainly focused on male acts who typically face less scrutiny. Let's face it, like the they basically were like, we want the younger female artists that we can shape from scratch, and then we want men because nobody cares as much about like what men are up to like in their private lives, just being honest, anyway. So this restructuring led to the label forgetting to renew Blue's contract. You heard that right. They simply forgot, they forgot. Blue's team was fully expecting the label to handle the renewal because yes, Bittersweet still did not do as well as So Blue, but it still produced a pretty successful song. Um, but they forgot to renew the contract, y'all, and that's a hell of an oversight, especially for like a label that's been around so long, and for an artist that had two Grammy nominated albums, which kind of makes me think like, Did y'all forget on purpose? Quote unquote forget. I digress, I have no idea, but apparently they forgot. So now all of a sudden, Blue finds herself without the backing of a major label, so she can't really fund promotion, distribution, creative development, and she's a free agent now. She's left to build on her success by herself. Now, with the momentum she had, it wasn't impossible, but there was a significant problem because a lot of people like are able to go independent and do their own thing, but she hadn't made nearly as much money as she thought she did. In that 2012 interview with You Know I Got Soul, she said, What I would have done differently is that I think when an artist gets a record deal, they should have an actual class educating artists about contracts and what they deserve and what not to let people do. When you come in and you don't know the business, people take advantage. You would never think people like this would take advantage, but I can tell you that 98% of artists have been robbed. When they told me to take this lawyer, I would have gotten my own lawyer because that lawyer ended up representing them, which was a conflict of interest. So they were all working together to basically take what was mine. Nobody really knows the whole truth but me and them, but I was really taken advantage of. I did most of the writing and they took all of my publishing. The checks were coming in, and I never saw any checks. I never got one dime from Aerista. Also, at this time, like the music industry is as a whole, is going through pretty much a restructuring of their own. So Napster had come into play, people were now able to download albums online, and this was causing overall album sales to suffer. As a response, a lot of labels went under or they combined with other labels, which is essentially what happened to Arista. So BMG, who was Arista's parent company, they merged with Sony in 2004. Artists, even still to this day, make most of their money through touring, so that's exactly what Blue did. She went overseas for about five years and toured various cities. Because Breathe was such an international hit, she was very, very, very often on the bill for international festivals and radio-sponsored tours. Also appeared at a lot of shows where Sean Paul was performing because Sean Paul, Sean Paul was going crazy at this time. This is when Get Busy and all of that was out. This kind of touring was very common in the early 2000s. But you know how now there's so many solo tours. I was thinking about this, like maybe I think 2024, where I was like, Why is everybody on tour? So, like everyone was now is like on tour by themselves, and like they'll have like opening acts, but back in the day, a lot of people shared builds. If they had songs together, like you went on tour together, or you went like on a promo tour together. Paul was there, they would, you know, pretty much immediately book blue as well. 2007 rolls around, blue stars in a musical stage play called Gossip, Lies and Secrets with Clifton Powell, um, Lisa Ray, and Kenya Moore. The show had a three-month run, and this is a quick synopsis of the show. The urban genre musical stage play by Angela Barrow Dunlap follows three female friends: a novelist, a RB Diva, and a TV soap star who are successful but find the stress of that success daunting. To let off steam, they get together to dish dirt and reveal their deepest, darkest secrets with a sacred pact that their secrets are safe with each other. But when the author gets a hot publishing deal, guess what she does? Then in 2008, Blue was a contestant on Celebrity Circus. That was a NBC show hosted by Joey from InSync. This is another thing I have never heard of in my life, but I know that this type of show, I know that this type of show was very popular at this time, so I don't know, it's just like always like some random like contestant show. Um, the show was exactly what it sounds like. So celebrities get taught circus tricks and then they compete against each other. Like, y'all, they were they were green lighting anything at this time, absolutely anything was coming on TV. But blue looked great though from the photos I saw. She was, I believe, the first one eliminated after getting a pretty unflattering edit. They they gave her the diva edit from what I read about the show. Um, it didn't last very long after that. The show, it was called a death-defying disappointment um by critics at MTV, and it was later canceled after the first season. In a 2016 interview with Fuse, Blue teased a third album as well as a return to acting, and um she wanted to start up with comedy, but those things did not come into fruition. She definitely still gets booked though. She did a mini RB tour with 112, Real McCoy, and Snap. That was in 2017. She was a part of Fat Man Scoop's tour in 2019. I did see a very recent video of her performing in Rotterdam in 2025. Seems like she still has a very loyal fan base overseas, which is pretty dope because she's not active on socials anymore. Okay, so let's talk a little bit more about just the online perception of blue and how she's discussed on the internet, even now that she is not really in the spotlight at all. She's not active on social media, she's not engaging with fans really anywhere digitally, and she isn't really in the public eye, other than when she is on the bill for international performances and things like that. So if you were online back then, Blue wasn't just an artist, she was a rumor factory. So Blue and Jay-Z are constantly linked and they're always positioning her as a mistress. Then blogs and message boards at the time they claim that Blue and Jay-Z were still secretly involved, well into his relationship with Beyoncé, um, with Blue as the other woman behind the scenes, basically. So years later, when Jay-Z and Beyonce named their daughter Blue Ivy, those old rumors get reignited online. And I feel like at this time the internet has shifted a little bit. The internet has always had a lot of conspiracy theories, but I felt like this was a time where there were very extreme conspiracy theories online. There were already a ton surrounding Beyoncé's pregnancy in the first place, too. So, like this kind of came back around, and I think it got even more sensationalized around that time. When was this like 2010, 2011? Message boards say that she's hard to work with, but no one can really like name an instance or like say who said it first. And then other people claim that her career catapulted because she was just too messy. Um, it was the news, it was the drama, and then others say, you know, she was blackballed, and then they also say she was never that good to begin with. It was just a simple one-hit wonder thing. So just a constant rumor mill surrounding Blue's career, even after being in the spotlight. All right, y'all. So let's talk about September 3rd, 2014. So around 2 a.m. that morning, police were called to a residential neighborhood in Santa Monica, California. Witnesses reported that a woman appeared distressed and disoriented. The witnesses told police that she was running through the streets, ranting about people trying to kill her, and screaming about someone giving her poisonous gas. Sources told TMZ that when officers arrived, the woman said, Do you know who I am? and referred to herself as a one-hit wonder. Law enforcement treated the situation more like a wellness concern rather than a criminal matter. Um the woman was taken to a nearby hospital where she was evaluated by medical professionals and released shortly afterward. So there were minimal reports on this incident and they all relied on the accounts of the eyewitnesses and the sources. There was nothing from Blue, nothing from Blue's camp. Um, they didn't release a public statement or anything like that. And there was virtually no follow-up reporting on this after the initial headlines, which I found really weird because yes, even though she was nowhere near as popular as she was 10 years prior to this happening, um, typically we see more follow-up with incidents like this. Like even if you're looking at like today's lens, um, I think it was TMZ who first reported about the actor from um Ned's Declassified um living on the streets. And like I feel like ever since like that story initially came out, I've seen an update at least every week, you know, and I'm sure it's gonna phase out of the um it's gonna phase out of the news sure I'm sure pretty soon. But you know what I mean. Like we're still getting follow-ups on that, but like there was like nothing after the initial report with Blue, so like no idea what was going on, no context about like what Blue had been navigating personally or professionally. Not that she needs to share that, but there was just like no follow-up, and I just found it very weird. It was just a clip, a headline, and then silence. So unfortunately, this is the last headline with Blue's name in it for a while, and it's the most like popular recent one. Um, and that kind of like frames it as the final chapter of her story, although we know it's not, but it like is unf unfairly framed as that. So I went into the research for this episode with Blue being a little bit of a mystery to me, honestly. I mean, I was about nine or ten when she came out, and of course I remember her, I remember her songs, um, but I couldn't remember anything personal about her specifically because her career was just such a blip in time, and there were so many other artists that were out at the same time that, like, I don't want to say we're similar, but I think just like with RB or urban music in general, right? Like, there were a lot of other artists that were in the picture at the time. And the Santa Monica incident ended up becoming the last thing a lot of people heard about blue, other than you know, your gossip on the deep corners of the internet or like her being featured in those listicles that are like 10 one-hit wonders you forgot about. Artists who have been labeled one-hit wonders, they've talked a lot about this and like just what kind of happens after. In a 2025 interview with People magazine, James Blunt said, In the States, I am a one-hit wonder. You have to understand. I am so happy with that because as I put it on my social media profiles, one hit is all you need. I've been called a one-hit wonder by people who are none-hit wonders. I know that's right, James. Um, and I'm so thrilled with that. I love that song. I'm so glad to have written that song. I'm in a beautiful house right now as a result of that. You and I are talking as a result of that. For me, it's the song that I will always be known. I will never beat that song. End quote. I bring that up because I haven't thought about James Blunt in years. People just throw people away so quickly. I mean, I'm like, I have not thought about James Blunt. I can't even think of the last time, but James Blunt is living good, it seems like, from his people interview. But anyway, um, there's just so much that I didn't know about blue, but I do think the one takeaway I'm thinking about the most at the end of this is her career is really a case study on how an artist can just slip out of your mind very quickly, no matter how talented they are. And what I think is really interesting about her specifically is like I said at the top, she came in the industry equipped with everything. She had the voice, she already like had the ear, the style, the work ethic, she had the look, and she was still forgotten about, literally forgotten about with the label forgetting to renew her contract. But the industry began to shift, and then that machine that keeps an artist visible and keeps an artist in front of us just kind of moved on from her. And I thought about like whether or not she was too early for her own good. Like, if she had come out more recently and she had social media and like um a digital loyal fan base, like would she have been able to pivot better after Aerisophore got to renew her? Because we see people leave their label or get dropped from their label and they still do relatively well enough so that they can still sustain their career. So it's like, you know, she probably would have had a better go at like recovering, but it's still like I don't know because there's so we get so much content nowadays, and when you think about it, like especially in the streaming era now, we move on from artists even faster than we did then. Probably like a viral moment can completely take away your career, it can um propel your career, a headline can propel you, or it can take away your career. It's just it's a lot, like every moment is so fleeting. And some people may think blue is really lucky to have two solid years of stardom, and I do feel that. Um, but overall, I think her story is not really about a lack of talent or ambition or effort, it's just really about how quickly the industry and the GP move on. Her arc, it feels like an early version of what we constantly see now. Like we've seen this time and time again where an artist is everywhere, then they're suddenly nowhere, like you're everywhere, and then next year it's like who? Yeah. And it's not because these people stop being being talented. I don't know, maybe they do, maybe sometimes they do, but our attention spans are just so short, and the system that feeds us content is just it's designed for us to forget about people. We have to seek people out. Um, so blue didn't really fall off. I feel I feel like we just kind of learned how to move on faster, and unfortunately, we moved on from her. Um, but I think to tie it all together, she seems to be doing well. I am like I said, she has a loyal international fan base, it looks like, and they do not care that she does not engage with them on social media is like they they are at them show. So I am happy for her for that, and I hope that she's having a quiet life away from the spotlight. And yeah, I mean, I think that like those two years, oh two, oh three, well, really four, um, I would say from like 2002 to 2005, they were really, really crazy for her, and like all of that stuff, most of the bulk of this episode is taking place within those years, and like that's a really short amount of time. Like, you think about That that's like 20 2023 to now, not that long ago. So a lot happened, and I hope that she's well. And that was the blue cantrail episode, y'all. But before I go, I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you truly. Over the years, during my hiatus, I said this at the top of the episode. I have gotten a lot of really kind emails and messages from some of you encouraging me to come back. And I just want to say I deeply appreciate that and I appreciate you. If you've been rocking with Vixen since the beginning, thank you for sticking around. If you're new, welcome to Vixen. Y'all are the best. I love us for real. And I am happy to be back. So before I go, just some quick housekeeping, real quick. Um, heads up. So the show drops monthly now on the first Wednesday of the month. That is why this episode, I think, is gonna be long as hell, y'all. I'm sorry in advance. I've been thinking about like breaking it up into two parts. I was like, maybe I'll just keep it one super long mega episode. And I know that it's different. Um, I know there's not a ton of podcasts that drop once a month. Um, I hope you'll stick with me though. And if you want to hear a little update on where I've been, what I've been up to during the pause, please stay tuned for a few more minutes after this. If not, love you. Thank you for listening, and I will see you next month on the first Wednesday of February. So in the meantime, you can always find me on Instagram at the Vixen Memoirs. You can head to thevixenmemoirs.com to join the mailing list. Um, I am gonna be starting a monthly newsletter very soon. It should be up and running in the next few weeks. Um, I'll be sharing updates, episode notes, archives, really just all things Vixen. So feel free to keep up with me there. All you gotta do is go to the website, put your name and your email in, and then go to your email and confirm that you want to subscribe. I'm also releasing links to all of the books that we read in the now defunct Vixen book club. I'm sorry, y'all. Um, so all of the links to any books that we had then will be in the newsletter. So sign up for the newsletters if you want those free copies of those books. Lots of great books there. Um, also, if you were a part of the old Vixen book club, just so you know, you're already on that list, so there's no reason for you to sign up again. Um, but yeah, I think that was pretty much everything, housekeeping-wise. Again, thank you guys for listening, for supporting, for growing with me, and I will talk to y'all next month. Love you for free. Bye. Okay, so if you're still here, I want to just yap to you a little bit. Not as a host, but just as me. We ain't never did this before. I know, I know, and a lot of people, um, I've always kept this show like just very, very um focused on the subjects at hand um and the facts and who we're talking about and the people in their lives, just you know, keeping it on the subject strictly, and I've never really shared a lot about myself on this platform. I think I've you know bits and pieces. If you follow me on Instagram, I've gone live several times. Um, and some people like have me on my personal Instagram and stuff. So I know some people know some things, but not everyone knows me. Um again, we ain't never did this before, but I will say, um, if you're an OG listener, you've probably wondered where I've been from time to time. And I I just want to say, you know, a lot has changed since the last time I was consistently doing vixen. I think the biggest theme of it all is change in my life, in the internet, and then also in the way that this podcast needs to exist now. I'm a little nervous, y'all, because I again, this is not like this is personal, um, but this is a personal project. So sometimes you gotta get personal. But anyway, before I trauma dump on y'all, let me just get some practical stuff out of the way. So, again, as I said earlier, the podcast is monthly now, not weekly, and it won't be like in a seasonal format anymore. But all of that is intentional because I'm going to do my best to make these episodes as long and as rich as possible so they can really hold you for the whole month. Because I know when I was seasonal, it was coming out every week. Some episodes will be really long, some will be shorter. Um, but yeah, now we're gonna do like long format once a month. And part of that decision came from the internet is just so different now than when I started doing this in 2020. And a lot of the sources I used to rely on, so like old interviews, old articles, like they're just not as accessible anymore. I've I've always used books and magazines when I'm writing these episodes, and I still do, but the internet was always like my true number one source, even if I needed to get a book or magazine on it. Um so I find that now in 2026, I really need to focus on um physical media even more now to get y'all the real. The real. So I have to get more books, I have to get more magazines, um, just more of those things need to be a part of it now, and that takes time because you gotta order stuff, right? So I did want to call that out and say, like, that's why the format has changed. Um but then on a more personal note, I also want to be honest with you guys about why I disappeared. So I took a break from Vexen because I was in a relationship that was not healthy on multiple fronts. Um, I'm out of that now and I'm doing really, really well, so don't worry about me. Have spent the last two years just healing, rebuilding, and just learning how to be myself again. Um, I also left Atlanta for those who knew me then. I lived in Atlanta at the time. Um I've moved back to New York City, which has been a really big shift. So I'm back in the city, I'm working in advertising, and that stays kicking my ass. Um and I'm also getting my MBA right now, so it's just a lot going on. When you first met me, I was 26. I was working in marketing, living in Atlanta and recording Vixen in between work. Um now I'm 32 and I'm balancing work, school, and I just have a completely different life. And I think for me to come back to this podcast, things had to change just because I've changed. So, you know, I've actually I've tried to relaunch Vixen several times over the years, and it just never worked out. And I was thinking to myself, like, have I outgrown this? Has it outgrown me? But what the real problem was, I was trying to do it in the exact same way that I did before, and like the tides have shifted, the internet has shifted, I've shifted, so the podcast had to shift too. And I also know that you've changed, like we're not the same people we were a few years ago, just like I've changed, you guys have too. So I can't really pick up without acknowledging that. And I really want this next era of vixing to be collaborative. Like, I want to know what are y'all into now? What are you thinking about? Who do you want to hear about? What stories do you want to unpack? I want to hear all of the things. Do you want old series back? Do you want to talk about sex tape scandals again? Do you want to go on Instagram live? Should I continue the Instagram baddie series, which oh my god, there's been major development since the last time an episode of that came out. But you know, um, not even just that stuff specifically. What's going on with you? What's new? Um, and what do you want to hear from me? You know, we've all changed, and you know, I want to keep this community active. I want to keep this community growing. Um, and I want to hear from y'all. So please DM me, email me when the newsletter starts, reply to it. Tell me what's going on with you and what you want from this space. I'm really excited for us to continue to grow. And I just want to say again that thank you for giving me the grace to come back and come back differently. Um I'm very excited to be here again. Excited to grow this new era of vixen with you and for you. This is for us, y'all. Y'all know who I'm talking about. When I say this is for us, y'all know who I'm talking to. Um it's for everybody. This is this is a safe space for everybody, but y'all know who I'm talking to when I say like this is for us. Literally for us by us. Um, but thank you for listening to me yap. Thank you for listening to the episode. Thank you for staying to the end. Thank you for caring. Um, happy new year, everyone. And I will see y'all in February with another episode of Vixen. Bye.