Ok...Jennifer Hudson has a HORRIBLE label. They pick all the wrong single choices and are SO lazy. First of all, for her debut, they released two singles and then gave up. There were PLENTY of other singles to be released. And for this album, they released the WORST lead single possible, and then half assed everything else, and so far she hasnt even gotten a third single.

They should know that Jennifer can sell a lot on her name - but she also needs new appeal. Some of her songs could have crossed over to Pop, and her song with David Guetta is an obvious smash.

How would you handle her career? Would you just have her recording older R&B songs, and target everything to Urban AC? Would you have her record a diverse R&B album, and release singles that would cater to both Urban AND Urban AC? Or would you have a completely diverse album, maybe even some Pop or more contemporary Urban with a rapper, or Euro Dance tracks like NOYL, that could crossover to Rhythmic and Pop?

Jennifer could sell like Adele if she had a #1 single. The fact that she sold 165k first week on her second album, with a flop ass single, and only two months notice is extremely impressive. With a huge single, she could have done 300k or more. Her first album did over 200k with Spotlight before it was even the hit it became.

I think shes obvious extremely talented and diserves a lot better from her label.

Thoughts?

Jennifer will now be on RCA

see 2 threads below this one

They need to give her material primarily to urban. Getting new younger fans would help her. Older urban listeners probably already know about her material, & know if they like it or not. Still push her on urban AC though.

This era has been awful single-wise.

1st - I Remember Me (Winter 2010-2011 - January)
2nd - Gone (Spring 2011 - April)
3rd - No One Gonna Love You (Summer 2011 - July)
4th - Where You At (Fall 2011 - October)

Gone > everything else & could('ve) be(en) a huge hit. Like Already Gone was for Kelly.

Career?

More of this:



Less of this:






Vocals are distracting.

She needs to find a producer that she feels comfortable with and release a dance track for a first single, and have the follow ups be more R&B. ("Spotlight", "Where You At" would be good 4th/5th singles, but not so much a 1st single).

I think also she could benefit from having more features. Like give her a duet with Drake or Kanye.

!!!!

Building off of GRADUAT10N's point, I think Night of Your Life proved that Jennifer can shine on a dance track. She has crossover capabilities; it wouldn't be a bad idea to market her to both urban and mainstream audiences, with some dance songs and some R&B songs to balance everything out. They should at least attempt that method in the future. She clearly has nothing to lose.

For the hell of it, I decided to redo her eras according to how I think they should have gone in terms of single releases:
Jennifer Hudson - September 2008
1. Spotlight - Summer 2008
2. Can't Stop the Rain - Winter/Spring 2009 (Most people find this idea to be insane, but I think it's one of the only songs that could have worked following the murders)
3. Pocketbook (featuring Ludacris) - Summer 2009
4. My Heart - Fall 2009

I Remember Me - April 2011 (it was released a few weeks too early, in my opinion)
1. I Remember Me - Winter/Spring 2011
2. I Got This - Summer 2011
3. Gone - Fall 2011
4. No One Gonna Love You - Winter/Spring 2012

I agree almost completely, but If This Isnt Love was a perfect choice, and did its job for an Urban single. I would keep it as it is at #2, but they COMPLETELY wasted My Heart & Pocketbook which BOTH could have crossed over.

I think the I Remember Me re-do was perfect.

I don't think Jennifer will ever be that big. I wouldn't want her to do a dance track, but I want her to do more contemporary R&B stuff. Like most of her music on her first album was so old-sounding. Her second album was a step up but didn't really have any standouts. She needs better producers and songwriters. Fantasia puts out better songs and albums than her.

Yeah, it's an unpopular opinion of mine.

ITIL did its job as an urban single, yes, but I think CSTR would have been a good single to release following the murders. Plus it had SOME crossover potential for the 2009 market.

To be quite honest, she hasn't had THAT song yet. She needs to work with more urban producers.