Goodies

Goodies is the debut studio album by American singer Ciara. It was released on September 28, 2004, via Jazze Pha's Sho'nuff Records and LaFace Records. After writing songs for several established acts, Ciara's talents were noticed by Jazze Pha, and she began to work on what became Goodies. The album's conception came through the title track, produced by Lil Jon and created as a female crunk counterpart to other singles produced by Lil Jon such as Usher's "Yeah!" and Petey Pablo's "Freek-a-Leek". Ciara worked with additional writers and producers on the album, including Jazze Pha, Bangladesh, R. Kelly, Johntá Austin, Sean Garrett, and Keri Hilson, among others. With Goodies, Ciara was referred to as the "Princess" or "First Lady of Crunk&B". The album uses dance music while utilizing pop, R&B, and hip-hop influences. Critics gave the album positive to mixed reviews, commending the "Goodies"-esque songs, while deeming others as unoriginal and noting Ciara's limited vocal abilities. Most critics compared the work to late singer Aaliyah, and also said it had qualities of Destiny's Child. The album was a commercial success. In the United States, the album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 124,750 copies in its opening week. It was later certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. The album also fared well internationally, being certified platinum by the Music Canada (MC) and gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Goodies earned Ciara two Grammy nominations at the 48th Grammy Awards including Best New Artist and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "1, 2 Step" in 2006. Background In her mid-teens, Ciara formed the all-girl group Hearsay with two of her friends. The group recorded demos, but as time went on, they began to have differences and eventually parted ways. Despite this setback, Ciara was still determined to reach her goal and signed a publishing deal as a songwriter. After leaving the group Hearsay, Texas native Ciara earned a writing job via her manager, for Atlanta's Tricky Stewart and The-Dream's RedZone Entertainment, penning songs for Mýa and Fantasia among others. According to Ciara, no one believed in her dreams of hearing her own music on the radio until she met producer Jazze Pha in 2002. Within five months of meeting her, Pha signed her to his Sho'nuff label and they had already recorded five tracks.