Ciara’s 2004 debut single “Goodies” put the singer on the map as a break-out star, lead to an eponymous record, and many more hits. Only 18 at the time, Ciara’s single stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for several consecutive weeks. But Ciara recently revealed the song was nearly given to another pop star at the time, namely Britney Spears.
In a recent segment on her Apple Music show Level Up Radio, Ciara said she was under the impression the song was hers after she penned the track with a handful of producers, but that was not the case. Instead, she had to audition the track to her label. “I had to reaudition again, to be picked up and to be made a priority on the label. I did that, had a showcase, rocked it,” she said.
At the time of the audition, Ciara said her label was considering passing the song along to Spears. “Not knowing that behind the scenes, there was a conversation about this song being potentially taken from me and given to an artist like Britney Spears, who was on the same roster as me,” she said. “I learned about the story later, but the crazy thing for me is that if I would’ve known about it then, I would have fought tooth and nail.”
The singer continued that her experience was just one of the many “challenges” that comes with working in the music industry, but she’s happy she now has her own label. “When I had this record, I knew that it was a very, very special record,” Ciara said. “And I worked so hard on this record and this industry can sometimes bring you incredible challenges, hence why I love the power of having my own record label.”
Listen to the full episode of Level Up Radio here.