Ciara Reveals She Leaked Her Song “Promise” After an Exec Called It “The Worst R&B Record”

Ciara took a gamble on herself—and it paid off.

In a new interview with Bustle, the “Goodies” singer reflected on the time she leaked her song, “Promise,” in 2006 after a Sony executive dismissed it as “the worst R&B record.”

“We leaked it at an Atlanta radio station, and literally, the song took off and was a monster,” Ciara recalled. The move resulted in her first No. 1 album, beating out major names like Gwen Stefani and Eminem that same week.

Of course, not every risk has had the same payoff. She admitted to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting her 2010 single “Gimme Dat,” but the song didn’t take off the way she had hoped.

“There’s been times when maybe it doesn’t work as well as I thought it would,” she said. “But I’ve been pretty consistent in my belief, so I won’t stop believing.”

When it comes to success, awards and industry recognition don’t define her. She pointed to her 2013 hit “Body Party,” which hit No. 1 on R&B/hip-hop radio but still didn’t land her a major award nomination.

“You would think that that metric would automatically classify you for a nomination, right?” she said. “If I was basing it off of the metrics [of awards], then I would feel like I failed.”

Now, 20 years after Goodies, Ciara is still pushing boundaries. In 2024, she joined Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, and Timbaland on the Out of This World Tour.