At 39, with her new album &ldquo; CiCi ,&rdquo; Ciara confirms herself as the superstar of contemporary R&amp;B. Comfortable in a variety of roles, from mother of four to Grammy winner to record label owner

Photography EMMAN MONTALVAN Styling ELIE MERVEILLE

Since she burst onto the scene, Ciara , 39, has been an unstoppable force, so cool, confident and self-assured in her sexuality. In the 20 years since, the star born Ciara Princess Harris has maintained the kind of career path that contemporary R&amp;B girls clamor for: Grammy nominations (five, with one win); her own record label (Beauty Marks Entertainment, founded in 2019); a flurry of gold and platinum singles, plus acting experience (she starred in the 2023 film adaptation of &ldquo;The Color Purple&rdquo;). But what&rsquo;s most enviable? Her continued relevance: Even though she&rsquo;s no longer just a singer and dancer, they&rsquo;re areas in which she continues to excel. Her upcoming LP, &ldquo;CiCi,&rdquo; is an ultra-sensual journey through the fundamentals of R &amp;B. The title is a nod to the family nickname that has been co-opted by her fans, and the album itself is full of classic Ciara material: humility, self-love, desire, rhythm, sensuality. Now a mother of four, she has created one of America &rsquo;s most fascinating families with her husband Russell Wilson, a former Seattle Seahawks quarterback now with the New York Giants. She calls me on FaceTime from her home in San Diego, where she and her family live when her husband isn&rsquo;t playing. On the wall behind her is a grid of beautiful black-and-white family portraits. She tells me they were mostly taken by her husband, who is &ldquo;so creative,&rdquo; she says, glowing. L'OFFICIEL: How did the parent-teacher conference go? CIARA: I'm very happy because the children were very good.
LO: One of the reasons I wanted to talk to you is that we were born on the same day. I don't know if you're into astrology, but is there something about the Scorpio nature that belongs to you? C: I don't know much about astrology , but I think there's some truth to it. Scorpios are very, very confident. Very bold, very affectionate, but when you go against us, we give you three strikes. On the third, you're out.

LO: It's as if I never existed. C: And we don't let you back in! Now, the spiritual part of me is like it believes in living with a forgiving heart, because I don't want to have spiritual debts. But I will never forget. My joy is very important to me, though. LO: How do you channel it? C: Joy is my standard, the basis of my daily energy. I wake up with joy because I have a heart full of gratitude: I like to laugh, I like to have fun. I am made that way and that is why I always look for it. I am from Atlanta and where I am from, some of the best times were spent in the backyard. It was not expensive: we lived the richest life in the world because of the joy we had. LO: What time does joy wake you up? You have all these children... C: Every day around 6:30.
LO: I like your dedication to the kind of life you want. How did it all come about? C: My family. We have very funny, strong personalities, and I&rsquo;ve always had that spirit. Watching my dad go around and be the champion of the people, I wanted to be like him. There are all these things that I feel like I inherited just through the natural flow of life and the way my parents lived their lives: we had a house full of joy and laughter. That inspires me as a parent, because I realize that the way I grew up influenced me. I didn&rsquo;t grow up in a super rich family but we were rich in spirit and love. And I think about how powerful love is. If you can give love to a child, it helps build their confidence and things that they&rsquo;ll need in life to thrive. I don&rsquo;t hold on to the weight of the bad things.

LO: I heard you talk about how your father introduced you to Tupac, who you call one of your biggest musical influences. What did you take from his style? C: Tupac is probably my favorite rapper of all time. He was a true songwriter, but his melodies were incredible and infectious. He was deep in his lyrics, but his songs resonated with everyone; it was music for the world. He always had a clear perspective on what he was writing, and I appreciate that. When I write songs, my forte is melodies. Tupac was the epitome of an artist and an entertainer. He was bold in his choices. He seemed to be outspoken and knew who he was. All of those things describe what a true artist should be. LO: He was an unapologetic, political and personal artist: his lyrics are so personal, as are yours. Do you process emotions through songs? C: It&rsquo;s a combination of everything. On my new album, the first song, &ldquo;Made It,&rdquo; is a little more personal. It&rsquo;s fun to start the album with a slow song, I&rsquo;ve never done that before. I want to make the audience dance! But I also want to make sure that when I write songs, there&rsquo;s a sincerity that comes through in my lyrics, because I think that&rsquo;s important. I&rsquo;m grateful for the platform that I have and I don&rsquo;t take lightly that God has given me this opportunity. I use my life, I use my story. I think it&rsquo;s a gift to be able to do that through songs. Sometimes I feel something and I&rsquo;m like, &ldquo;I have to write about this.&rdquo; &ldquo;Made It&rdquo; is a song that&rsquo;s full of gratitude for me and my growth.

LO: There&rsquo;s a lot of honesty in your lyrics, but also humility, which is so fascinating. Do you think this is part of the relationship with your fans? C: One hundred percent. It&rsquo;s important to me to connect with my fans in the best way possible, because that connection is here to stay. It&rsquo;s amazing when you hear people talk about how a song has made them feel, and it&rsquo;s so powerful to know that my songs can inspire someone or impact their life, or be the soundtrack to their life. Music is a timepiece, and I feel grateful to be able to do that. Ultimately, I want to make the world dance and have fun, but I also hope to inspire, to have an impact on someone who&rsquo;s looking for something through my music. LO: What have you been listening to lately? C: Old school. I&rsquo;ll give you an old school song, &ldquo;How Can You Mend a Broken Heart&rdquo; by Al Green, it&rsquo;s not something I&rsquo;m into, but it&rsquo;s my favorite song. There&rsquo;s a song called &ldquo;Yamore&rdquo; (by MoBlack and Salif Keita). I&rsquo;m obsessed with Afro beats and I like European dance energy. I like [DJ and producer] Kaytranada. I also like gospel. I also like &ldquo;Lord, You Are Good&rdquo; by Todd Galberth.

LO: Speaking of Al Green, what do you think of those who say R&amp;B is dead? I remember, for example, the media racking their brains during Usher's Las Vegas residency, "Can R&amp;B be saved?" C: If you look at the stats and the facts, it&rsquo;s really thriving. R&amp;B will never die. There are so many great artists out there that prove it: I love Coco Jones, I love Ella Mai. There are so many unique and emerging talents that are proving it too. And for this project, I like that I have an R&amp;B soul. Sometimes when you want to speak to the world, you feel like you have to do something beyond the norm. My roots have always had a soul. R&amp;B. Sometimes I call my music &ldquo;ghetto pop&rdquo; or &ldquo;R&amp;B pop.&rdquo; LO: That&rsquo;s why I liked this album so much: it&rsquo;s so classically R&amp;B that it almost feels nostalgic. How did that come about? C: With this project, I want to thank my fans. I&rsquo;ve been doing things independently, running my own label, and it hasn&rsquo;t been the easiest journey ever. But I&rsquo;m so grateful that my fans have stuck with me. There are some amazing moments on the album: I&rsquo;ve always wanted to work with Tyga; the way he rides the beat is so special. Jazze Pha produced a song for me, and we hadn&rsquo;t done a song together since my second album. And then, Latto joining us. There&rsquo;s a bit of nostalgia throughout the record, but also a meeting with my reality. &ldquo;CiCi&rdquo; is the name of the project: when my fans call me &ldquo;Hey, CiCi!&rdquo; it&rsquo;s the sweetest thing.

LO: Even though your style has evolved it&rsquo;s still &ndash; to borrow your phrase &ndash; fundamentally R&amp;B, which is very sexy. How has your relationship with sex and sexuality changed? C: There won&rsquo;t be a project without a good song to have sex with. Especially after the first album, when CiCi had grown up &ndash; now she&rsquo;s grown up all the way! The big CiCi, not the little one! LO: I guess you&rsquo;re talking about &ldquo;Ecstasy,&rdquo; which is probably one of the sexiest songs I&rsquo;ve ever heard. C: &ldquo;Ecstasy&rdquo; is a feel-good song. There&rsquo;s something beautiful and powerful about tapping into the sensual side of yourself. I look back at my evolution as a woman, and there are things you start to feel more comfortable with. I like being where I am now. I like my curves. The video for the song is like the big sister to &ldquo;Ride&rdquo; and &ldquo;Promise.&rdquo; I shot it with Diane Martel, who did &ldquo;Ride&rdquo; and &ldquo;Like a Boy.&rdquo; We&rsquo;ve known each other for about 19 years, and I felt like only she could do this the way I wanted it to. LO: We&rsquo;ve established that there&rsquo;s an R&amp;B core to this project. What&rsquo;s the emotional core? C: When I was reflecting on my journey &ndash; and I&rsquo;ve been through a lot; sometimes you have to fake it till you make it &ndash; there were moments where I was questioned and I felt like I was being second-guessed. I remember one woman asking me, &ldquo;How are you going to stay relevant?&rdquo; Because, obviously, I wasn&rsquo;t 19 anymore. I thought that was so weird. Are we really going to ignore the journey that I&rsquo;ve been on to this point? Someone else asked me, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re a mom and a wife and you have all this stuff going on&hellip; how are you going to tell that story?&rdquo; They were basically saying an artist can&rsquo;t do all this stuff. But that motivated me, because I was like, &ldquo;Why can&rsquo;t I be a great artist and a great mom?&rdquo; It&rsquo;s really fascinating when you realize that some people only see success in one way and then they pigeonhole you because of the dynamic of your life. Because my husband plays soccer and is really good at it, suddenly I&rsquo;m just a &ldquo;soccer wife&rdquo;? With this project, I am completely at ease and confident. I have not achieved everything I wanted, but I think I am on the right track.

HAIR: César DeLeön Ramirêz @ PROJECT MAKE UP: Yolonda Frederick @ CROWD MGMT PRODUCTION: Samantha Silvers @ FOX AND LEOPARD CREATIVE CONSULTANT: Mariana Suplicy PHOTO ASSISTANTS: Patrick Molina and Justin Brooks PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Scott Morrow STYLING ASSISTANT: Alena Nitti

In Her Rhythm: R&B Star Ciara Talks About New Album "CiCi"

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