Via SlamOnline.com: Ciara’s NBA and sneaker knowledge have always made her SLAM friendly. With a new album out soon, the time was right for us to connect.

It must feel good to be Ciara right now. The gorgeous R&B singer has her fifth album, One Woman Army, ready to drop. She has a budding acting career on display on BET’s popular show The Game this season, too. When she pops up on the gossip blogs, posts are usually about her crazy sneaker game, not some wild scandals. Hell, even her favorite hoops team, the New York Knicks, is playing decent ball most nights. We caught up with the dancing diva mid-roll to get her thoughts on Carmelo, her most memorable pair of Js and making songs with Future.

SLAM: How’s it feel to have the new album’s June release date so close?
Ciara: I feel excited. I feel really good. I feel like I’m in my pocket, like I’m in a zone right now—just in reference to life and the things I’m being inspired by and the things I want to share with my fans. I’m really focused.

SLAM: Your latest gift to the fans is the sexual single “Body Party.” How’d that one come about?
Ciara: I co-wrote it with Future. It was one of those records that just flowed. You can have a “body party” on many different levels. It doesn’t always have to be sensual, but there’s obviously a sensual element to it. A “body party” can be about giving energy to a guy or girl to slow dance. [Songs] don’t do that anymore. It’s all about how far you want to take it. (more…)

The visuals for Ciara’s latest single features her performing a steamy strip tease for her boo. The pop diva shared with HH that shooting the sexy dance on camera was awkward, but she wouldn’t have done it with anyone else.

“I don’t think I could have done anything as open or intimate if it wasn’t with him. It was a very intimate scene … being with him made me very comfortable,” Ciara shared with us exclusively. “The song is about fun and sensuality, [and] what better way to be [than] with your person, with my love, “Ciara added.

Future and Ciara are music’s new “it” couple, and they appear to absolutely adore each other. “You have to have a King in your Queen-dom, and that’s exactly what he is … that’s what it’s about for me.” Ciara dished.  “The guy that’s at your house, or that’s a part of your home, and your strength in a sense, should be that. They should be at the highest place in your mind.”

Future will also be featured on Ciara’s self titled album coming out in July.

Via ABC News Radio: Ciara previewed her upcoming self-titled album for an intimate room of journalists Tuesday inside Germanos Studio in New York City.

While fans are already going crazy over her first single, “Body Party,” Ciara revealed she has a lot more up-tempo tracks in her arsenal. In fact, Ciara said the album won’t feature any ballads, a departure for the artist who’s known for delivering number-one slow grooves, like “Promise.”

Still, Ciara — who said she wrote “more than half of the album” with help from Wynter Gordon, Ali Tamposi and her boyfriend Future, to name a few — is out to prove she’s back, and she’s having fun with it. It’s precisely why the soft-spoken singer decided to spit a few verses on “Super Turnt Up,” a track she also co-produced.

“It just felt necessary,” Ciara said of why she took to rhyming. “Like when I wanted to write a bridge I couldn’t write a typical bridge…it just felt only right. And the track is so hard-hitting, I just had to go that way. At least that’s how I felt, the rapper in me.”

Ciara does feature rapper Nicki Minaj on the opening album track, “I’m Out.” And while journalists didn’t get to hear Nicki’s verse — “You will hear that at a second session that happens later,” Cici teased — the up-tempo ladies anthem speaks for itself. With lyrics like, “I found out he was my problem/Tonight I come out here to solve them,” “I’m Out” could be the perfect club banger for summer.

Ciara also features the Rock City-produced “Keep on Lookin”; a pop/dance record called “Overdose”; “Where You Go,” featuring Future; and a sexy track called “Read My Lips,” where Ciara tells a special someone that she’s “got the sugar that can make you fall down.” Ciara also shared “DUI,” her slowest tempo track on the album, where she croons, “I might have to pull over.”

“It’s me. Take it or leave it,” Ciara says of her new project. “Like, I’m good with myself. I found a place of comfort within myself that feels so good that I can be proud of whatever I do….whatever I do right now, it’s just authentically me.”

Ciara hits shelves July 9.

Via Idolator.com: So last night we went to a recording studio in New York to hang out with multi-platinum recording artist/Very Turnt Up Person Ciara and a few other journalists and some people from her label and her boyfriend Future (who is both better dressed and cooler than any of us could ever aspire to be) while taking a first listen to her fifth studio album, Ciara. And good news: It’s good! In fact, it’s great. It might be our favorite Ciara album to date.

That’s a relief, because it’s no secret that this album era hasn’t exactly gone off without a hitch — after being mismanaged by Jive and moving over to new label Epic, Ciara dropped a string of singles which failed to make much of an impact (“Sweat,” “Sorry,” “Got Me Good” — none of which are making the album, which is probably a blessing) before finally hitting exactly the right vibe with the ingeniously sultry, seductive “Body Party,” arguably her best slow burner since “Promise.” It’s been pretty much universally critically adored (is there anyone who isn’t having a #BodyParty these days?) and it’s produced one of the best videos of her career — and largely, that ambition is carried throughout Ciara.

“I found my clarity,” she said by way of introduction, and it showed in the album’s highlights: “I’m Out” featuring Nicki Minaj (the version played didn’t feature her verse) is a ladies’ anthem, crystalline rhythmic pop with clattering percussion; the tough, sexy-but-aggressive grown-as-fuck “Sophomore” is appealingly ragged; “Read My Lips” is sugary sweet, a singalong ’80s-inflected synth number that should be an instant fan favorite; the island-lite Euro flavor of the Wynter Gordon-penned ”Livin’ It Up” sounds more robust in the context of the album; and “Overdose” remains as monstrous a straightforward pop track as any she’s ever cut.

So Ciara has as many ferocious pop moments as the underrated Fantasy Ride, but all the fat has been trimmed; it’s lean, sharp and dynamic, and people are probably going to absolutely love it. When Ciara gets super turnt up — as she is on this record — she’s really the best.

Ciara is out July 9, but you can pre-order it on iTunes now if you feel like getting super turnt-up, too.

Via IamNecole.com: On Tuesday night, my homegirl Aura over at Epic Records asked me to swing through Germanos Studio for Ciara’s listening session, and I felt it would be a nice little event to mingle, sip cocktails and listen to some new music. I’ve been to quite a few listening events since I’ve been back in New York and the atmosphere normally consists of a room full of industry folks, sipping on the sponsored liquor of the night while networking and pretending to be listening to the album of the hour. (more…)

Ciara was photographed at the House Of Moscato launch party at Greystone Manor Supperclub in West Hollywood, California last night ((April 24).

After premiere of “Body Party” music video, the song has been climbing higher and higher on iTunes! Currently it’s sitting at #60 on Main and #2 on R&B/Soul chart. The video is #2 on both charts. Pretty great, huh?!

Also, the song entered Top 50 rhythmic and it’s #22 on Urban right now.

Purchase: THE SINGLE | MUSIC VIDEO
PRE-ORDER “Ciara” ALBUM NOW
REQUEST!

Gif credit: Hussel.

Via NewNowNext.com: When asked about her new music video, “Body Party,” hip-hop princess Ciara had only three words for us: “Fun, sensual and fresh.”

If you saw the video premiere on BET’s 106 & Park last night, you know those words fit the song perfectly: “Body Party” is everything we love about Ciara—there’s grinding, giggling and the Crunk starlet looking as gorgeous as ever.

Body Party the album comes out in July, and the “Love Sex Magic” singer tells NewNowNext it was a true labor of love that couldn’t have been completed without her songwriting essentials: Green tea with honey, a warm blanket, and nonstop ESPN. (Sounds like our kind of girl.)

In the clip above, Ciara talk about her latest hit and the fun she had at last week’s NewNowNext Awards. You know, it’s been awhile since Ciara “one-two-stepped” into the limelight and boy are we glad she did.

via VH1.com: It hasn’t been a full 48 hours since Ciara released the saucy video to “Body Party” and women are already having body parties in their offices trying to perfect Cici’s moves. Don’t be surprised. Everybody wants to dance like Cici.

We know her latest single from her forthcoming fifth album, Ciara, sounds great. But does anybody know what an actual body party is? “A body party is when two people or a group get together and they dance together, the bodies touch sometimes,” Ciara told VH1. Wait, what if you’re alone twerking by yourself? “You can have your own body party that you design. It can be very intimate or a group of you guys just having a good time, dancing together.” Our kind of party.

“Body Party” samples the 1996 Ghost Town DJ’s hit “My Boo,” which if played at a party makes everyone over the age of 25 go bananas. As an ATL native Ciara had an organic connection to the record. “Just an organic connection to it just for the place it came from. The song came from Atlanta.” And in case you wondered if Ciara walks around bouncing or twerking or hitting a 1-2 step, she does. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t do some kind of dance.”

Welcome everybody on the new version of CiaraFever! It’s the third layout for this era and I think the coolest one ;) Even though I had planned to change the layout, CiCi surprised me when she changed the album title, so the new look may look a little rushed. It still needs some changes but I hope you like it!

Also, I desperately need someone to help me with the site. I bet you noticed that I’ve been late with some of the news. I try to do my best to keep you guys updated about everything what CiCi does but I have some limits :( Time zones simply suck. That’s why I need at last one person from the USA to help me out so we could make the site even better! If you have enough time and love for Ciara, please email me: theciarafever@gmail.com.

Ciara talks to MTV News about recruiting real-life boyfriend Future in the studio. Source.