Musically, the R&B veteran has mostly laid low since her last album (and her first as an independent artist), 2019’s Beauty Marks. Meanwhile, the crown princess of Crunk&B had two children and slowly conceptualised her eighth album, which she described as a celebration of the 21-year journey from her 2004 debut album, Goodies, to the current day. CiCi expands upon Ciara’s 2023 EP of the same title, which included the breezy Chris Brown collab “How We Roll” and the triumphant “Winning” with NOLA bounce legend Big Freedia. The mood on the expanded edition is grown and sexy and reflective but still down to turn up, from the Evelyn “Champagne” King-sampling “Drop Your Love” to “This Right Here”, on which CiCi recruits a verse from Latto and a beat (and some familiar ad-libs) from Jazze Pha, who produced her earliest hit (“1, 2 Step”) 21 years prior.