“The first label I signed to, I think it was a scam ,” she said in a newly unearthed audio clip. “I don’t even think it was real because when I signed to Interscope, they literally disappeared. They literally disappeared. It makes me feel like all them years, I was stressing. Crayton Corporation. Crayon Corporation. I feel like they got me because I was so scared.”
The Shea Butter Baby singer revealed that she actually auditioned for American Idol and made it to Hollywood, but was legally obligated to inform them of her record deal.
“Like I said, I’ve told y’all this story before. I tried out for ‘ American Idol .’ Every time I got to Hollywood, I got my ticket to Hollywood — I was afraid to lie. So, I told them, ‘Hey, I am under contract.’ And then ‘American Idol’ was like, ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do,'” Ari explained.
She added, “And rightfully so if I was already under contract . So I guess I’m grateful everything went down the way it did because I don’t think I would’ve performed well on ‘American Idol.'”
The Grammy-nominated singer detailed how she later signed to a different label that also reportedly scammed her. “We’re cool now, but he did scam me. I thought he was helping me get out of this other situation and now, I just feel like there was never a situation,” she shared.
Ari reflected on giving this unknown man “a nice little check” in order to sign to Interscope, but she said she never heard from the label. In order to get her out of the rumored deal , she was told to pay between $50,000 and $100,000. The ordeal admittedly had her depressed for five years in her early twenties.
“I was so depressed. I wound up signing with the producer and that went negatively because he never gave me the mp3s […] They would’ve all got leaked, but still. He was very controlling in that way,” Ari confessed.
Despite her past issues with certain labels and record “executives,” she has a new single, “Smoke,” slated for release on Oct. 18.
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