On September 11, 2001, the terror attacks took the lives of 2,996 people. The commercial airliners that slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania rocked the nation and the entire world. However, former singer and actress Willa Ford is claiming that September 11th had one more casualty – her music career. Willa gave an interview to Billboard where she explains why she left the music business. The former pop star gives details on how a “perfect storm” caused her to leave the music business. One of the main reasons for her music career ending was 9/11. Apparently.
“A lot of people don’t realize this, but my second single was released on September 11, 2001,” Ford told Billboard. “Everything that happened that day froze; the world stood still, as it should have. My second single didn’t do well because anything that launched that day kind of got canned. I know that sounds silly, but on radio they slate things, but it really fell to the wayside.”
She does say the world should have stood still because it was such a life-shattering travesty, but just bringing up the notion that your pop song didn’t sell well because of the terror attacks of September 11th does not have good optics. Ford added that her career was also derailed because “the record company I was with at the time got acquired by another record company, and the president of our record company left the company.” Ford adds that “at that time, my sister had a baby, and I felt like this pop machine had taken me and put me in the wash cycle and I had been spinning out of control.”
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So now Willa Ford is attempting to make a comeback and grab headlines, apparently going with the strategy of “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” You can think that 9/11 ruined your music career to yourself, but when you tell the world that you believe that 9/11 was a major factor in ruining sales of your pop song, it is not a good look or endearing. Especially since Willa Ford was a one-hit wonder heading into 9/11. Ford released her only hit song, “I Wanna Be Bad,” on July 17, 2001. Not many big songs after that and never reached the levels of the songtresses of her time such as Britney, Mariah, or Christina. She wasn’t even Jessica Simpson.
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The problem with Willa’s “logic” is that Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint” also dropped on 9/11/2001 and it is one of his most successful albums of his career. “The Blueprint” sold over 427,000 copies in its opening week and went certified double platinum. Nickleback released their album “Silver Side Up” on September 11th and they’re still hanging around, somehow.
Sooooo what about the last 16 years? Since then she has had little success, especially music-wise. She did however suit up and was the celebrity quarterback for the Dallas Desire in 2005’s Lingerie Bowl. And she played a naked role as “Chelsea” in 2009’s “Friday the 13th.” Maybe take some personal responsibility and not publicly blame one of the most deadly terror attacks in the history of the world for your wilted music career.
[NYDN]