Back to square one. That’s where Macy Gray found herself when she began recording her new album, “The Sellout.”
It was 2009, 10 years since the release of the soul singer’s multiplatinum, Grammy Award-winning debut, “On How Life Is.” Both the Epic Records album and its runaway lead single, “I Try,” ascended to No. 1. But Gray’s career stalled with her subsequent Epic releases, 2001’s “The Id” and 2003’s “The Trouble With Being Myself.” “Big,” her 2007 album on Will.i.am’s Geffen-distributed imprint, failed to catch on as well.
So Gray came up with a new game plan. Maybe she’d do what everyone else was doing: simply hire the hottest producers and songwriters du jour. But an eye-opening jolt of reality set in when no one returned her calls.
“Having left the label, I was in a situation where I had to start all over again,” Gray says from her home in Los Angeles. “I was on my own again; back to being a new artist. After getting to a place in my career where I’d tried everything that was asked of me, it was very liberating.”
Freedom
Gray’s newfound freedom — paying for her own studio time through a dirt-cheap deal with a studio owner in Tarzana, California, and handpicking a select group of musicians, co-writers and producers — energized her to re-establish herself in the marketplace, doing music her way. Her finished project, the tongue-in-cheek-titled “The Sellout,” arrives June 22 on Concord Records and is being hailed as a return to form.
Lead single “Beauty in the World” is No. 2 for a second week on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and debuted at No. 40 on the Adult Top 40 chart. It was chosen as the end-credits song for the recently released feature film “Killers,” starring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. “Kissed It,” the next single from the album, serves as the theme music for cable network Bravo’s new promotional campaign, “Summer by Bravo.”
Beyond the early buzz and high-profile placements, however, a lingering question still hangs in the air: Can a quirky 42-year-old artist regain a foothold in today’s youth-centric music world?
In Gray’s case, it means playing up her strengths as a unique vocalist and compelling lyricist while bearing in mind some key realities of the contemporary music scene. Chief among them is the simple fact that pop radio has changed.

Foundation
“Short of Gwen Stefani and Madonna, there aren’t too many 40-year-old artists — men, women, black or white — getting played on pop radio,” says Merck Mercuriadis, who co-manages Gray with fellow industry veteran Michele Anthony. “Most artists would like to be a Madonna or Elton John with 25- to 30-year runs at pop radio. But that’s changed. The focus there is 18-21, so you have to be innovative. And you need great advocates who can communicate and strategize on your behalf.”
The foundation for Gray’s return was laid 16 months ago, when the singer’s agent at Creative Artists Agency, Jenna Adler, asked former Elton John and Axl Rose manager Mercuriadis to meet Gray, who previously was managed by Violator Management CEO Chris Lighty. After listening to demos of songs the singer-songwriter had recorded, Mercuriadis contacted former Sony executive Anthony to join him as Gray’s co-manager. The new association marked a reunion for the singer and Anthony: The latter was at Sony when ex-Epic president Polly Anthony signed Gray to her first deal.
The new management team’s goal, Anthony says, was to reconnect with her core fan base and create new fans by focusing on her skills as a singer and songwriter.
“Despite her earlier success, she’s still not given enough credit for the talented songwriter she is,” Anthony says of the former University of Southern California screenwriting student.
Underrated
Mercuriadis adds, “She’s one of the industry’s most underrated lyricists: ‘I try to walk away and I stumble’ — very few people can express love in those terms. Now she has come up with a record that shows this life evolution from her big success to coming out at the other end as a 40-year-old who still has something to say that’s emotionally compelling and relatable.”
Gray describes “The Sellout” as very raw, setting it apart from her previous album, “Big.” “There were things we were going to do but couldn’t because I didn’t have a label behind me at the time,” Gray says. “But I like that it’s not completely polished and tweaked.
“‘I don’t regret ‘Big,”’ she continues. “I worked with great people like Will.i.am, whom I’ve known for years, and Justin Timberlake. But fans can always tell when an album is coming from the heart. They connect with it emotionally; it makes them dance or go have sex. However, there were people working on ‘Big’ that I didn’t know were working on it, and I had never worked like that. I know my music and myself better than anyone. If my name is on it, it should come from me.”
Co-written and executive-produced by Gray, “The Sellout” features Gray’s distinctive rasp and guest collaborations with Bobby Brown, Velvet Revolver and Gray’s own Moonslice Records artist Romika. The album captures what made Gray a breakout star 10 years ago: a diverse mix of music that defies categorization.
Hurdle
But Gray still had another hurdle to overcome, which she blogged about recently on the Huffington Post: musical age discrimination. “We went to some majors, and they all told me ‘no,”’ Gray recalls. “They said I was too old.” At one point she considered putting out several EPs independently. Then she met with Concord executives, “and we just clicked.”
Concord CEO Gene Rumsey cites the label’s success with Ray Charles’ “Genius Loves Company” album as he recalls the decision to work with Gray. Like Charles, she’s a talented artist who had enjoyed major success but had grown disconnected from her fan base.
“Macy’s new songs are beautiful and more mature now, without losing the hipness factor,” Rumsey says. “However, we want artists who are in business with themselves before they get in business with us, who know who they are and have management whose vision and relationships bring added value to the table.”
To promote the album, Gray is helming “Diary of a Sellout,” a YouTube video series countdown to the album’s release. Concurrently, she has launched the Beauty Shot sweepstakes, a Twitter contest in which users are asked to tweet photos of what “Beauty in the World” means to them. The winner will receive $1,000 and the opportunity for his or her image to become the official cover of Gray’s “Beauty in the World” remix e-single released on iTunes later this summer. While tour plans are being discussed, her schedule includes upcoming guest stints on “The View,” “Good Morning America” and “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.”
With this hands-on approach, there are plenty of opportunities for Gray to engage fans, both old and new, beyond exposure on pop radio, Mercuriadis says.
“If it happens, it’s cream on the cake,” he says. “But that’s not the way we’re focusing our strategy. What we’re doing means a lot of hard work on everyone’s part; all staying on the same plan as we move from A to B, then C to D and so forth. With each of those increments comes more wins exponentially — and the chance to give Macy the success she so richly deserves.” (RTRS)