Were you wondering whatever happened to Empire star Jussie Smollett‘s album? The 33-year-old California native signed a recording deal with Columbia in the midst of the hype surrounding the wildly successful 1st season of the soap opera musical.
Openly gay director Lee Daniels positioned Smollett to be a breakout star as the openly gay character Jamal Lyons.
But after Empire‘s hype died down in early 2016, Columbia executives realized Empire fans would not buy an album by a singing goat. So the decision was made to scrap the album.
According to a gossip source on Lipstickalley.com, Columbia Records can’t figure out what to do with the openly gay singer or his album.
Lipstickalley.com — Columbia is this close to scrapping the record deal before it even launches. Jussie submitted TWICE the awaited album since he got signed last year and execs were not the least impressed or happy with the work. Asked for a redo. The redo results were met with lukewarm to abort reactions. The conversation now is if it’s of any value to keep him as a recording solo artist when all chart or music work he’s had out was Empire related, and that spark he had once from the show ran its course. Basically they are reconsidering any release because Jussie doesn’t have enough star power or mass appeal to perform well on the charts.
