It’s back to the drawing board for Col Leray. The rapper only sold 10,000 copies of her sophomore album, COI, in the first week.
COI is the follow up to her 2022 debut album Trendsetter. COI was released through Uptown and Republic Records on June 23, 2023 and spawned the lead single “Players” along with “Bops”, “My Body”, and “Run It Up”.
The album features guest appearances by David Guetta, Saucy Santana, Lola Brooke, and the late James Brown.
However, fans complained that nearly every song on COI relies heavily on samples.
Music critics were also unforgiving. Pitchfork wrote that COI “might as well be marketed as a covers album. Roughly 75% of the album relies on painfully obvious samples, copied and pasted in with little modification” and Leray “unimaginatively spins songs by men into #girlboss anthems”.
In a recent interview, Leray, 26, defended the use of samples on nearly every track.
“I feel like a lot of the headlines kind of overshadow my true talent and what God really brought me here to do,” she said.
“So I just can’t wait because this album’s going to show that… And also the second album’s going to make people go back to Trendsetter and make them actually appreciate it for the music instead of the bullshit and the negative headlines and Coi Leray always being the topic. This album is all about me.”
