Michelle Williams fans against the postponement of her album release

We are outraged and frustrated by the 2 month delay in the release of Michelle Williams' "Unexpected" album. To not only push the album so far into the future but to initiate the delay so close to the originally scheduled date of release shows a blatant lack of concern not only for Michelle and her project, but for her fans as well.

It is ludicrous and offensive that the fans should have to suffer as a result of your gross incompetence. There is no reason whatsoever that a solid marketing campaign could not have been put in motion months ago in support of "Unexpected" -- nor is there any reason for us, the consumers, to believe that pushing the album's release back 2 months will facilitate any kind of improved effort on your part to help "Unexpected" fulfill its potential. One need look no further than Michelle's ex-groupmate Kelly Rowland for proof of your laziness. If we use her last release "Ms. Kelly" as an example of your general strategy when given more time to prep for an album's release, then we should look forward to little more than the sporadic and disjointed scheduling of minor promotional appearances coupled with shoots for music videos that you never bother to release in the US anyway. That is simply not good enough, especially when you take into consideration the fact that a majority of the tracks from "Unexpected" have already made their way online. As it is doubtful you will be reprinting the album with new or different tracks this late in the game, postponing the release will serve little purpose other than to encourage Michelle's eager fans to acquire her music online illegally, where it has been made available in abundance, to the point where bootleggers have already infiltrated eBay and other online merchant/auction sites, offering pirated "advances" for sale. In addition to "We Break The Dawn" and its remix, tracks from "Unexpected" that are currently available online as high quality illegal downloads include but are not limited to the following: "Til The End Of The World", "Hello Heartbreak", "The Greatest", "Stop This Car", "Hungover", and "Private Party". That is more than half the album. Based on the speed at which these tracks have surfaced on the Internet, it is nearly guaranteed that the "Unexpected" album will be made available in its entirely online illegally WAY before the new release date in October.

We ask that you reconsider pushing the album so far back, especially if you are not going to establish the concrete and effective marketing plan that an artist like Michelle deserves. We would like to believe that you have as much faith in Michelle and her talent as we do -- in fact, we would love it if you proved every point of negative speculation we have made in this petition wrong. We just don't think you will. So, at the very least, we request that you consider the points we have made and work WITH us, the fans, to help make "Unexpected" the success it should be.