  Toronto singer Fefe Dobson talks about her new album, Joy, released November 23 at the Rivoli pool hall. (Photo: Stacy Bailey, QMI Agency)
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On the cover of her long-gestating third album Joy, Toronto singer-songwriter Fefe Dobson is lying face down.
Actually, all you can see is a bit of her back side, legs and feet dangling off a stage behind a speaker as a photographer captured her passed out after a live performance.
"I call it my Wizard of Oz shot -- my legs and my feet," said Dobson in Toronto, the week of Joy's release in late November.
Still, the image is an analogy for the 25-year-old pop-rock artist's career, which spiralled downwards after a promising start seven years ago.
"It's a comeback in some ways but it's also just like another chapter, really," said Dobson.
Dobson's decidedly pop-sounding self-titled 2003 debut disc spawned such hits as Bye Bye Boyfriend, garnered her two Juno nods, an opening slot on Justin Timberlake's tour, and Tommy Hilfiger and Got Milk ads.
But then just days before the release of her more rock-oriented second disc, 2006's Sunday Love -- which included collaborations with Marilyn Manson's John 5 and Rancid's Tim Armstrong -- she was dropped by her music label, Island Def Jam, after the new single, Don't Let it Go to Your Head, failed to chart.
"I was heartbroken," said the singer who spent $500 on a dog -- a white with black spots pomeranian-chihauhau mix named Pepper -- to beat the blues.
"It was my dream. And when you finally get signed, it's a big deal. And when you're dropped, it's like your whole life packs it in. So it was tough at first. I really didn't know where I was going to start again, since it stopped."
Dobson's longtime manager Chris Smith, a Torontonian whose stable includes Nelly Furtado, started his own label and so Dobson began writing music for Joy. In the meantime, she saw such Sunday Love songs as Start All Over and Don't Let it Go to Your Head get covered by the likes of Miley Cyrus and Jordin Sparks.
"I thought, There's something good going on here,' " said Dobson, whose collaborators on Joy include Canadian-born rock producer legend Bob Ezrin, and young Australian guitar virtuoso Orianthi on the track Can't Breathe.
"I could feel the energy coming back. I could feel the inspiration coming back after being dropped."
Eventually her former label president Antonio (L.A.) Reid came calling again, after Dobson went to New York City for some showcases for Joy, which was only half-written at that point.
"I heard L.A. Reid wanted to see me, he knew I was in town," said Dobson, who went to Island Def Jam's New York offices and surprised him.
"He just looked at me and was like 'Come back.' I started giggling 'cause I was shy about it. So I was like, 'Is he for real?' And we drew up a contract that night. It was crazy.
"And then again, L.A. and I, honestly have been cool this whole time. Like some artists, they get dropped, and there's ill feelings, but not with us. Like, I'd call him randomly all the time, be like, 'Hey, I'm making music!' And he'd be like, 'Just let me know when it's done.' "
