Remember when BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion, hired R&B superstar Alicia Keys as their “creative director” and she saved the company and everyone went back to using BlackBerries instead of iPhones? No? Right, because that never happened. Well, the saving the company part never happened. BlackBerry most certainly hired Keys as their creative director, the intended point of which is still unknown.

It’s not yet clear whether the split was mutual or at the behest of either party. It’s possible that BlackBerry found Alicia a bit too expensive to keep on the payroll, though it’s equally likely that the singer no longer wanted to be associated with the floundering smart phone producer. Her departure will be official at the end of January.

In a statement, the smartphone company said: “BlackBerry and Alicia Keys have completed our year-long collaboration. We have enjoyed the opportunity to work with such an incredibly talented and passionate individual.”

Though likely unrelated, the company has been in a tailspin every since Keys was hired a year ago. Sales plummeted and the company lost almost a billion dollars in the second quarter, forcing a $4.4bn writedown. The company even tried, and failed, to sell itself, unable to find a buyer willing to patch the leaking vessel.

When she accepted the “job” last January, Keys said: “I was in a long-term relationship with BlackBerry, then I noticed hotter, more attractive sexier phones at the gym. So I broke up with you for a while. I missed the way you organised my life, so I carried two phones and played the field a bit. But then you gave me a call, told me you’d been working out. Now I’m happy to announce we’re exclusively dating again!”

Translation: “I stopped using your product because it sucked, but then you paid me a large sum of money and gave me a figurehead title to do otherwise, so I started using it again. Then I announced my partnership with what appears to be the lyrics to the lamest love song in history.”

During her time at BlackBerry, Keys created a scholarship program to encourage women to study STEM subjects. She also ran the Keep Moving project, which helped the public collaborate with artists and filmmakers. It’s unclear how any of these contributed to the creative direction of BlackBerry, if at all.

Apart from BlackBerry, Alicia Keys continues to do great. Her latest album, Girl on Fire, reached number one on the U.S. charts.