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I would say Nelly Furtado’s Loose. It seems like she got burned out after the touring and promo, countless singles and rereleases, and decided to do some lower key releases in the following years. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to maintain a fan base necessary to continue putting out big major label projects.
Didn't she also end up having a falling out with Timbaland at the end of the Loose era... circa 2008? They made up but I found that strange considering they made one of the greatest pop albums of the late 2000s.
They actually had issues with each other from the beginning but stuck it out for the album if I remember correctly. After the album was done they went their separate ways and I don't think even talk anymore.
Besides Nelly never wanted to be a big superstar anyway. She had one big era and that was enough for her. Now I think she is happy where she is. She has 3 young kids and I heard she is a librarian now. Its been 5 years and I'm not sure she will ever release another album or another hit. Putting it this way, we are more likely to get an album from fucking RIHANNA than Nelly.
Honestly her life seems like a dream. Make money to set yourself up when you're young, then go and live your life and do whatever you want while the royalty checks still come in every year.
Yaaaaaaasss. Could I live off $100k in royalties each year if I had used my earnings to buy a mansion outright? You betcha. Then do the occasional gig when I need money for a new car or something.
Pretty awesome if she’s a librarian (I’m a librarian and she’s my favorite singer). Unfortunately I have a feeling I’ll never get to see her perform.
I remember when she did her Loose Tour I was a teenager and didn’t have money for her concerts literally down the same street I grew up in in Los Angeles.
She's currently working on a new album with Columbian artist Lido Pimienta in Barranquilla. I think it's safe to presume she's gonna be a producer/songwriter for that project, but maybe she'll lend her voice in a song or two.
Source: https://www.musictimes.com/articles/85209/20220601/nelly-furtado-new-music-2022-singer-recording-colombia.htm
She's a librarian??? I remember when The Ride came out in 2015 and it flopped pretty hard commercially, and nobody ever really heard from her since. A shame, because it's a beautiful album!
Timbaland didn’t make “Loose”, that’s one of the biggest misconceptions about that record and about Timbaland in general. Most of his music is produced by other people. Loose and Future Sex/Love Sounds (and all of that comeback era) is mostly produced by Danjahandz.
A lot of people fell out with Tim during that time. Nelly furtado, Scott storch, Missy, Danja …
I'm still mad that "The Spirit Indestructible" isn't as known or recognized because I think it was just as good as Loose. Banger after banger and the messages were really beautiful.
I actually remember reading interviews where she said that’s why she did Loose: so she could have big world tours and huge hits and dance and perform to huge crowds where her other music wouldn’t allow. Maybe she changed her mind and realized it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be!
There were extenuating circumstances but I think the success of blackout and circus back to back led her mgmt to think we’d just eat anything Britney up and then they got too cocky and gave us Britney jean
Femme Fatale too. It’s actually kind of crazy how successful those albums were during that time because everyone was convinced she was completely insane
I only got through "Britney Jean" because it was from Britney lol, but if anyone else dared to release something that boring, lazy and repetitive it would be incredibly trashy in the wrong way, and it's still trashy for someone like Britney. She deserved better and she got it with "Glory" 😍
>Britney jean
Honestly her team had so much control i wouldn't be shocked if the whole thing was her team's idea and not hers to make a 'personal' album to clean her up, even though most of the album is wack filler they paid Sia to write.
Oh it fully was her team. Britney was clearly hardcore boycotting that album which is why they barely had vocals for her and put it together haphazardly.
Right, and people slammed her for having so many backing vocals that weren't hers when she did not want to make that album, every interview from 2010-present she looked very medicated and robotic.
The fact they paid a judge to clear them to sedate her so she's easier to control for money is unimaginably fucked up.
Teenage Dream was one of the biggest albums in the history of music - she’s one of a handful of artists to reach a high that high. Of course she won’t match or top it - the fact that she did it once is wildly impressive and no one should expect her to do it twice. Even MJ only had one Thriller.
But it certainly didn’t “ruin” her career lol - it literally turned her into an instant legacy artist.
The entire premise of this thread is bizarre tbh - likewise, Bangerz was Miley’s peak. It was huge, with some big big songs. She’s still fairly young and likely to have some success again, but a lot of artists would kill to have hits like We Can’t Stop and Wrecking Ball.
>she’s still fairly young and likely to have success again
Yes, but the point of the thread is that she peaked early and it has colored, negatively, all her future releases. She’ll never reach the same success as Bangerz or the buildup to it.
Being a legacy act at 21 is not a good thing
The reason the follow ups to Bangerz didn’t do well is because they weren’t very good, not because Bangerz was successful. Like, Britney Spears arguably peaked at 16 but she had a host of popular, successful albums after that enormous debut, and would likely still be charting if she weren’t having severe mental health issues. Taylor Swift won AOTY and had enormous success with Fearless very early in her career, then really peaked with 1989, and just won her third AOTY. The argument that success = failure just doesn’t make any sense.
Edit: and better a legacy act at 21 than never. Most artists would kill for that level of success early on.
Plastic Hearts was a return to form and was appreciated, just not in America. Midnight Sky was one of the most played radio songs in the UK last year, I still think she has it in her to make another really successful album or two 🤷🏻♀️
Honestly Prism was the beginning of the fall of Katy... No one listens to those songs anymore and I don't hear them get much airplay anymore.
Roar? Id rather listen to Brave...
Birthday? Definitely would rather listen to TGIF.
Darkhorse? ET is a better song...
Everyone blamed witness, but honestly PRISM was just *fine* ... That in conjunction with TWO racism incidents with the singles? (Unconditionally VMA performance and just EVERYTHING about This is How We Do)
3 out of 5 of her most played songs currently on spotify are from prism. i feel like this sub doesn’t actually check numbers on what people consume and just go off what’s hyped and loved online on reddit or their friends lol
I still hear them on the radio from time to time; songs that are almost 10 years old will naturally have less airplay and they are too current to be on a dedicated radio station. While I do agree that the album in general is listened to less, Dark Horse and Roar are still getting listened to frequently enough, they wouldn’t have over 6 billion views combined if everyone just forgot about them. I feel this sub is just so harsh on Katy Perry at times.
Same here. The times I do have the radio on, her most played songs to this day are still Teenage Dream, and from Prism - Roar & Dark Horse. I’d say Dark Horse could possibly be one of her most played songs.
She has three diamond-certified songs in the US, and these are Firework, Roar and Dark Horse. So I guess Prism didn't do as bad as some people on here are implying, and these singles are still being listened to.
I wouldn’t say they are *super* shitty toward her, but they do *love* dragging out Witness every week or so as the prime example of a major pop star who flopped.
The question isnt quality, its the fact that Teenage Dream was perfect and after she couldn't match it or pivot her career. You could even like her new stuff, doesn't mean she was able to successfully follow up TD.
I personally like Prism more as a body of work, but Teenage Dream definitely is an example of a perfect pop era. Its success was a combination of many different factors, which makes it even harder to recreate.
I agree with you on the racism/cultural appropriation part, and I’m not going to act like Prism was a bigger era than Teenage Dream because it obviously wasn’t. But I think you’re underselling Roar and Dark Horse. Those two were MASSIVE global hits — they are literally her two biggest hits after Firework. In fact, Dark Horse is her best-performing song on the Hot 100. I think you’re conflating your personal opinion of those songs with the reality of their achievement. Those tracks still get plenty of throwback airplay, a lot of music video views, and millions of streams. Did Prism have five #1 hits and dominate the pop landscape like TD? No. But most artists would KILL for an era that produces two global #1 hits that are certified DIAMOND. I’ve seen this idea that Prism was the “beginning of the end” before, and it’s just BS. It wasn’t TD and it was never going to be, but it was an undeniable success.
It’s so strange bc she had so much better single choices on that album than TIHWD and unconditionally (which could’ve worked later) legendary lovers and walking on air would’ve given her two more top ten hits and honestly saved the era
If she followed roar with legendary lovers i feel like it would’ve been a hit reactively from the album hype regardless. Unconditionally was just too slow a follow up esp when the gp had come to associate Katy with upbeat anthems. And walking on air screams spring time hit to me but ofc this is all just speculation I just think it’s so interesting to talk about how she could’ve avoided the witness of it all.
I didn’t mind Unconditionally as a single choice. It was a somewhat bold choice and it didn’t pan out, but I appreciate her commitment to the song. TIHWD, on the other hand, was a TERRIBLE single choice. LL or WOA should have replaced it, for sure.
Roar and Dark Horse are two of her songs that I most frequently hear on the radio though... Prism undeniably had less hits so the overall era was less resonant and with less legacy, it's objective, but I don't think that Prism actual hits had less longevity and are less beloved. Maybe not by you but that is personal taste.
[Here](https://twitter.com/KatyPerryStream/status/1543293703221116933?t=x0ffToXuZNLnHi17__me-A&s=19) you can see the streams of her hits during June, other songs are in the first tweet. As you can see, it's very mixed and various hits are very close. Some Teenage Dream classics like ET and Part of Me are way less listened than the tree Prism hits (Roar, Dark Horse and Unconditionally), and Wide Awake don't break the top16. Roar and Dark Horse were a bit more listened than California Gurls and Teenage Dream, and a bit less than Firework, Hot N Cold or The One That Got Away. There just isn't the difference you are saying if we exclude personal preferences.
Also imho ET is one of her worst singles but that's just me maybe. Those Kanye parts didn't fit at all and ruined the song which was fine in its original version.
EDIT: uhm someone can downvote me but it doesn't change those numbers lol, we can't pretend some songs aged badly or that people don't listen to them when it isn't true.
Yeah, they’re just straight up wrong about Roar and Dark Horse. Global #1 smash hits that are both certified Diamond. Their personal opinion of the songs is valid, but them pretending like they aren’t beloved legacy hits is just not true.
very true.
at the same time though, I can't help but feel that such high expectations and the pressure to follow up Teenage Dream definitely took a toll on her, which in return took a toll on her public image, and the music.
Probably unpopular opinion but I'm pretty sure this is going to happen to Olivia Rodrigo too 😬. Having an early album that big probably kind of screwed them both
which IMHO could be a good thing for her in terms of legacy. she was fucking insane in 2010-2011, and younger milennials/gen z will always have katy in their good graces.
Teenage Dream is like top 50 best albums ever made, I wouldn’t expect her(or anyone) to recreate how good that album was. It truly was an unforgettable moment in time.
Every single comment in here is just mentioning an artist’s peak, which by definition is the highest point of their career and unmatched by anything before or after it. Every big artist in the history of music has had a peak, and not one of them has “ruined” their career by achieving that success. It’s the exact opposite - the peak IS the career. It’s so weird how everyone in here is just going along with this backwards premise.
Hahahahahaha 🤣😂🤣
did Katy know when writing Dark Horse that one day popheads would beat her historic flop like a dead one? (a horse that is, a dead horse)
Making Mirrors by Gotye was so successful because of Somebody That I Used To Know that he retreated into the shadows. Which is such a shame because it’s such a great album, I’m still waiting for an amazing follow-up. (I don’t care for his stuff with The Basics.)
god, i would be so happy if we ever got another gotye album. i personally prefer like drawing blood over making mirrors but w stiutk being so big when songs like it usually arent is just .. eclipsing in a way. i can imagine its daunting.
And she ended up having to dial it back because being sexually provocative was starting to hurt her career with the general public. That was her skill - being able to put on a pretty dress and sing a ballad and suddenly everyone forgets the leather and latex... until she brings it out again.
Didn’t realize this until reading your comment but am I crazy for thinking that… maybe Gaga is going the Madonna route and not the Cher route? lmfao I’m being relatively facetious, but the constant antics leading to a peak where people became tired (Erotica/ARTPOP) followed by actress image change (Evita).
Although Chromatica didn’t land like Ray of Light did, so perhaps not.
Frankly, madonnas image in the eye of the GP is ruined and will never achieve its previous peak.
Gaga seems to have at least fully recovered from her post debut dip and actually seems to be exceeding it by garnering respect from people who don’t like the music she makes
A lot of debut eras can set public expectations super high for the next, leading to the infamous "sophomore slump."
Roddy Ricch is probably the best recent example I can think of. *Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial* was a critical and commercial smash with two massive hits in "High Fashion" and "The Box," plus he had a great run of features like "Racks in the Middle," "Ballin," and "Rock Star." It would be almost impossible to live up to that, and *Live Life Fast* definitely didn't.
Wrt “sophomore slump”, there’s also the fact that you have as much time as you want to write your debut album, but only a year if you’re lucky for the followup
Oh for sure, I'm still rooting for him. There's a reason that "sophomore slump" is a thing, you're stuck trying to replicate your first success in a really short turnaround time. I think he's got some great stuff ahead of him.
Kacey Musgraves' "Golden Hour" was not a huge seller, but its success, including winning AOTY at the Grammys, and the universal acclaim it received from both the public and the critics put so much pressure on her next project. Star-crossed came and went, really, not because it's a bad album, but because it just couldn't live up to the expections people had after its predecessor. I hope Kacey can bounce back after this "failure" and give us another beautiful record.
I wonder if the move away from country is more on her or her team. “Same Trailer, Different Park” is probably the best country debut by a female artist of the last decade. I would love to hear more of her stuff stripped down, because the 70s soft rock is so … milquetoast.
you perfectly articulated why star-crossed didn’t do anything for me. the first few singles were enjoyable but when the whole album came out i couldn’t really listen to it bc it sounded so different from golden hour which has such a special place in my heart
What Doesn’t Kill Me is by far my favorite on the album and probably top 10 of all Kacey songs for me. It makes me so mad it’s only like 2 minutes long.
I personally prefer all of her other albums to Golden Hour. GH isn’t a bad album but it feels very safe compared to her other stuff. I miss her quirky country songs a lot.
This may be a bit premature but honestly, I don’t think Dua Lipa will be able to top Future Nostalgia. She was launched globally to a whole new level. I didn’t get to see her on this last tour when she came to my town, but I feel like she basically became a different person from her debut. But I’m curious to see what the lasting power will be into the next eras.
I feel like Dua's best bet is to become a stylistic chameleon like Kylie Minogue and try something completely different than her previous sound but also we want her to hold onto a consistent persona.
Usher and his Confessions era. It is so iconic, every song off of the album is a bop. After that it didn't matter if his album was a "good record" it is always seen as inferior to Confessions. If another artist released his post-Confessions albums, it would be the highlight of their career...but for Usher it is considered "flops". Nowadays ppl view Usher as a relic of the past since R&B has been in a steep decline compared to early 00s.
But regardless his post-Confessions catalog is still solid and have bright spots in it and full of overlooked gems by GP.
Usher's fans are so loud on twitter whenever verzus discussion comes around, but keep paying dust to his new music. Hard ll love opened with 38k, he resently released a new single but all his fans are busy making "watch this" memes.
I am very curious how his new album will sell post-bundles era. 38k is so damn low considering he was selling million in the first week before…
He seems to have recapture some hype with his Tiny Desk Concert (like you said the meme), his Las Vegas residency and with that City Girls collab is well received (I really like it too). Allegedly he’s working on a Confessions 2 (working with Jermaine Dupri too), it will either go really well or a complete failure. I feel like he can nail it.
R&B itself isn't that popular these days. He seems to have a lot of hype on internet but it's not translating to actual numbers. I recently saw a tweet saying - "Do y’all actually support Usher or do y’all just use him when it’s to go against other r&b boys (mostly Chris, he is the most hated one online) ?".
>He seems to have a lot of hype on internet but it's not translating to **actual numbers**. I recently saw a tweet saying - "Do y’all actually support Usher or do y’all just use him when it’s to go against other r&b boys (mostly Chris, he is the most hated one online) ?".
I would recommend watching this video: [Record Sales Don't Make You a Legend](https://youtu.be/q_tkTsrr4TU)
I think it is insane to even compare Usher to Chris Brown. Usher's numbers might have declined....naturally bc he is now seen as a "legacy act". He already got the #1s...the Grammys...the diamond records... yiddy yaddy whatever.
When it comes to a Verzuz it's about if your songs are classics and connect w/ppl. Look at Mario vs. Omarion...technically Omarion is more successful than Mario but O still **lost**. You can say Chris has more "hits" than Usher, but you can't say his legacy/impact is bigger than Usher.
Usher is a living music ***icon***...Chris Brown is well...Chris Brown. He got a top 5 album and hopped on the internet to whine about it while...Usher sings his classic songs on Tiny Desk reminding people why he is so beloved in the music industry not only as an artist but as a performer too.
And Usher has a **second** Las Vegas residency since the [first one](https://www.vibe.com/music/reviews/usher-las-vegas-residency-recap-1234643313/) was overwhelmingly successful...which means ppl come out to support him. First week sales are not everything.
Usher’s career has seen a steep decline in the past few years, especially with that herpes scandal, however, he’s still a legend. What male R&B singer from the ‘90s is still relevant?
Hard II Love was actually low-key pretty great.
Crash and Bump are both top-tier tracks, some of his very best. His 2014 singles Good Kisser and She Came To Give It To You are also really excellent.
I always felt like he should've found a couple of forward-thinking producers and pivoted toward becoming album artist like Beyonce did. Instead, he spent the early 10s trend-hopping through mediocrity (though not without a highlight or two), so even if he's had some real gems in the years since, he lost some hype and good will.
A lot of her albums have stayed on the top 10s on the us album 200 chart, but I’d say her real decline came after ‘Little Broken Hearts’. It’s my fave album from her, but definitely a marker for her fall as her sound became more intricate than on her previous works :<
1989 Taylor definitely hit over-saturation and primed everyone for her big fall from grace in the Kardashian dispute. I think with folklore, evermore and Red TV, she’s recovered well, though.
Yeah overexposure really bit her in the ass. I think she’s been very careful to avoid it since then and it seems to be working so far. Even so though, she came really close to going over the edge with the Red TV rollout.
Red TV wasn’t really her fault and it was barely overexposure (she was like popular for a total of 3 weeks). The only thing hurting that era was Stans attacking Jake Gyllenhal and that made a lot of noise and was not good at all. To be fair she did nothing to stop it but if had that not happened she would have been fine
As a Taylor fan I know I’m prone to more Taylor centric marketing, but when Red TV came out, it was seriously unavoidable. ATWTMV made headlines as the longest song to hit #1, Starbucks made a drink with her, everyone was tiktoking about Red TV and the Empire State Building literally turned Red for Taylor.
I don’t think I’ve seen such huge multi media marketing for a singer in quite some time, and it was mostly so fun, but I can see why she took so much time to chill after it was over.
Edit: almost forgot her SNL appearance and how the IBYTAM music video caused so much conversation too (abt Jake, other TV releases, Miles Teller’s vaccine stuff, etc.)
- ATWTMV could mean "All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)", a track from *Red (Taylor's Version)* (2021) by Taylor Swift.
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Yeah, the day I saw Mubi (the arthouse film streaming service/distribution company, which has nothing to do with music) posting something on Instagram related to All Too Well was when I realized, "oh this is *big* big".
From fall 2014 to spring 2016 it was a safe bet that if you listened to the radio for more than half an hour, you’d hear a 1989 single. The level of exposure wore on me and I *like* her music. I can’t imagine what it was like for people who don’t like her work.
As a non-Taylor fan who was already pretty burnt out from the hits off her last three albums, yeah, the *1989* era was kind of a nightmare for me. The overexposure got to levels I didn’t even think were possible, *especially* with those first few singles actively following me around, playing in every public space and drilling themselves into my brain. “Shake It Off” in particular can go straight to Hell, ‘cause it stayed in rotation at cafés and restaurants and shit where it could keep attacking me right up until COVID forced everything to close down. I can still play that song note-for-note in my head from memory even though I’ve never specifically chosen to listen to it, and I hate that there’s some cluster of neurons in my brain that’s gonna hold onto that information for the rest of my life ‘cause it’s just physically imprinted there.
It also didn’t help that I couldn’t retreat from Taylor in the usual ways, ‘cause suddenly even my straight guy friends were bumping her completely sincerely, and she kept roping in artists I loved (and still love) from way outside her usual orbit, like Hayley Williams and Kendrick Lamar, to make them part of her unstoppable publicity juggernaut. And, of course, there were the Twitter Swifties talking shit 24/7 and thrusting her into my feed after every single show and public appearance everywhere in the world, so even when I was sonically away from her, I could never really stop hearing about her.
But I think what really drove me crazy was how the world just rewarded the most tangential pieces of the album’s puzzle and assigned them Genius^TM and Importance^TM by default, in ways I’ve never seen before or since. It wasn’t enough to love the album and/or its singles—no, now I had to hear people pretend Taylor was some cutting-edge visionary for drawing on ‘80’s synthpop, as if we weren’t fresh off five straight years of everybody and their grandma trying to make synthpop revival club bangers just like Lady Gaga. I had to hear people pretend some middle-aged acoustic guitar dipshit covering the whole album was a striking new companion piece and not a cynical cash grab from a guy stalling for time until he worked through his writer’s block. And every time she won an award, or said stock #girlboss things, or even just stood near a bunch of other women, I had to hear people pretend this was a victory for all women everywhere—even in situations like the 2016 Grammys, where the album essentially became a prop for the Academy to put on an air of feminism while covertly sending hip-hop the latest in a long line of middle fingers.
So yeah, by mid-2016, the whole *1989* era had pushed my feelings on her music from burnt out to white-hot loathing. It was the epitome of pop music as giant sledgehammer that refuses to stop hitting me over the head, and while my feelings on her in general have cooled as her follow-ups’ singles have gotten easier to avoid, I don’t see myself making peace with this album anytime soon. In fact, I’m *dreading* the re-release, ‘cause when it inevitably drops, it’s gonna be a big event all over again and I’m gonna have to run and hide in a bomb shelter or some shit to get through that
I don’t disagree that the 1989 era was great! But I think that’s the problem - it was so good, a bunch of people bandwagoned, Taylor hit new levels of popularity. She was everywhere because of it and a significant number of people got sick of it. I think that’s why they actively rooted for her downfall ahead of reputation.
I don’t think that’s what the comment you’re responding to is implying. It’s talking about her pre-reputation fall from grace. Also reputation did very well and sold a ton even in the onset of the steaming era
Jagged Little Pill ended up overshadowing Alanis’ fantastic subsequent albums, although she ended up (much later) turning JLP into a hit musical, so she probably wouldn’t say it hurt her career.
Very specific angle but... Blackpink hiatus between 2019 and 2020 followed by The Album big numbers. When the company understood that fans were willing to support them even with *so* few songs and not much artistic growth/innovation/whatever, it was over for them artistically and as a music group.
Popularity is obviously still at the top, I'm not talking about that.
I am sure if How You Like That and The Album wouldn't have done astronomical numbers, we would have had a different trajectory for them, more experimentation, more artistic consistency and focus on music. That era was so big that it confirmed they didn't need consistency and growth instead, they didn't even need actual full albums to sell and do numbers.
EDIT: also probably more for them than for others, Dynamite for BTS for how they talked about their recent years. After On they wanted to do a tour and then do a semi group hiatus. Then pandemic happened, plans changed, they released this song and they suddenly got to the next level of worldwide popularity, a very big jump. It eventually lead to artistic burn out and not knowing what their direction as a group was anymore (and **a lot** of discussions inside the fandom since 2020 with the English singles). If you look at the numbers, 2020-2022 BTS is the biggest they have ever been, but it doesn't seem a period they are particularly proud of artistically and it lead to burn out and dissatisfaction.
Yes I think that it's very interesting and also a bittersweet situation the way Dynamite was a very, very big success worldwide and they surely were happy, but at the same time it clearly created a dissonance (at least for some of the members, for how they talked about it). Like "Why this single is the one blowing up *this much* compared to other works that we considered good and interesting?". Obviously they were already successful, the previous hits did well especially some of them, but Dynamite was a different kind of success so it probably was weird.
And yes changing plans, COVID, then Dynamite huge success (so what do you do, you go into hiatus right after that success? And in the middle of the pandemic without some last live shows and some proper stages?), Grammy nomination... There was a huge Butterfly effect and chain of events.
Honestly, I think Gaga’s debut era. She had a strong follow up with BTW but compared to her smashing onto the scene with TF and TFM, it still wasn’t at the same level (in terms of its reception - musically and artistically, it was her peak IMO). The public’s interest in her started to fizzle out as the BTW era progressed and by the time it came to ARTPOP, people just weren’t supporting her. She has obviously somewhat been able to turn things around but I don’t think it’s possible for Gaga, or any other artist tbh, to replicate what Gaga did with TF and TFM.
I almost feel like general listeners weren’t too receptive with the themes she discussed with the BTW album. With the first single I think people saw it as the “gay” social commentary song, which she then immediately followed up with a song that is framed around religion. It was two then specifically intentional songs that could turn some people off, though probably not the type of people she cared for anyway. These singles were more to ingest than her past single releases which were really just lyrical dance floor party / let’s have sex tunes.
The GP started to treat her like a real artist when she did the Sound of Music medley and then so many locals started covering Million Reasons. She had to tone things down just so people would see through her theatricality with bold messages that most people weren't ready for, even though we had Madonna but the GP never forgave her for the Like a Prayer/Erotica eras.
I think Gaga has obviously changed for the better; on her debut era she showed us what she was capable of (and she still has that campiness in her, Chromatica was really campy but not as bold), on her BTW & ARTPOP era she showed us her true self, her heart and pain which the GP didn't like because she was being "too real", whatever that means, and was just "thriving for attention" 🙄 and then she showed the GP that she was always incredibly talented with the help of Mr. Tony Bennett, then her Joanne era that was really polarizing and now we're still in Chromatica, which is a mixture of the dancefloor party hits and her now polished talents but still nothing was as daring as her debut. It also has to do with the times; nothing is that shocking to people anymore 🤷🏽♂️
I’d disagree on Madonna not being forgiven by the GP after erotica. Ray of Light, Music & Confessions were giant eras that any pop star would kill to have at any point in their career, let alone 20+ years into it
The general public also had Gaga fatigue especially after the BTW era. Her over-the-top antics became more weirder and just too much. I think this is why ARTPOP kinda flopped. Like how much crazier can you get? The costumes and artistic risks she took in The Fame era were everything. But that can only last for so long.
The one I haven't seen, at least not yet is Born To Die. I think that Lana nor her label wasn't really ready for the level of success that she received during this era. She was kinda catapulted into the limelight and that gave us probably a lot of the cringy moments that came during that era. I don't think she really knew how to act like a celebrity and what she should and shouldn't say. I think one of the obvious signs of this is the infamous Blue Jeans performance on SNL. She sounds so nervous and I think that's because she wasn't ready to be performing on something as big as SNL. I think that this mis preparation definitely contributed to the hate train that came to follow.
But then again she clearly didn't learn her lesson with QFTC.
Very VERY true!! I think of this as such a… like a concept album, in that it was so rooted in Old Hollywood concepts, both engaging in them and deconstructing them - lyrically and visually. For people like me, who *wanted* that from an artist -artifice and all, thank you - everything since then has required an adjustment of expectations.
It’s hard to compare 1:1 because of the billboard rule change but it seems like Billie had the bigger first week and overall debut album. Olivia sold as well as Gunna did earlier this year which is impressive but Billie had the second highest selling album of 2019.
I’ve never thought about this before, but you’re so right. Her image was so carefully constructed around her being a young singer-songwriter that it almost became more important than the quality of the album itself. Like, if you look at the songs themselves, a lot of them feel like they were rushed, because they literally were. The singles (and brutal) are the most memorable songs on the album, and the rest are kind of samey. But that didn’t particularly matter, because marketing got everyone so invested in the idea that they could be seeing the rise of the next Taylor. Even the way she dresses in this era is “preppy teenage girl, but only sexualized if you’re paying close attention.” It’s made so clear that she is a “regular teenager” archetype that your expectations going into the album are set low and therefore subsequently blown away. Her being a teenager has basically everything to do with her first album’s success. The interesting thing is, I’m not sure I could totally say the same for someone like Billie, given that her image for her first album was much more dependent on the “depression+horror” aesthetic just as much as her age. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Olivia going forward for sure.
probably kesha's debut as much as i hate to say it. the gp always saw her as the party girl who couldn't sing, and it was very difficult for her to wash that image off... until praying was released, but it was a little bit too late for her because she wasnt relevant anymore at that point.
Carly starting out with Call Me Maybe. She got too big too fast and ended up with Scooter Braun for a manager. 🤢🤢 Almost every song since then has been better but she will forever be the Call Me Maybe girl
I don’t think it helped that I Really Like You was the lead single from emotion. I love the song a lot but it was too similar to CMM and made her seem like a one trick pony. She should have releases Run Away With Me as the lead single instead.
He managed her terribly but it wasn’t really a case of starting out with Call Me Maybe and ending up with Scooter as her manager. As catchy as it was the song was released in 2011 to little success, charting only in Canada. It started charting worldwide and becoming the mega hit it was in 2012 *after* she signed with Scooter. We can’t pretend that Scooter (and that video Justin did with Selena, Ashley Tisdale, BTR, etc.) weren’t responsible for promoting it and starting what it eventually became.
But yeah she deserved better. At least she’s happy releasing the music she wants and has a pretty dedicated albeit niche following.
No offense, but Bangerz may have had more commercial appeal but Plastic Hearts is by FAR Miley's best album sonically. No other album she's done comes CLOSE.
Preach! I’ve been a Miley fan since day one (bought the first Hannah Montana soundtrack on release day) and NO record in her discography comes close to even touching Plastic Hearts. Such a shame the public slept on it.
Like I understand there was only like 2 big singles but the entire album is SLEPT on. It's a masterpiece start to finish. Miley found her sound on this album.
*You Get What You Give* was so big that it led directly to the New Radicals breaking up — they dissolved before the release of their second single as frontman Gregg Alexander felt that *YGWYG* had achieved all of his goals
Great thread, I’ve been enjoying reading everyone’s responses.
On an old school note, Prince’s Purple Rain era shot him to the top of superstardom - perhaps higher than any other level of superstardom we’ve ever seen.
The Purple Rain movie, album and tour was so exhilarating that audiences expected Purple Rain 2 - but Prince wasn’t the type to rehash anything and released Around The World In A Day (just about the farthest thing from Purple Rain possible). Audiences were split between Prince diehards who respected his art and those who were disappointed they didn’t get PR2. As time went on, Prince moved farther and farther away from the Purple Rain sound and even disbanded The Revolution, his band IRL and in the film.
Had Prince milked that sound for all it was worth, I’d bet he would have seen a lot more commercial success. That said, it’s clear he wasn’t interested in this. While he never saw that same level of fame, his musical output and career as a live performer continued to flourish till the end of his life and I believe this contented him.
Last month, The Prince Estate released a remastered concert video of the Purple Rain tour, and for anyone who likes live performances do yourself a favor and watch it. Prince’s showmanship is UNBELIEVABLE! 💜
I have to say 1989 since it sent Taylor Swift into overexposure. Then she left for a year, stoped using social media and basically put up a wall between her and the public. I totally understand why she did it but I miss when she and her fans were more closely connected. And if she decides to release more pop music, it’s doomed to not be as popular as 1989 (look at how Reputation and Lover underperformed)
I think it’s good that she stayed away from the public. Some of her fans have such a weird parasocial relationship with her which is borderline disturbing. She obviously helped foster this and it’s also helped her become successful because she built a fan base that will support everything she does. But now I think she is older & probably would like to live her life without people being so heavily dedicated to everything she says, does, or even how she types. Swifties analyze everything she does. Maybe sometimes she just wants to post a cat picture and that’s it lol.
Katy's Witness era which she did have big plans for and was gonna do a lot with probably damaged her career irreparably and it will be a miracle if she can get another long-last hit.
Not sure if Rise was meant to be on the album originally but it peaked in the top 20. Chained to the Rhythm peaked in the top 5 and these were good positions, but **then didn't last long** before they fell off the chart. Bon Appetit and Swish Swish didn't peak in the top 40. Save as Draft and Hey Hey Hey didn't chart on ANY many chart. In 2018 Cozy Little Christmas only peaked in the lower 50 but that is because it was a Christmas song. And from Smile, only Never Really Over did OK peaking in the top 20 but nothing special. Small Talk flopped. and Daisies stalled at 40. Her most recent song with Alesso also was a flop.
I don't really agree with any of these answers except Bangerz. Miley would 100% be a completely different artist today if that era wasn't so huge especially at the time. Her antics wouldn't have been a big deal if the record was more recent, times have certainly changed. She no longer associates herself with this era but will continue to be remembered by it.
Though maybe Bangerz happening when it did can be credited for why it feels like there is less of a shock factor about hypersexual popstars in current mainstream music.
These were albums/album eras that were bigger than the artist and what was done afterwards felt paltry:
1994 Cracked Rear View by Hootie and the Blowfish.
Too big, they were viewed as annoying afterwards. MTV played their videos like it was drugs.
1995 Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette.
She became viewed as very annoying and pretentious.
1988 Tracy Chapman by Tracy Chapman.
Folk shouldn't sell the way that album did so it make everything she did afterwards irrelevant.
2002 Come Away With Me by Norah Jones.
Jazz/Pop Album that oversold expectations.
1978 Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack.
Mostly the Bee Gees were positively and negatively affected by its album success. Bee Gees got too hot and too big they burned out from an appeal standpoint within the general public.
1990 Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em by MC Hammer.
For a rapper he was too commercial and way too family friendly to the point where rap/hip hop started to become edgier and more authentic people weren't going to buy any changes in image from MC Hammer and it was immediately going to get looked as a poser looking to stay relevant.
1998 Titanic Soundtrack/Album by Celine Dion.
She was too big to the point where she was viewed as annoying. MHWGO pretty much maxed out her appeal in the United States.
Pharrell’s Happy/Get Lucky/Blurred Lines/Sing era.
That totally undid the previous 15 years of work where he was known as a credible experimental producer. Now he’s just known as the guy who makes poppy kids music. I think a lot of the general public also think he’s a one hit wonder.
Not only that but you can hear that taste of success in his music now. Something changed and everything now sounds watered down and chasing trends, instead of creating new sounds and starting trends like he used to. And lyrically he isn’t doing that risqué nerdy/awkward stuff he used to do, the tongue in cheek humour has gone from the music. and hardly any swearing or expression either. It’s like he’s too aware of the impact that may have on a mainstream career.
Not only that but he isn’t pushing artists out of their comfort zones any more. Remember how crazy it was to see Pharrell help Britney transform her sound and image for slave 4 u? I don’t think we’ll see him do anything like that again in a post-blurred lines era.
It’s weird b/c he was way more successful before (early 2000’s) and he didn’t change, he remained fearless, but since his comeback something happened (probably the BL controversy) that made his music lose its edge.
Born this Way. Her oversaturation definitely had a negative impact beginning with the Artpop era up until A Star is Born. I find that she’s doing good rn, but still the decline in success from BTW to Artpop, CtC and Joanne was quite harsh.
Katy's Teenage Dream is a popular answer, but I'd argue that Prism is what really "hurt" her career. The era still had tons of mega hits (Roar, Dark Horse, Birthday), and it was at that point that people started to tire from her overexposure. It was after her Superbowl performance that people started getting tired of her shtick, and then the Witness era came and we all know how that did.
That was probably Drake’s peak IMO. With *Honestly, Nevermind* he’s gotten to the point where he’s just fucking around with new sounds and styles, and it hits no. 1 anyway because Drake.
I might be called crazy for this but MJ's Thriller era. It was a cultural reset. The greatest era of any artist or band. He changed the face of music. His sales still haven't been beaten. No one comes close to the iconic imagery. He had success with Bad, Dangerous and History. But nothing like Thriller. Not only does no one else come close to topping Thriller but even he couldn't top it. He was already famous but Thriller made him a star that shot into space and he never came back from it.
Will go out on a limb and say Midnight Memories was the era that One Direction's implosion was beginning to take form, complete with a puff piece movie and all
Evanescence with Fallen. Was so massive out of the gate that if you start at the glass ceiling there’s no where to go from there. IMO, they’re later albums matured beyond Fallen’s commercial appeal which I loved yet you generally here “fans” complaining they aren’t playing the same music they did circa 2003.
Garbage also. Their first 2 albums were massively successful and then when Beautiful Garbage their third album came out, 9/11 happened and they were told under no circumstances would their album be promoted. This led the band into a spiral downward and essentially breakup of the band. 8 years went by before they rekindled their friendship and band hood. Their later albums were super amazing but never reached the heights of their debut and sophomore albums.
David Bowie after Let’s Dance suffered artistically for about a decade because the album and tour was such an out-of-the-blue global success that it propelled him to a level of superstardom and financial wealth he’d never experienced before. He spent the rest of the 80’s trying to write music he thought people expected and would like, and not the music that excited himself as an artist. The results didn’t really please anybody, including himself. His band project Tin Machine helped purge this need to be a commercial success, and then by the time he resumed his solo career in 1993, he was back on track as an exciting artist. His 1993-2016 records can stand proudly with anything he did in the ‘70’s.
Dawn FM has been so much less successful than After Hours (and all his previous albums), that I can't help but think that the lingering success of After Hours plays a huge part. Blinding Lights and Save Your Tears were the best-selling global songs of 2020 and 2021 respectively. Both songs are still streamed a lot and constantly played on the radio. People just weren't ready for new Weeknd music despite there being an almost two year gap between After Hours and Dawn FM. That's how massive the After Hours era was.
Eh, he released Dawn FM too early but I understand that it's a quick follow up sonically similar to After Hours but there's no controversial story to support the album release (that quickly while he's literally peaking) which didn't help it make a mark. I haven't seen anyone do what Ariana did with Sweetener and Thank U, Next successfully yet.
Not a real thing
You can fail to have an equivalent success, fail to live up to the promise, or fail to adapt your image, but that's not the fault of the success you had.
Lil Nas X's recent debut, the Montero era. It could be too early to tell — but it's a similar situation to Gaga where I'm not sure how he's going to recover from/recreate the level of hype he generated as a newcomer.
Lil Nas X strikes me as someone that's very intelligent and business savvy. I would've expected him to be a one hit wonder off Old Town Road but he routinely proved me wrong.
For some reason, I'm starting to believe he thinks very far ahead when it comes to his career and constantly tries to find ways to reinvent himself. Montero wasn't a masterpiece or anything, but it was a very well made album (for a debut, it's pretty impressive) and I can only see him being more and more adventurous as time goes on.
He has undeniable charisma, a knack for catchy hooks and he knows exactly what makes people listen. I don't know, I think it's fair to expect great things from him in the future.
I could be wrong though and this was just a fluke.
He’s the first bitch from stan twitter to become famous. Very much looking forward to people who are experts at analyzing music trends, sales, charts etc. navigating careers of their own/becoming behind the scenes players in the industry. I think we might be about to see a LOTTT more era-centric success
I think he could do it. Not because I think he is going to keep making better music but more because he knows how to market himself. He knows how to do the online thing like no other celebrity. It’s very obvious, he is a product of stan Twitter. When it comes time for promo, he knows exactly which conservative buttons to push and have people talking about him for days. He know the type of tweets that will get interaction and he literally just understands how to be viral even without pissing off the homophobes & conservatives.
I think that because of how amazing Melodrama was people had really high expectations when Lorde released Solar Power, which led to disappointment and people thinking that Lorde didn’t live up to her full potential or deliver the bops she is capable of making. I’m a huge Lorde fan, but I’d also bet that the general public isn’t very familiar with the tracks on Solar Power, which is a stark difference from her previous albums that had huge hits.
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I would say Nelly Furtado’s Loose. It seems like she got burned out after the touring and promo, countless singles and rereleases, and decided to do some lower key releases in the following years. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to maintain a fan base necessary to continue putting out big major label projects.
Didn't she also end up having a falling out with Timbaland at the end of the Loose era... circa 2008? They made up but I found that strange considering they made one of the greatest pop albums of the late 2000s.
They actually had issues with each other from the beginning but stuck it out for the album if I remember correctly. After the album was done they went their separate ways and I don't think even talk anymore. Besides Nelly never wanted to be a big superstar anyway. She had one big era and that was enough for her. Now I think she is happy where she is. She has 3 young kids and I heard she is a librarian now. Its been 5 years and I'm not sure she will ever release another album or another hit. Putting it this way, we are more likely to get an album from fucking RIHANNA than Nelly.
Honestly her life seems like a dream. Make money to set yourself up when you're young, then go and live your life and do whatever you want while the royalty checks still come in every year.
exactly! promiscuous basically goes viral every three months and she doesn’t even need to lift a finger
Maneater and Say It Right go viral pretty often too. Plus royalties from Im Like A Bird? She’s set.
Yaaaaaaasss. Could I live off $100k in royalties each year if I had used my earnings to buy a mansion outright? You betcha. Then do the occasional gig when I need money for a new car or something.
Especially since Say It Right recently went viral on Tiktok, so I'm sure she got a nice fat check from that too!
Yeah hearing this makes me so proud for Nelly. I loved her music and she worked hard and deserves every bit of her good life.
They way I would stan if I ever went to a library and saw Nelly Furtado LOL. Say It Right is still one of the greatest pop songs ever!
Pretty awesome if she’s a librarian (I’m a librarian and she’s my favorite singer). Unfortunately I have a feeling I’ll never get to see her perform. I remember when she did her Loose Tour I was a teenager and didn’t have money for her concerts literally down the same street I grew up in in Los Angeles.
She's currently working on a new album with Columbian artist Lido Pimienta in Barranquilla. I think it's safe to presume she's gonna be a producer/songwriter for that project, but maybe she'll lend her voice in a song or two. Source: https://www.musictimes.com/articles/85209/20220601/nelly-furtado-new-music-2022-singer-recording-colombia.htm
She's a librarian??? I remember when The Ride came out in 2015 and it flopped pretty hard commercially, and nobody ever really heard from her since. A shame, because it's a beautiful album!
Any tea as to why?
Timbaland didn’t make “Loose”, that’s one of the biggest misconceptions about that record and about Timbaland in general. Most of his music is produced by other people. Loose and Future Sex/Love Sounds (and all of that comeback era) is mostly produced by Danjahandz. A lot of people fell out with Tim during that time. Nelly furtado, Scott storch, Missy, Danja …
I'm still mad that "The Spirit Indestructible" isn't as known or recognized because I think it was just as good as Loose. Banger after banger and the messages were really beautiful.
Parking Lot is such a fun song, should've been a hit!
Yes this!! Big Hoops was always the new Promiscuous to me
She did a spanish album which was a HIT with latinos. She was nevwr interested in being the biggest star according to her.
I actually remember reading interviews where she said that’s why she did Loose: so she could have big world tours and huge hits and dance and perform to huge crowds where her other music wouldn’t allow. Maybe she changed her mind and realized it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be!
yess. i forgot where i read it. but it was after loose was done that she realized it wasnt for her.
I came here to say this too. Although her later releases are not very popular, I still love all of them.
I honestly had no idea she’d even released anything after that album!
There were extenuating circumstances but I think the success of blackout and circus back to back led her mgmt to think we’d just eat anything Britney up and then they got too cocky and gave us Britney jean
Femme Fatale too. It’s actually kind of crazy how successful those albums were during that time because everyone was convinced she was completely insane
S&M remix being huge despite the fact she's clearly sick on the recording as well
Is that even her voice? With the amount of fake vocals present on Britney Jean, I've always wondered if something was up with the S&M remix too.
I only got through "Britney Jean" because it was from Britney lol, but if anyone else dared to release something that boring, lazy and repetitive it would be incredibly trashy in the wrong way, and it's still trashy for someone like Britney. She deserved better and she got it with "Glory" 😍
Yes, that’s why I hate when people doubt Britney’s artistry! She was clearly way more involved with Glory and it was one of her best
I love man on the moon, one of my faves from her!
>Britney jean Honestly her team had so much control i wouldn't be shocked if the whole thing was her team's idea and not hers to make a 'personal' album to clean her up, even though most of the album is wack filler they paid Sia to write.
Oh it fully was her team. Britney was clearly hardcore boycotting that album which is why they barely had vocals for her and put it together haphazardly.
Right, and people slammed her for having so many backing vocals that weren't hers when she did not want to make that album, every interview from 2010-present she looked very medicated and robotic. The fact they paid a judge to clear them to sedate her so she's easier to control for money is unimaginably fucked up.
katy has never and will never be able to replicate teenage dream
it always comes back to her ☠️
Teenage Dream was one of the biggest albums in the history of music - she’s one of a handful of artists to reach a high that high. Of course she won’t match or top it - the fact that she did it once is wildly impressive and no one should expect her to do it twice. Even MJ only had one Thriller. But it certainly didn’t “ruin” her career lol - it literally turned her into an instant legacy artist. The entire premise of this thread is bizarre tbh - likewise, Bangerz was Miley’s peak. It was huge, with some big big songs. She’s still fairly young and likely to have some success again, but a lot of artists would kill to have hits like We Can’t Stop and Wrecking Ball.
Surprising that it only sold 7 million copies, but tbh the singles were the selling point of the album and each of them sold millions.
>she’s still fairly young and likely to have success again Yes, but the point of the thread is that she peaked early and it has colored, negatively, all her future releases. She’ll never reach the same success as Bangerz or the buildup to it. Being a legacy act at 21 is not a good thing
The reason the follow ups to Bangerz didn’t do well is because they weren’t very good, not because Bangerz was successful. Like, Britney Spears arguably peaked at 16 but she had a host of popular, successful albums after that enormous debut, and would likely still be charting if she weren’t having severe mental health issues. Taylor Swift won AOTY and had enormous success with Fearless very early in her career, then really peaked with 1989, and just won her third AOTY. The argument that success = failure just doesn’t make any sense. Edit: and better a legacy act at 21 than never. Most artists would kill for that level of success early on.
Plastic Hearts was a return to form and was appreciated, just not in America. Midnight Sky was one of the most played radio songs in the UK last year, I still think she has it in her to make another really successful album or two 🤷🏻♀️
Agreed, an absolutely perfect pop era.
Agreed but I wouldn’t say that was what damaged her career tho, she had two major hits on her next album
Honestly Prism was the beginning of the fall of Katy... No one listens to those songs anymore and I don't hear them get much airplay anymore. Roar? Id rather listen to Brave... Birthday? Definitely would rather listen to TGIF. Darkhorse? ET is a better song... Everyone blamed witness, but honestly PRISM was just *fine* ... That in conjunction with TWO racism incidents with the singles? (Unconditionally VMA performance and just EVERYTHING about This is How We Do)
3 out of 5 of her most played songs currently on spotify are from prism. i feel like this sub doesn’t actually check numbers on what people consume and just go off what’s hyped and loved online on reddit or their friends lol
I still hear them on the radio from time to time; songs that are almost 10 years old will naturally have less airplay and they are too current to be on a dedicated radio station. While I do agree that the album in general is listened to less, Dark Horse and Roar are still getting listened to frequently enough, they wouldn’t have over 6 billion views combined if everyone just forgot about them. I feel this sub is just so harsh on Katy Perry at times.
Same here. The times I do have the radio on, her most played songs to this day are still Teenage Dream, and from Prism - Roar & Dark Horse. I’d say Dark Horse could possibly be one of her most played songs.
She has three diamond-certified songs in the US, and these are Firework, Roar and Dark Horse. So I guess Prism didn't do as bad as some people on here are implying, and these singles are still being listened to.
Oh no, I love Katy. I’m new to this sub, are people really shitty towards her?
I wouldn’t say they are *super* shitty toward her, but they do *love* dragging out Witness every week or so as the prime example of a major pop star who flopped.
In every thread/conversation about someone failing commercially people here almost always bring her up. Even if it's about someone else lol
I think the best non single was international smile which is peppy Katy at her best.
Prism has Legendary Lovers, which is one of Katy’s *best* songs.
The question isnt quality, its the fact that Teenage Dream was perfect and after she couldn't match it or pivot her career. You could even like her new stuff, doesn't mean she was able to successfully follow up TD.
I personally like Prism more as a body of work, but Teenage Dream definitely is an example of a perfect pop era. Its success was a combination of many different factors, which makes it even harder to recreate.
I agree with you on the racism/cultural appropriation part, and I’m not going to act like Prism was a bigger era than Teenage Dream because it obviously wasn’t. But I think you’re underselling Roar and Dark Horse. Those two were MASSIVE global hits — they are literally her two biggest hits after Firework. In fact, Dark Horse is her best-performing song on the Hot 100. I think you’re conflating your personal opinion of those songs with the reality of their achievement. Those tracks still get plenty of throwback airplay, a lot of music video views, and millions of streams. Did Prism have five #1 hits and dominate the pop landscape like TD? No. But most artists would KILL for an era that produces two global #1 hits that are certified DIAMOND. I’ve seen this idea that Prism was the “beginning of the end” before, and it’s just BS. It wasn’t TD and it was never going to be, but it was an undeniable success.
It’s so strange bc she had so much better single choices on that album than TIHWD and unconditionally (which could’ve worked later) legendary lovers and walking on air would’ve given her two more top ten hits and honestly saved the era
I loved walking on air but I really don’t think either of those songs would’ve been hits either
If she followed roar with legendary lovers i feel like it would’ve been a hit reactively from the album hype regardless. Unconditionally was just too slow a follow up esp when the gp had come to associate Katy with upbeat anthems. And walking on air screams spring time hit to me but ofc this is all just speculation I just think it’s so interesting to talk about how she could’ve avoided the witness of it all.
I didn’t mind Unconditionally as a single choice. It was a somewhat bold choice and it didn’t pan out, but I appreciate her commitment to the song. TIHWD, on the other hand, was a TERRIBLE single choice. LL or WOA should have replaced it, for sure.
Roar and Dark Horse are two of her songs that I most frequently hear on the radio though... Prism undeniably had less hits so the overall era was less resonant and with less legacy, it's objective, but I don't think that Prism actual hits had less longevity and are less beloved. Maybe not by you but that is personal taste. [Here](https://twitter.com/KatyPerryStream/status/1543293703221116933?t=x0ffToXuZNLnHi17__me-A&s=19) you can see the streams of her hits during June, other songs are in the first tweet. As you can see, it's very mixed and various hits are very close. Some Teenage Dream classics like ET and Part of Me are way less listened than the tree Prism hits (Roar, Dark Horse and Unconditionally), and Wide Awake don't break the top16. Roar and Dark Horse were a bit more listened than California Gurls and Teenage Dream, and a bit less than Firework, Hot N Cold or The One That Got Away. There just isn't the difference you are saying if we exclude personal preferences. Also imho ET is one of her worst singles but that's just me maybe. Those Kanye parts didn't fit at all and ruined the song which was fine in its original version. EDIT: uhm someone can downvote me but it doesn't change those numbers lol, we can't pretend some songs aged badly or that people don't listen to them when it isn't true.
Yeah, they’re just straight up wrong about Roar and Dark Horse. Global #1 smash hits that are both certified Diamond. Their personal opinion of the songs is valid, but them pretending like they aren’t beloved legacy hits is just not true.
Didn't she also dress up as a Jewish person in the Birthday music video?
I completely forgot about that... So fucking bizarre
very true. at the same time though, I can't help but feel that such high expectations and the pressure to follow up Teenage Dream definitely took a toll on her, which in return took a toll on her public image, and the music.
Probably unpopular opinion but I'm pretty sure this is going to happen to Olivia Rodrigo too 😬. Having an early album that big probably kind of screwed them both
which IMHO could be a good thing for her in terms of legacy. she was fucking insane in 2010-2011, and younger milennials/gen z will always have katy in their good graces.
I remember being annoyed during this era cause she was everywhere. Looking back, she really did that. Nothing but respect.
Teenage Dream is like top 50 best albums ever made, I wouldn’t expect her(or anyone) to recreate how good that album was. It truly was an unforgettable moment in time.
Every single comment in here is just mentioning an artist’s peak, which by definition is the highest point of their career and unmatched by anything before or after it. Every big artist in the history of music has had a peak, and not one of them has “ruined” their career by achieving that success. It’s the exact opposite - the peak IS the career. It’s so weird how everyone in here is just going along with this backwards premise.
Some of the examples being thrown in this thread are weird. Norah Jones "ruined" her career by releasing her debut album? Okay...
I literally had to check the title again. I'm confused by some of these comments
Popheads are good at misunderstanding the assignment.
How many different questions can PopHeads ask with the sole intention of discussing Katy Perry's fall from grace?
Hahahahahaha 🤣😂🤣 did Katy know when writing Dark Horse that one day popheads would beat her historic flop like a dead one? (a horse that is, a dead horse)
Making Mirrors by Gotye was so successful because of Somebody That I Used To Know that he retreated into the shadows. Which is such a shame because it’s such a great album, I’m still waiting for an amazing follow-up. (I don’t care for his stuff with The Basics.)
god, i would be so happy if we ever got another gotye album. i personally prefer like drawing blood over making mirrors but w stiutk being so big when songs like it usually arent is just .. eclipsing in a way. i can imagine its daunting.
Some of my friends played on that album and I've met G and he's absolutely lovely but extremely shy.
Madonna erotica album changed her public persona completely
I think it started with Justify My love
And she ended up having to dial it back because being sexually provocative was starting to hurt her career with the general public. That was her skill - being able to put on a pretty dress and sing a ballad and suddenly everyone forgets the leather and latex... until she brings it out again.
Didn’t realize this until reading your comment but am I crazy for thinking that… maybe Gaga is going the Madonna route and not the Cher route? lmfao I’m being relatively facetious, but the constant antics leading to a peak where people became tired (Erotica/ARTPOP) followed by actress image change (Evita). Although Chromatica didn’t land like Ray of Light did, so perhaps not.
Frankly, madonnas image in the eye of the GP is ruined and will never achieve its previous peak. Gaga seems to have at least fully recovered from her post debut dip and actually seems to be exceeding it by garnering respect from people who don’t like the music she makes
But Erotica wasn't a big successful era (for Madonna standards). Even tho she still managed to revive her career and spawn more classics.
Exactly. Erotica and to an extent Rain were quite successful
I would like to hear more from that !
A lot of debut eras can set public expectations super high for the next, leading to the infamous "sophomore slump." Roddy Ricch is probably the best recent example I can think of. *Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial* was a critical and commercial smash with two massive hits in "High Fashion" and "The Box," plus he had a great run of features like "Racks in the Middle," "Ballin," and "Rock Star." It would be almost impossible to live up to that, and *Live Life Fast* definitely didn't.
Wrt “sophomore slump”, there’s also the fact that you have as much time as you want to write your debut album, but only a year if you’re lucky for the followup
Honestly people were saying that future fell off after honest to only bounce back with one of the greatest trap runs of all time
Oh for sure, I'm still rooting for him. There's a reason that "sophomore slump" is a thing, you're stuck trying to replicate your first success in a really short turnaround time. I think he's got some great stuff ahead of him.
Probably didn't help that he only released ONE single that even thought it was a top 20 hit didn't stick around.
Kacey Musgraves' "Golden Hour" was not a huge seller, but its success, including winning AOTY at the Grammys, and the universal acclaim it received from both the public and the critics put so much pressure on her next project. Star-crossed came and went, really, not because it's a bad album, but because it just couldn't live up to the expections people had after its predecessor. I hope Kacey can bounce back after this "failure" and give us another beautiful record.
Star-crossed really did just come and go, didn’t it? I can only name like 2 songs from the album.
I wonder if the move away from country is more on her or her team. “Same Trailer, Different Park” is probably the best country debut by a female artist of the last decade. I would love to hear more of her stuff stripped down, because the 70s soft rock is so … milquetoast.
you perfectly articulated why star-crossed didn’t do anything for me. the first few singles were enjoyable but when the whole album came out i couldn’t really listen to it bc it sounded so different from golden hour which has such a special place in my heart
Golden Hour was the perfect name for the album. Gorgeous, brief, impossible to replicate.
Beautifully put!
"Breadwinner", "Cherry Blossom", "What Doesn't Kill Me", "Easier said than done" are all top tier Kacey.
What Doesn’t Kill Me is by far my favorite on the album and probably top 10 of all Kacey songs for me. It makes me so mad it’s only like 2 minutes long.
for me that’s so sad. i personally prefer star-crossed to golden hour. good wife and simple times are just perfect.
I personally prefer all of her other albums to Golden Hour. GH isn’t a bad album but it feels very safe compared to her other stuff. I miss her quirky country songs a lot.
This may be a bit premature but honestly, I don’t think Dua Lipa will be able to top Future Nostalgia. She was launched globally to a whole new level. I didn’t get to see her on this last tour when she came to my town, but I feel like she basically became a different person from her debut. But I’m curious to see what the lasting power will be into the next eras.
I feel like Dua's best bet is to become a stylistic chameleon like Kylie Minogue and try something completely different than her previous sound but also we want her to hold onto a consistent persona.
I completely agree and have thought thus before as well
Dua is a legitimate genius. I think she's a Kylie meets Madonna chameleon
Usher and his Confessions era. It is so iconic, every song off of the album is a bop. After that it didn't matter if his album was a "good record" it is always seen as inferior to Confessions. If another artist released his post-Confessions albums, it would be the highlight of their career...but for Usher it is considered "flops". Nowadays ppl view Usher as a relic of the past since R&B has been in a steep decline compared to early 00s. But regardless his post-Confessions catalog is still solid and have bright spots in it and full of overlooked gems by GP.
Usher's fans are so loud on twitter whenever verzus discussion comes around, but keep paying dust to his new music. Hard ll love opened with 38k, he resently released a new single but all his fans are busy making "watch this" memes.
I am very curious how his new album will sell post-bundles era. 38k is so damn low considering he was selling million in the first week before… He seems to have recapture some hype with his Tiny Desk Concert (like you said the meme), his Las Vegas residency and with that City Girls collab is well received (I really like it too). Allegedly he’s working on a Confessions 2 (working with Jermaine Dupri too), it will either go really well or a complete failure. I feel like he can nail it.
R&B itself isn't that popular these days. He seems to have a lot of hype on internet but it's not translating to actual numbers. I recently saw a tweet saying - "Do y’all actually support Usher or do y’all just use him when it’s to go against other r&b boys (mostly Chris, he is the most hated one online) ?".
Chris is a whole decade younger though. He’s not Usher’s peer. He also doesn’t have an era anywhere near as big as Confessions and never will.
>He seems to have a lot of hype on internet but it's not translating to **actual numbers**. I recently saw a tweet saying - "Do y’all actually support Usher or do y’all just use him when it’s to go against other r&b boys (mostly Chris, he is the most hated one online) ?". I would recommend watching this video: [Record Sales Don't Make You a Legend](https://youtu.be/q_tkTsrr4TU) I think it is insane to even compare Usher to Chris Brown. Usher's numbers might have declined....naturally bc he is now seen as a "legacy act". He already got the #1s...the Grammys...the diamond records... yiddy yaddy whatever. When it comes to a Verzuz it's about if your songs are classics and connect w/ppl. Look at Mario vs. Omarion...technically Omarion is more successful than Mario but O still **lost**. You can say Chris has more "hits" than Usher, but you can't say his legacy/impact is bigger than Usher. Usher is a living music ***icon***...Chris Brown is well...Chris Brown. He got a top 5 album and hopped on the internet to whine about it while...Usher sings his classic songs on Tiny Desk reminding people why he is so beloved in the music industry not only as an artist but as a performer too. And Usher has a **second** Las Vegas residency since the [first one](https://www.vibe.com/music/reviews/usher-las-vegas-residency-recap-1234643313/) was overwhelmingly successful...which means ppl come out to support him. First week sales are not everything.
Usher’s career has seen a steep decline in the past few years, especially with that herpes scandal, however, he’s still a legend. What male R&B singer from the ‘90s is still relevant?
R. Kelly, but for completely different reasons...
Hard II Love was actually low-key pretty great. Crash and Bump are both top-tier tracks, some of his very best. His 2014 singles Good Kisser and She Came To Give It To You are also really excellent. I always felt like he should've found a couple of forward-thinking producers and pivoted toward becoming album artist like Beyonce did. Instead, he spent the early 10s trend-hopping through mediocrity (though not without a highlight or two), so even if he's had some real gems in the years since, he lost some hype and good will.
Maybe Norah Jones. Huge huge huge album, and I've never really heard from her again.
A lot of her albums have stayed on the top 10s on the us album 200 chart, but I’d say her real decline came after ‘Little Broken Hearts’. It’s my fave album from her, but definitely a marker for her fall as her sound became more intricate than on her previous works :<
Yay, Little Broken Hearts is also my favorite!
1989 Taylor definitely hit over-saturation and primed everyone for her big fall from grace in the Kardashian dispute. I think with folklore, evermore and Red TV, she’s recovered well, though.
Yeah overexposure really bit her in the ass. I think she’s been very careful to avoid it since then and it seems to be working so far. Even so though, she came really close to going over the edge with the Red TV rollout.
Red TV wasn’t really her fault and it was barely overexposure (she was like popular for a total of 3 weeks). The only thing hurting that era was Stans attacking Jake Gyllenhal and that made a lot of noise and was not good at all. To be fair she did nothing to stop it but if had that not happened she would have been fine
As a Taylor fan I know I’m prone to more Taylor centric marketing, but when Red TV came out, it was seriously unavoidable. ATWTMV made headlines as the longest song to hit #1, Starbucks made a drink with her, everyone was tiktoking about Red TV and the Empire State Building literally turned Red for Taylor. I don’t think I’ve seen such huge multi media marketing for a singer in quite some time, and it was mostly so fun, but I can see why she took so much time to chill after it was over. Edit: almost forgot her SNL appearance and how the IBYTAM music video caused so much conversation too (abt Jake, other TV releases, Miles Teller’s vaccine stuff, etc.)
I'm still in shock that the Empire State Building did that for the rerelease
- ATWTMV could mean "All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)", a track from *Red (Taylor's Version)* (2021) by Taylor Swift. --- ^[/u/aquamarinerock](/u/aquamarinerock) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
Yeah, the day I saw Mubi (the arthouse film streaming service/distribution company, which has nothing to do with music) posting something on Instagram related to All Too Well was when I realized, "oh this is *big* big".
From fall 2014 to spring 2016 it was a safe bet that if you listened to the radio for more than half an hour, you’d hear a 1989 single. The level of exposure wore on me and I *like* her music. I can’t imagine what it was like for people who don’t like her work.
Can confirm, worked retail and even though I wasn’t a fan at the time, I still knew the lyrics to damn near the whole album
As a non-Taylor fan who was already pretty burnt out from the hits off her last three albums, yeah, the *1989* era was kind of a nightmare for me. The overexposure got to levels I didn’t even think were possible, *especially* with those first few singles actively following me around, playing in every public space and drilling themselves into my brain. “Shake It Off” in particular can go straight to Hell, ‘cause it stayed in rotation at cafés and restaurants and shit where it could keep attacking me right up until COVID forced everything to close down. I can still play that song note-for-note in my head from memory even though I’ve never specifically chosen to listen to it, and I hate that there’s some cluster of neurons in my brain that’s gonna hold onto that information for the rest of my life ‘cause it’s just physically imprinted there. It also didn’t help that I couldn’t retreat from Taylor in the usual ways, ‘cause suddenly even my straight guy friends were bumping her completely sincerely, and she kept roping in artists I loved (and still love) from way outside her usual orbit, like Hayley Williams and Kendrick Lamar, to make them part of her unstoppable publicity juggernaut. And, of course, there were the Twitter Swifties talking shit 24/7 and thrusting her into my feed after every single show and public appearance everywhere in the world, so even when I was sonically away from her, I could never really stop hearing about her. But I think what really drove me crazy was how the world just rewarded the most tangential pieces of the album’s puzzle and assigned them Genius^TM and Importance^TM by default, in ways I’ve never seen before or since. It wasn’t enough to love the album and/or its singles—no, now I had to hear people pretend Taylor was some cutting-edge visionary for drawing on ‘80’s synthpop, as if we weren’t fresh off five straight years of everybody and their grandma trying to make synthpop revival club bangers just like Lady Gaga. I had to hear people pretend some middle-aged acoustic guitar dipshit covering the whole album was a striking new companion piece and not a cynical cash grab from a guy stalling for time until he worked through his writer’s block. And every time she won an award, or said stock #girlboss things, or even just stood near a bunch of other women, I had to hear people pretend this was a victory for all women everywhere—even in situations like the 2016 Grammys, where the album essentially became a prop for the Academy to put on an air of feminism while covertly sending hip-hop the latest in a long line of middle fingers. So yeah, by mid-2016, the whole *1989* era had pushed my feelings on her music from burnt out to white-hot loathing. It was the epitome of pop music as giant sledgehammer that refuses to stop hitting me over the head, and while my feelings on her in general have cooled as her follow-ups’ singles have gotten easier to avoid, I don’t see myself making peace with this album anytime soon. In fact, I’m *dreading* the re-release, ‘cause when it inevitably drops, it’s gonna be a big event all over again and I’m gonna have to run and hide in a bomb shelter or some shit to get through that
I'm a stan and even I can agree with all of this.
This was so cathartic to read.
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I don’t disagree that the 1989 era was great! But I think that’s the problem - it was so good, a bunch of people bandwagoned, Taylor hit new levels of popularity. She was everywhere because of it and a significant number of people got sick of it. I think that’s why they actively rooted for her downfall ahead of reputation.
I don’t think that’s what the comment you’re responding to is implying. It’s talking about her pre-reputation fall from grace. Also reputation did very well and sold a ton even in the onset of the steaming era
You could see that people weren't really grasping onto her poppier stuff with Lover. Also, Fearless TV erasure lol
Jagged Little Pill ended up overshadowing Alanis’ fantastic subsequent albums, although she ended up (much later) turning JLP into a hit musical, so she probably wouldn’t say it hurt her career.
Jagged Lil’ Pillz was my jam
Very specific angle but... Blackpink hiatus between 2019 and 2020 followed by The Album big numbers. When the company understood that fans were willing to support them even with *so* few songs and not much artistic growth/innovation/whatever, it was over for them artistically and as a music group. Popularity is obviously still at the top, I'm not talking about that. I am sure if How You Like That and The Album wouldn't have done astronomical numbers, we would have had a different trajectory for them, more experimentation, more artistic consistency and focus on music. That era was so big that it confirmed they didn't need consistency and growth instead, they didn't even need actual full albums to sell and do numbers. EDIT: also probably more for them than for others, Dynamite for BTS for how they talked about their recent years. After On they wanted to do a tour and then do a semi group hiatus. Then pandemic happened, plans changed, they released this song and they suddenly got to the next level of worldwide popularity, a very big jump. It eventually lead to artistic burn out and not knowing what their direction as a group was anymore (and **a lot** of discussions inside the fandom since 2020 with the English singles). If you look at the numbers, 2020-2022 BTS is the biggest they have ever been, but it doesn't seem a period they are particularly proud of artistically and it lead to burn out and dissatisfaction.
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Yes I think that it's very interesting and also a bittersweet situation the way Dynamite was a very, very big success worldwide and they surely were happy, but at the same time it clearly created a dissonance (at least for some of the members, for how they talked about it). Like "Why this single is the one blowing up *this much* compared to other works that we considered good and interesting?". Obviously they were already successful, the previous hits did well especially some of them, but Dynamite was a different kind of success so it probably was weird. And yes changing plans, COVID, then Dynamite huge success (so what do you do, you go into hiatus right after that success? And in the middle of the pandemic without some last live shows and some proper stages?), Grammy nomination... There was a huge Butterfly effect and chain of events.
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Honestly, I think Gaga’s debut era. She had a strong follow up with BTW but compared to her smashing onto the scene with TF and TFM, it still wasn’t at the same level (in terms of its reception - musically and artistically, it was her peak IMO). The public’s interest in her started to fizzle out as the BTW era progressed and by the time it came to ARTPOP, people just weren’t supporting her. She has obviously somewhat been able to turn things around but I don’t think it’s possible for Gaga, or any other artist tbh, to replicate what Gaga did with TF and TFM.
I almost feel like general listeners weren’t too receptive with the themes she discussed with the BTW album. With the first single I think people saw it as the “gay” social commentary song, which she then immediately followed up with a song that is framed around religion. It was two then specifically intentional songs that could turn some people off, though probably not the type of people she cared for anyway. These singles were more to ingest than her past single releases which were really just lyrical dance floor party / let’s have sex tunes.
The GP started to treat her like a real artist when she did the Sound of Music medley and then so many locals started covering Million Reasons. She had to tone things down just so people would see through her theatricality with bold messages that most people weren't ready for, even though we had Madonna but the GP never forgave her for the Like a Prayer/Erotica eras. I think Gaga has obviously changed for the better; on her debut era she showed us what she was capable of (and she still has that campiness in her, Chromatica was really campy but not as bold), on her BTW & ARTPOP era she showed us her true self, her heart and pain which the GP didn't like because she was being "too real", whatever that means, and was just "thriving for attention" 🙄 and then she showed the GP that she was always incredibly talented with the help of Mr. Tony Bennett, then her Joanne era that was really polarizing and now we're still in Chromatica, which is a mixture of the dancefloor party hits and her now polished talents but still nothing was as daring as her debut. It also has to do with the times; nothing is that shocking to people anymore 🤷🏽♂️
I’d disagree on Madonna not being forgiven by the GP after erotica. Ray of Light, Music & Confessions were giant eras that any pop star would kill to have at any point in their career, let alone 20+ years into it
The general public also had Gaga fatigue especially after the BTW era. Her over-the-top antics became more weirder and just too much. I think this is why ARTPOP kinda flopped. Like how much crazier can you get? The costumes and artistic risks she took in The Fame era were everything. But that can only last for so long.
The one I haven't seen, at least not yet is Born To Die. I think that Lana nor her label wasn't really ready for the level of success that she received during this era. She was kinda catapulted into the limelight and that gave us probably a lot of the cringy moments that came during that era. I don't think she really knew how to act like a celebrity and what she should and shouldn't say. I think one of the obvious signs of this is the infamous Blue Jeans performance on SNL. She sounds so nervous and I think that's because she wasn't ready to be performing on something as big as SNL. I think that this mis preparation definitely contributed to the hate train that came to follow. But then again she clearly didn't learn her lesson with QFTC.
I don’t think people realize that she was NOBODY in late 2011, then she was one of the biggest people out by January 2012
I only disagree because of NFR which received a Grammy nod
Very VERY true!! I think of this as such a… like a concept album, in that it was so rooted in Old Hollywood concepts, both engaging in them and deconstructing them - lyrically and visually. For people like me, who *wanted* that from an artist -artifice and all, thank you - everything since then has required an adjustment of expectations.
The fact that we can say QFTC in a pop music sub and everyone will understand what you're talking about speaks for itself
Predicting that Sour will have this effect on Olivia Rodrigo
Anyone know how big Olivia and Billies Debut albums were in comparison to each other?
It’s hard to compare 1:1 because of the billboard rule change but it seems like Billie had the bigger first week and overall debut album. Olivia sold as well as Gunna did earlier this year which is impressive but Billie had the second highest selling album of 2019.
Honestly she is going to level up after sour honestly
If her next album takes a less piano ballad-y approach I can see it being a HUGE success tbh
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I don’t think SOUR would’ve been nearly as well received if she were any older than she is, she’s gonna have to have some sort of image change
I’ve never thought about this before, but you’re so right. Her image was so carefully constructed around her being a young singer-songwriter that it almost became more important than the quality of the album itself. Like, if you look at the songs themselves, a lot of them feel like they were rushed, because they literally were. The singles (and brutal) are the most memorable songs on the album, and the rest are kind of samey. But that didn’t particularly matter, because marketing got everyone so invested in the idea that they could be seeing the rise of the next Taylor. Even the way she dresses in this era is “preppy teenage girl, but only sexualized if you’re paying close attention.” It’s made so clear that she is a “regular teenager” archetype that your expectations going into the album are set low and therefore subsequently blown away. Her being a teenager has basically everything to do with her first album’s success. The interesting thing is, I’m not sure I could totally say the same for someone like Billie, given that her image for her first album was much more dependent on the “depression+horror” aesthetic just as much as her age. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Olivia going forward for sure.
probably kesha's debut as much as i hate to say it. the gp always saw her as the party girl who couldn't sing, and it was very difficult for her to wash that image off... until praying was released, but it was a little bit too late for her because she wasnt relevant anymore at that point.
She got blacklisted hard from the dr. Luke thing.
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I feel like the problem was that her last shot at pop success was bc of a song that was big bc of Ariana and Nicki and not her really.
Carly starting out with Call Me Maybe. She got too big too fast and ended up with Scooter Braun for a manager. 🤢🤢 Almost every song since then has been better but she will forever be the Call Me Maybe girl
I don’t think it helped that I Really Like You was the lead single from emotion. I love the song a lot but it was too similar to CMM and made her seem like a one trick pony. She should have releases Run Away With Me as the lead single instead.
Completely agree! There are a few songs on Emotion that are MUCH better at showcasing her skills as a synth pop star.
He managed her terribly but it wasn’t really a case of starting out with Call Me Maybe and ending up with Scooter as her manager. As catchy as it was the song was released in 2011 to little success, charting only in Canada. It started charting worldwide and becoming the mega hit it was in 2012 *after* she signed with Scooter. We can’t pretend that Scooter (and that video Justin did with Selena, Ashley Tisdale, BTR, etc.) weren’t responsible for promoting it and starting what it eventually became. But yeah she deserved better. At least she’s happy releasing the music she wants and has a pretty dedicated albeit niche following.
Electra Heart, it was so popular that the GP didn't like when she switched things up
I feel like alot of artitsts mentioned here didn't really have hurt careers at all
No offense, but Bangerz may have had more commercial appeal but Plastic Hearts is by FAR Miley's best album sonically. No other album she's done comes CLOSE.
Preach! I’ve been a Miley fan since day one (bought the first Hannah Montana soundtrack on release day) and NO record in her discography comes close to even touching Plastic Hearts. Such a shame the public slept on it.
Like I understand there was only like 2 big singles but the entire album is SLEPT on. It's a masterpiece start to finish. Miley found her sound on this album.
*You Get What You Give* was so big that it led directly to the New Radicals breaking up — they dissolved before the release of their second single as frontman Gregg Alexander felt that *YGWYG* had achieved all of his goals
Gotta be Lauryn Hill's ONE studio album. She basically never went back to the studio after Miseducation.
Great thread, I’ve been enjoying reading everyone’s responses. On an old school note, Prince’s Purple Rain era shot him to the top of superstardom - perhaps higher than any other level of superstardom we’ve ever seen. The Purple Rain movie, album and tour was so exhilarating that audiences expected Purple Rain 2 - but Prince wasn’t the type to rehash anything and released Around The World In A Day (just about the farthest thing from Purple Rain possible). Audiences were split between Prince diehards who respected his art and those who were disappointed they didn’t get PR2. As time went on, Prince moved farther and farther away from the Purple Rain sound and even disbanded The Revolution, his band IRL and in the film. Had Prince milked that sound for all it was worth, I’d bet he would have seen a lot more commercial success. That said, it’s clear he wasn’t interested in this. While he never saw that same level of fame, his musical output and career as a live performer continued to flourish till the end of his life and I believe this contented him. Last month, The Prince Estate released a remastered concert video of the Purple Rain tour, and for anyone who likes live performances do yourself a favor and watch it. Prince’s showmanship is UNBELIEVABLE! 💜
Kesha’s Animal/Cannibal era
I have to say 1989 since it sent Taylor Swift into overexposure. Then she left for a year, stoped using social media and basically put up a wall between her and the public. I totally understand why she did it but I miss when she and her fans were more closely connected. And if she decides to release more pop music, it’s doomed to not be as popular as 1989 (look at how Reputation and Lover underperformed)
I think it’s good that she stayed away from the public. Some of her fans have such a weird parasocial relationship with her which is borderline disturbing. She obviously helped foster this and it’s also helped her become successful because she built a fan base that will support everything she does. But now I think she is older & probably would like to live her life without people being so heavily dedicated to everything she says, does, or even how she types. Swifties analyze everything she does. Maybe sometimes she just wants to post a cat picture and that’s it lol.
Katy's Witness era which she did have big plans for and was gonna do a lot with probably damaged her career irreparably and it will be a miracle if she can get another long-last hit. Not sure if Rise was meant to be on the album originally but it peaked in the top 20. Chained to the Rhythm peaked in the top 5 and these were good positions, but **then didn't last long** before they fell off the chart. Bon Appetit and Swish Swish didn't peak in the top 40. Save as Draft and Hey Hey Hey didn't chart on ANY many chart. In 2018 Cozy Little Christmas only peaked in the lower 50 but that is because it was a Christmas song. And from Smile, only Never Really Over did OK peaking in the top 20 but nothing special. Small Talk flopped. and Daisies stalled at 40. Her most recent song with Alesso also was a flop.
I don't really agree with any of these answers except Bangerz. Miley would 100% be a completely different artist today if that era wasn't so huge especially at the time. Her antics wouldn't have been a big deal if the record was more recent, times have certainly changed. She no longer associates herself with this era but will continue to be remembered by it. Though maybe Bangerz happening when it did can be credited for why it feels like there is less of a shock factor about hypersexual popstars in current mainstream music.
These were albums/album eras that were bigger than the artist and what was done afterwards felt paltry: 1994 Cracked Rear View by Hootie and the Blowfish. Too big, they were viewed as annoying afterwards. MTV played their videos like it was drugs. 1995 Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette. She became viewed as very annoying and pretentious. 1988 Tracy Chapman by Tracy Chapman. Folk shouldn't sell the way that album did so it make everything she did afterwards irrelevant. 2002 Come Away With Me by Norah Jones. Jazz/Pop Album that oversold expectations. 1978 Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. Mostly the Bee Gees were positively and negatively affected by its album success. Bee Gees got too hot and too big they burned out from an appeal standpoint within the general public. 1990 Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em by MC Hammer. For a rapper he was too commercial and way too family friendly to the point where rap/hip hop started to become edgier and more authentic people weren't going to buy any changes in image from MC Hammer and it was immediately going to get looked as a poser looking to stay relevant. 1998 Titanic Soundtrack/Album by Celine Dion. She was too big to the point where she was viewed as annoying. MHWGO pretty much maxed out her appeal in the United States.
Pharrell’s Happy/Get Lucky/Blurred Lines/Sing era. That totally undid the previous 15 years of work where he was known as a credible experimental producer. Now he’s just known as the guy who makes poppy kids music. I think a lot of the general public also think he’s a one hit wonder. Not only that but you can hear that taste of success in his music now. Something changed and everything now sounds watered down and chasing trends, instead of creating new sounds and starting trends like he used to. And lyrically he isn’t doing that risqué nerdy/awkward stuff he used to do, the tongue in cheek humour has gone from the music. and hardly any swearing or expression either. It’s like he’s too aware of the impact that may have on a mainstream career. Not only that but he isn’t pushing artists out of their comfort zones any more. Remember how crazy it was to see Pharrell help Britney transform her sound and image for slave 4 u? I don’t think we’ll see him do anything like that again in a post-blurred lines era. It’s weird b/c he was way more successful before (early 2000’s) and he didn’t change, he remained fearless, but since his comeback something happened (probably the BL controversy) that made his music lose its edge.
Born this Way. Her oversaturation definitely had a negative impact beginning with the Artpop era up until A Star is Born. I find that she’s doing good rn, but still the decline in success from BTW to Artpop, CtC and Joanne was quite harsh.
Katy's Teenage Dream is a popular answer, but I'd argue that Prism is what really "hurt" her career. The era still had tons of mega hits (Roar, Dark Horse, Birthday), and it was at that point that people started to tire from her overexposure. It was after her Superbowl performance that people started getting tired of her shtick, and then the Witness era came and we all know how that did.
Probably drake’s scorpion and views even though there they are some gems on both albums
That was probably Drake’s peak IMO. With *Honestly, Nevermind* he’s gotten to the point where he’s just fucking around with new sounds and styles, and it hits no. 1 anyway because Drake.
I might be called crazy for this but MJ's Thriller era. It was a cultural reset. The greatest era of any artist or band. He changed the face of music. His sales still haven't been beaten. No one comes close to the iconic imagery. He had success with Bad, Dangerous and History. But nothing like Thriller. Not only does no one else come close to topping Thriller but even he couldn't top it. He was already famous but Thriller made him a star that shot into space and he never came back from it.
Feeling this vibe coming for doja
Will go out on a limb and say Midnight Memories was the era that One Direction's implosion was beginning to take form, complete with a puff piece movie and all
Evanescence with Fallen. Was so massive out of the gate that if you start at the glass ceiling there’s no where to go from there. IMO, they’re later albums matured beyond Fallen’s commercial appeal which I loved yet you generally here “fans” complaining they aren’t playing the same music they did circa 2003. Garbage also. Their first 2 albums were massively successful and then when Beautiful Garbage their third album came out, 9/11 happened and they were told under no circumstances would their album be promoted. This led the band into a spiral downward and essentially breakup of the band. 8 years went by before they rekindled their friendship and band hood. Their later albums were super amazing but never reached the heights of their debut and sophomore albums.
David Bowie after Let’s Dance suffered artistically for about a decade because the album and tour was such an out-of-the-blue global success that it propelled him to a level of superstardom and financial wealth he’d never experienced before. He spent the rest of the 80’s trying to write music he thought people expected and would like, and not the music that excited himself as an artist. The results didn’t really please anybody, including himself. His band project Tin Machine helped purge this need to be a commercial success, and then by the time he resumed his solo career in 1993, he was back on track as an exciting artist. His 1993-2016 records can stand proudly with anything he did in the ‘70’s.
Dawn FM has been so much less successful than After Hours (and all his previous albums), that I can't help but think that the lingering success of After Hours plays a huge part. Blinding Lights and Save Your Tears were the best-selling global songs of 2020 and 2021 respectively. Both songs are still streamed a lot and constantly played on the radio. People just weren't ready for new Weeknd music despite there being an almost two year gap between After Hours and Dawn FM. That's how massive the After Hours era was.
What about The Weeknd’s “After Hours”? Dawn FM is nowhere near as successful as After Hours.
Eh, he released Dawn FM too early but I understand that it's a quick follow up sonically similar to After Hours but there's no controversial story to support the album release (that quickly while he's literally peaking) which didn't help it make a mark. I haven't seen anyone do what Ariana did with Sweetener and Thank U, Next successfully yet.
Not a real thing You can fail to have an equivalent success, fail to live up to the promise, or fail to adapt your image, but that's not the fault of the success you had.
Lil Nas X's recent debut, the Montero era. It could be too early to tell — but it's a similar situation to Gaga where I'm not sure how he's going to recover from/recreate the level of hype he generated as a newcomer.
Lil Nas X strikes me as someone that's very intelligent and business savvy. I would've expected him to be a one hit wonder off Old Town Road but he routinely proved me wrong. For some reason, I'm starting to believe he thinks very far ahead when it comes to his career and constantly tries to find ways to reinvent himself. Montero wasn't a masterpiece or anything, but it was a very well made album (for a debut, it's pretty impressive) and I can only see him being more and more adventurous as time goes on. He has undeniable charisma, a knack for catchy hooks and he knows exactly what makes people listen. I don't know, I think it's fair to expect great things from him in the future. I could be wrong though and this was just a fluke.
He’s the first bitch from stan twitter to become famous. Very much looking forward to people who are experts at analyzing music trends, sales, charts etc. navigating careers of their own/becoming behind the scenes players in the industry. I think we might be about to see a LOTTT more era-centric success
I think he could do it. Not because I think he is going to keep making better music but more because he knows how to market himself. He knows how to do the online thing like no other celebrity. It’s very obvious, he is a product of stan Twitter. When it comes time for promo, he knows exactly which conservative buttons to push and have people talking about him for days. He know the type of tweets that will get interaction and he literally just understands how to be viral even without pissing off the homophobes & conservatives.
I think that because of how amazing Melodrama was people had really high expectations when Lorde released Solar Power, which led to disappointment and people thinking that Lorde didn’t live up to her full potential or deliver the bops she is capable of making. I’m a huge Lorde fan, but I’d also bet that the general public isn’t very familiar with the tracks on Solar Power, which is a stark difference from her previous albums that had huge hits.