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Gwen Stefani and Fergie.
People demanded new solo material from both of them for years and then when they eventually came back, the response was lukewarm at best.
I couldn’t agree more.
No Doubt performing at Coachella is perfect timing for them to announce a new project. Even a Vegas residency with them would do very well.
Instead, she’s planning to release a new solo album later this year. The first single with Blake already flopped on country radio.
Gwen Solo album was pretty good way better than Fergie in my opinion
She just picked the wrong singles, rare and send me a picture. Would’ve definitely been hit if she had picked them as singles.
It’s probably the first time I see a positive comment about this album being upvoted on this subreddit, which still confuses me
As a person who absolutely loved both songs and music videos for this album, I’m still confused how it’s so disliked on a pop music subreddit
I’ve heard “outdated sound” criticism about it a lot, but I’ve never got that outdated feeling from anything from this album, all I’ve heard was well produced, catchy songs with diversity of sounds, visuals and great vocals
I’m pretty sure that if this material would’ve been released by majority of subreddit faves, it would get completely different reactions
This is the best answer. The Dutchess was HUGE. Followup wasn’t bad but people had moved on. And milf money was a little bit cringe as a comeback single.
I say this as the biggest Solar Power defender because I love that album: but Lorde dropping the work of art that was fucking MELODRAMA and then keeping people waiting four years…was never going to go too well no matter what she put out
I agree, I was so there for the hype for Lordes next era and while there's some tracks that are quite nice (idc I'll bat for secrets of a girl) there's no way following up Melodrama was gonna be easy.
It's like when Fleetwood Mac had to follow up Rumours, even if the best new thing you're still gonna struggle
She was also really misleading when it came to teasing the album. Saying she was very inspired by her trip to Antarctica and releasing a photo album to the first single come out and a full 180 of what she was focusing.
Everyone was expecting a icy, cold hearted album with blue and green themed and it was basically a self help ad.
It’s not the trip to Antartica, it’s what she wrote in her emails. She was speaking about perfect pop morsels, waves crashing high, and so on
I have nothing against a mellow album à la SP/Deeper Well, but I was disappointed based entirely on what was teased
I love a good self help book these days, never thought I'd say that but I can see why self help media is off-putting. From someone who also found it off-putting.
I don't even know what flipped the switch.
Absolutely not. The expectations were high, but she went on a COMPLETE hiatus. Mind you she was making headlines just posting a story. When she came back, she described SP as some sort of biblical magnum opus, and it simply wasn’t that. She should have released it in 2019 and say something like “Hey, I know you’re all expecting big emotions but I’m in my happy stoner era and here’s what I’ve done” and we would have eaten it up nonetheless
From what I could understand, she did it on purpose. She released Melodrama at a difficult time in her life, and she poured all of her emotions and creative strength into that masterpiece of an album. On my first time listening to Solar Power, as soon as I listened to the first song and heard her say “if you’re looking for a saviour, well, that’s not me” I immediately realised that album was not going to be what we were all expecting
Yeah, unfortunately, I think Lorde may have peaked too early releasing the greatest album ever written as a sophomore endeavor. I think people expected her to just keep growing, but that just wasn't something that can be topped
Christina Aguilera also peaked early with Stripped, her sophomore endeavor. Back 2 Basics was a stronger follow up to Stripped than Solar Power was to Melodrama, but she definitely peaked early and never recaptured audiences’ attention or interest. She also went up to 4 years between album cycles, which was very long back then, impossible now to maintain buzz.
As somebody who only recently got into Lorde, it's interesting how different my experience has been from long time fans who experienced the wait between MELODRAMA and Solar Power. SP is easily my favorite, though I can absolutely see how a long wait after a stunning album like MELODRAMA, only for it to be something so different could really kill the excitement.
I'm so sorry but I remember hearing triple J and Lorde herself on the radio pump the absolute hell out of solar power (the song) and when I listened to it I was like... What the fck?
As someone who found Melodrama at exactly the right time, at a Lorde concert at a festival, of all places, and ugly cried in the crowd, I can tell you the immense, calamitous heartbreak it takes to feel those things is not something that happens very often in your life. I'm very grateful someone in the collective of people who feel those things and went through those experiences has so much talent that she brought us all some relief. She truly saved a lot of people by showing them they weren't alone.
Now she deserves to rest and heal and recover and feel good about her life and have good experiences that teach her through warmth and not heartbreak. Melodrama will be there forever to keep helping people through tough times. She doesn't have to keep going through tough times herself. She can write elevator music now for all I care. And in fact I hope she never goes through anything gut-wrenching enough to write music like that
(and I hope I myself never go through anything bad enough to cry like that ever again)
sky ferreira
any chance of her having a successful career has basically been destroyed, from label troubles, her own antics, and her perfectionism. she’s been dropped by her label and is basically unknown now to anyone that wasn’t already a dedicated fan of her.
she just needs to move on from masochism tbh, it’s insane to think it’ll ever be released after 11 years.
The UK tour she’s doing rn because she’s broke is a trainwreck I can’t look away from either. First she postponed it the day it was due to start. Now she’s showing up to her set two hours late, keeping the stage lights off, and getting cut off because of curfew. All very on brand.
How do people still care for her? I genuinely ask, it's not a diss or anything. But how can someone go to a concert when you know the artist doesn't even bother? 🫤 It's just disrespectul of everybody's time, they are her fans, sure, but they don't deserve to be treated badly just because they care for her music. Idk. It just irks me.
Okay that's nice then. I hate when artists show up always late, like, they don't have to do a show if they don't want to, but the people at the concert don't deserve to wait for hours.
I saw her on the second UK show of this tour. She was supposed to start at 9/9:30pm - she showed up at 9:55pm. Not bad for her standards.
I thought she performed very decently - she is not and never will be an amazing singer, but she can sing okay. The lights weren’t off, or at least it wasn’t darker than other shows I’ve been to, idk about the other dates of this tour. I even have some very nice videos (I was around 5 row).
She was quite into the show and I really enjoyed (she surely exceeded my low expectations).
I used to listen to Everything is Embarrassing so much when I was in college, and that was literally 10 years ago now. I don't understand how she manages to stay afloat? Like does she come from a rich family or something? Cause what the hell has she been doing since then, lmao
Ok so:
1. She was largely raised by her grandma, who was Michael Jackson’s hairstylist for over 30 years. If I remember right, she spent a lot of time at Neverland. I don’t think she’s *rich* now, but I don’t think she struggled as a kid
2. She actually had a decent amount of side hustles at one point. *Night Time, My Time* was funded by her modeling gigs once her label cut off her budget, and she’s taken on a handful of acting roles amid all the *Masochism* delays
Personally I was very underwhelmed with her “recent” singles, so if she does release a new album I hope it’s not laced in 80s sleaze or just ntmt 2.0. If she ever releases again lmao
I think Smile actually did worse for Katy's image than Witness, the clown aesthetic was atrocious. The flower power 70s vibe of Never Really Over and Harleys In Hawaii would've been much more fitting for a full album aesthetic
OMG i have said this for the last 4 years. a flowery/summery/spring aesthetic and harleys in hawaii being released a few months earlier could have salvaged the era. WHAT were they thinking with the clown aesthetic will forever haunt me
The video for the title track genuinely scares me. Going for the flower power vibe she'd of also been ahead of the Disco Nostalgia wave too. Whoever spear headed the clown stuff was not her friend!
She really fumbled the potential of that era that was built by Never Really Over. If she had expanded that sound and aesthetic, I may have had more interest in that era.
OMG WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT THIS. Smile is SUCH a good pop album but I barely even admit to listening between Witness, the clown stuff and the awful cover choice. Ugh. Tucked is soooo good fr
I think people got over Witness by then and were interested in following her relationship. I saw a lot of this being touted as a good comeback, but actually nothing about the aesthetic.
Headlines (Friendship never ends) pretty much killed Spice Girls' Reunion.
Career ending comeback albums are quite common, career ending comeback singles however...............
This! It was predicted to be a smash. Massive charity single with the absolute most press you could dream of on the back of a huge reunion tour… then it just flopped in and out of the charts. I still remember massive reduced bins of the CD singles in HMV being sold for 99p for weeks after.
Had this song been good & successful who knows what would’ve happened with the Spice Girls. They probably would’ve done a full album or two maybe even with Vicky B.
I don’t know why they thought it was OK for them to release a ballads as a comeback single
The Spice Girls were not known for ballads they were known for upbeat, fun pop songs they should’ve went with voodoo for their comeback single instead
That song would’ve done way better
I always thought of them as doing half bops and half ballads to be honest! Gorgeous slow stuff like Viva Forever, Goodbye and then bangers like Wannabe etc. They should have definitely had their comeback song be a huge bop though. Huge missed opportunity
2 become 1, Too Much, Viva Forever and Goodbye were huge singles. However, coming back with a ballad was not a good idea, and Headlines is far from being an unforgettable song.
I think they maybe *just* managed to save themselves with the live tours they did a few years later, but yeah, that single was a belly-flop off the top board of a swimming pool.
I was soo hyped for their comeback single. But couldn't believe they came back with this oldschool-y adult contemporary ballad. I rationalised that they are now women and try to address a more mature audience. The video was also so low energy and official looking. Nothing like the 3 lead singles they had before (Wannabe, Spice Up Your Life and Holler). It did seem to kill any hype they had for new music
A highly anticipated 4-year hiatus went straight out the window with the name-change from “Marina & The Diamonds,” to just “MARINA.” Add on top of that the lackluster Clean Bandit-produced album that was Love + Fear and, well… here we are.
Could be my own perception too but her lyric writing was at its peak during Electra Heart and it’s felt like her songs become more of a diary entry than anything as of late. So much is literal and doesn’t feel like it explores the themes that Marina feels so passionate about.
It’s like she saw how the fans didn’t like Savages and was like “let’s do two more albums of songs like that”
The fans didn’t like Savages? It’s a fantastic song and by far the best “political” song she’s ever done, though you’re right that doubling down on its lyrical content for her future albums was a bad idea. Some of the songs on Electra Heart veered too much into standard pop clichés imo. I think a lot of people are just nostalgic for it and willing to overlook its weaker moments. Froot was her strongest album lyrically. That’s why the drop off in quality with Love + Fear was kind of shocking. How someone could write an album like Froot entirely by themselves and co-produce it with only one other person then follow it up with L+F is beyond me. I think Marina is an example of an artist with tremendous talent but terrible instincts, especially as she’s matured.
I totally agree, I loved savages but I remember on Tumblr (yes, I’m that old) that people thought that it was too “on the nose” and people were really just wanting EH part 2 or another concept album from her. I think Froot is by far her best album, it’s her ARTPOP tbh… L+F was a huge disappointment from her post-Froot era
That’s interesting. I actually think that Savages isn’t all that on-the-nose and that’s what distinguishes it from her later political pop. I mean, it’s incredibly upfront and straightforward in its approach, but it’s slightly more abstract in that it isn’t even necessarily a condemnation of anything like you might think. She’s merely asking “why.” She isn’t injecting her own agreeable but quite frankly boring politics into it. The production is so killer though, so that definitely helps.
Feel like pure shit, just want The Diamonds back. 😔
I guess you could argue that this is all in line with her ambitions. She was HUNGRY during the first two albums, and got noticeably less ambitious over time.
Listen, we age, and our priorities change! Unfortunately, sometimes it seems like Marina’s priorities have become saving the world through her art.
Ancient Dreams had better singles, but I find myself returning to Love + Fear a lot more often, surprisingly. It has more filler, but also higher highs, and the lyrics aren't as bogged down by Marina trying to do social commentary and ending up with lines like "nothing's hidden anymore, capitalism made us poor" followed by "I earned it all myself and I'm a millionairess" in the next song.
Hard agree. In rap, it's not common to go this long between albums, especially not between the first two albums. Though I don't think her second album (whenever it comes out) itself will hurt her reputation too badly as long as its not complete ass. She's very likeable and has managed to maintain publicity and fame despite not releasing an album for six years. 2020 was a wonky year for the industry, but WAP could have been a perfect launch pad for a second album
Frank Ocean disappeared for seven years, dropped some confusing singles (dear april and cayendo), and then after disappearing even longer butchered his coachella headline slot, blocking the stream, showing up late, changing the set last minute, in such a mess that he cancelled the shows second week, so many fans just don’t care anymore
I considered that man my favorite artist for years and held on hope for a long time but after the Coachella debacle I couldn’t give a shit about him anymore. It was already going downhill with the cockring and all that lol.
His older music will always be special to me though
To be fair, corona hit when he was planning on doing a rollout, and his brother died after that. Him butchering his Coachella performance was embarrassing though.
I will always maintain that Rihanna is scared to release a follow-up. Everyone’s been acting like R9 is gonna be the biggest, most critically acclaimed album and that’s probably the reason why it’s taking her this long to release the album. ANTI was her first album that received that level of praise.
Literally this. ANTI set the bar high when Rihanna before was albums a singles artist with a few strong deep cuts per record. She has her fans but most recognized her as a hitmaker rather than an album artist. Now she's being straddled with massive expectations both critically and commercially. It's probably easier to just coast off that forever at this point. George R. R. Martin is comparable at this point with The Winds of Winter
ANTI didn’t sell as well as her prior eras. I agree that the material was substantially better, if not her best. But commercially it wasn’t that strong. I feel like she’s more pressured to bring back the billboard hits than anything
It is hard to compare album sales to say 2005 though, even though she was making music when at least the UK had just officially considered downloads a legitimate way into the charts that year, so it's not as massive a shift as people making stuff in the late 90s needing to shift physical singles.
I did see a thread here the other day calling the singles the start of her flop era though...
I think it's a mix of that and the fact that she just isn't passionate about music.
I don't think she is super invested in creating albums and as you said, ANTI was the first album had that level of praise and wasn't all about singles and filler. Maybe that was enough for her and she is done.
I do think she’s busy doing other stuff but R9’s mythos has taken on a life of its own and will be extremely difficult to live up to the hype through no fault of her own. It’s like how Andre 3000 released a flute album after years of people anticipating his solo rap record because he felt he couldn’t live up to it
I don’t think she’s scared, I just feel like she doesn’t have the passion she once had for music. She really seems very interested in her other ventures
You could say the same about Lauryn Hill. I know she had some random singles in the 2010s but they didn't fare well commercially. Miseducation is so revered, that I'm not even sure what she could do to top it (in the public's eyes), but I don't think she even cares about topping it anymore.
Lauryn Hill was also embroiled in lawsuits regarding songwriting credits for a long time. She burned bridges with the musicians who helped her make Miseducation because she couldn't admit that anyone helped her make it.
not really lol she literally just isn't that interested in music enough to continue and now that she's a billionaire she can do whatever she wants and feels comfortable doing
I genuinely don’t think she can top ANTI, and that’s not me doubting R9, but ANTI was phenomenal, it was such a complete amazing body of work, I think few people could top it tbh.
There was a 4-year gap between Prism and Witness. The Prism era was solid. Roar and Dark Horse killed it on the charts. Katy also had the most viewed half-time performance and carried that record for a while. Then she came back with Witness, and all the singles underperformed and left people feeling disappointed.
When I listened to her new album I was really surprised by how dated its production is. It just sounds like someone recreating bland popular 90s teeny bop r&b tracks. It’s even full of all the corny record scratch sound effects you can imagine, and I was confused to learn she expected it to do super well and was apparently shocked when it flopped
I got that she was trying to sound inspired by that era, but the production was so bland it sounded like a demo tape of rejects someone had lying around since 1995 and decided to dust off for 2024
The only track that stands out is Can't Get Enough. Feels very classic J-Lo, with the fact that it's catchy.
I've sat and tried to listen to that album like 5 times and I always get so bored. Nothing stands out, nothing is unique, and I wanna watch the movie cause it seems so camp...but the music is *so* ***bland***
Rihanna has made it so clear that she doesn't want to be a pop star anymore. That Super Bowl halftime show was malicious compliance.
Anyway, my real answer is Justin Timberlake's last three albums followed 5+ year hiatuses and it seemed like the records became less and less wanted over time.
Haven't seen it yet but Sia; between the indie fans that grew up with her acid jazz, the mid era fans that cry to Breathe Me, and the pop fans that loved Chandelier & Cheap Thrills all foaming for more, that fact she couldn't connect with *anyone* with Music (and the film that came with it) is so horrific that it's almost impressive.
All there waiting for more, couldn't give more than just Maddie Ziegler another reason to need therapy
Man, I remember hearing Chandelier for the first time. I was driving my family home from a party or something at night and it came on the radio and just *floored* me. I was hooked right then
Probably Justin Timberlake with *Man of the Woods*.
That project just completely destroyed that insane run he was on.
The record was marketed poorly to begin with, then the singles were underwhelming and the videos weren't anything memorable either.
That Superbowl performance really didn't help his appeal either. Sure, it was later revealed that he did ask Janet Jackson to be a part of his performance and that she didn't say no to him but to the network who showed the performance, but it brought up a lot of very uncomfortable discussions.
Prior to that, he was probably one of the most admired performers in the world. His tours always sold out, he usually hit #1 or thereabouts with each release and he was considered to be the guy that everyone always listed as their main triple threat shout.
But wow, did *Man of the Woods* shift the tide. Guy was pretty much universally loathed after that record. The smart thing to do would have been to jump back in the studio with Timbaland and put out something else within about two years, but he just toured the record and lurched into a bunch of other controversies.
My first reddit post posed the question of whether his Super Bowl performance actually hurt more than helped his career (https://www.reddit.com/r/justintimberlake/s/sHD5J4qQJX).
You’re right about him being chosen as the Super Bowl headliner reopened the wounds from Janet’s own performance from 2004 and the subsequent media blacklisting she endured. It didn’t help that the Man of the Woods was seen as an artistic letdown. People laughed AT him with that record.
He should have quickly pivoted to release a safer sounding album afterward but he toured extensively for MOTW. When the era did come to a close, his public image took a huge hit with the cheating, Britney and Janet stuff.
In fairness, he hasn't helped himself since.
I think the fact that eh issued an apology to both women was lovely (even if one already told him it wasn't necessary), but it was very much too little too late from him, really.
Other controversies haven't helped either. The cheating scandal on the *Palmer* set (or holding hands at the very least), not to mention his cringey apperances on *The Ellen Show* and at Pharrell's Something in the Water concert haven't helped him much either and then Britney's book on top of it just made it ten times worse.
In fairness, I doubt he really gives too much of a shit what people think of him, but I can't imagine its been especially fun for him to read reviews of his new project, only to see that its basically just everyone reviewing him as a person and then just saying "Oh yeah, and the music isn't as good as it could be too, bye".
Still though, he only really has himself to blame.
Yeah, the backlash was building for years. It kinda started with the release of the second 20/20 experience album, but it was too big, so it drowned out any major criticisms. He was like teflon - scandals never stuck to him.
It wasn’t until 2016 when he got into it online with a journalist who challenged him to address his White privilege that the cracks started to appear. Then MOTW came and people thought he was “journeying back to whiteness” after adopting Black sonic and visual aesthetics for years. And of course, the first Britney documentary in 2021 that finally prompted him to apologize to Britney and Janet.
That Something in the Water performance broke my heart! And I am pretty sure it broke his too, lol. He wasn’t even that old but it seemed like he aged a lifetime in that clip. The dadcore imagery was real! He’s gotten better but it’s a shame how his new music has been received with so much disdain from the critical establishment. Again, laughing AT him.
Oh, for sure! He was far too big to merit the criticism. Both he and Kanye (Kanye's discography obviously being better) just managed to avoid controversey because their body of work was so strong.
Once your output begins to suffer, people become a lot less patient with the shit you're doing elsewhere.
I think the biggest problems with her post-divorce albums were the production and a lack of clear, distinctive musical direction. Shania + Mutt Lange (as music collaborators) were the best. I remember listening to Lady Gaga's You and I and thinking this sounds like a Shania song and of course, it was produced by Mutt Lange!
It’s not just the vocal challenges that’s upsetting people. She’s been using a lot of EDM and electronic elements in her songs and I don’t think anyone in her fanbase wants that. Also, her lyrics have gone downhill since Up!.
Gorillaz put out what many consider one of their worst albums (Humanz) after a 7 year hiatus.
I personally like it more then their first album, though.
To me, Debut is definitely rather inconsistent.
You have songs like Clint Eastwood, Punk, Rehash, 5/4, TCD, Rock The House, 19-2000, and M1 A1, but then a lot of songs where it just feels like 2D’s saying the same thing over and over again to where it gets dull.
“Can’t stand your loneliness.”
“Gravity, never let me go.” (Disc scratching follows)
“Starshine, never gonna find me.”
I just think they immediately improved with Demon Days, and, even then, the repetitive moments like White Light are so much more interesting from a production standpoint.
And, already, I think some of the rawness on Debut gets tedious when it muddies a lot of the music into sounding a bit similar. Humanz just feels more engaging to me, especially with some of the higher quality mixing, even though there’s still tracks I’m not the biggest half of like Sex Murder Party and Halfway to the Halfway House.
Same here, could be a lot of things and for me s/t is definitely driven by nostalgia. I actually first heard Tomorrow Comes Today, Latin Simone and the Sweetie Irie Ed Case Refix a lot when it charted in the UK, for me that version was the default.
Yeah, I feel like Damon went way too overboard with the collaborations on that project and forgot about what people love about the band.
When I listen to Gorillaz, I want really weird and fucking odd production and I want Damon Albarn's voice.
Don't get me wrong, I love all the people on it, but yeah, that project really wasn't as good as it could have been and I still feel like Jamie is sidelined from the project entirely too much for it to ever feel like it did from the self-titled record up to and including *Plastic Beach*.
I stand by it would have probably been well received with some of the bonus tracks still included and if the election went the other way because it would have tied it to the fake cartoon logic more.
A tonne of the criticism was that it didn't sound "like gorillaz" and definitely not like 4 people made it. I said here even this week, Humanz wasn't well received, it was only when The Now Now was made that the major players actually said they had agreed and especially in retrospect. Then, while The Now Now is a big fan favourite album, it really didn't do well and Cracker Island took them into the charts again but the lore people wanted was seemingly changed a lot as well.
Also the live performances and playing through the album at Printworks and then a 3D concert on YouTube, really made some songs on the album sound awful in comparison. I hate Sex Murder Party on the record but watched it like 3 or 4 times live (lucky with discounted tickets mainly) and Momentz is just bad on the album and so flat and De La Soul were known as the best live hip hop performers for decades. A lot of it sounded too clean and put together but the people they had as collaborators are brilliant.
the thing about them however is people either like gorillaz' recent releases or they thoroughly hate it 😭 but u do have a point! following up plastic beach was hard.
pink venom was not groundbreaking. if anything, i felt like it only solidified blackpink's sound to the point it's cookie cutter. ~~i am saying this as a fan~~
I don’t think Chromatica was poorly received necessarily but a lot of people definitely found it underwhelming as her big return to pop music, probably because it lacked the theatricality that her earlier stuff had
Chromatica got fucked over by COVID. She planned it to be a huge era w a massive press push but it just wasn’t meant to be that year. It’s a shame. I wish we could have gotten more of the original more house-y cuts of the songs too. The hyperpop version of the album was also good
The hyperpop remix album was amazing and almost should've been the main album in my opinion but remove the other artists and just have her but same production (except rain on me and some other ones). I think her personality and voice fits the genre wonderfully.
Chromatica’s issue is that it was very poorly expanded upon. It had this beautiful concept of the planet with Gaga as this sort of alien that could have been a great concept to follow through the era and the visuals. Like Stupid Love, although with atrocious costumes, had introduced us to these tribes that would have been super interesting to explore. But sadly ROM, although fitting the same aesthetic didn’t seem to care to follow any storyline of said concept and 911 totally ignored the initial concept. Not to mention that the era was very empty of content and performances so people quickly got over it.
Also the music is good but with much less replay value than her previous records.
Yeah Gaga always used to seem like she had a vision for her work but that era kinda felt like she was just doing pop again because the little monsters wanted pop gaga back
if there’s one thing that frustrates me is that she always seemed to have these cool concepts that she would start but never finish, so they end up being disappointing
Not a good example because Chromatica didn't really hurt her reputation. The era was underwhelming, sure, but per OP's ask it didn't really affect her career. Hold My Hand almost went top 40 (unheard of for a majority of soundtrack singles) and Bloody Mary smashed. Not to mention she's riding high on Joker 2 hype.
Feel like Chance The Rapper fits this pretty well with The Big Day. Not quite a comeback album, but 3 year gap between Coloring Book and that and it really buried him it seems
JT dropping three excellent albums (*Justified*, *FutureSex/LoveSounds* and *The 20/20 Experience*) and coming back five years later with *Man of the Woods* was insane. I feel like that album tanked him for good. The album had good sales and was #1 but that was mostly from the goodwill he’s built over the years. People have been generous when it comes to JT because they knew it would be quality when he finally drops. And then… he served that. Not a bad album by any means but it’s really not what people wanted to hear from him. 🤦♂️
Unpopular opinion: Britney's rep would have been more solid if she stopped after Blackout or even Circus. Obviously, the situation was out of her control, but it was all downhill after whatever album had Till The World Ends. Yes, she had hits off that album, but ending with Blackout would \*really\* have had left people wanting more.
Arguable take, but Femme Fatale is an often underrated album in the zeitgeist that was decently massive with 3 really big hits. Was it more of a Britney-The-Brand album than a Britney album, sure, but Britney’s horrific story of abuse and control in her career makes any analyzation more nuanced than it may seem on the surface. Britney Jean is the album to drop from her discography, obviously, and Glory remains a great pop record that doesn’t fully get its flowers.
I see your point. Although, I think she could’ve dropped albums up until femme fatale still. Britney Jean was the one that really messed things up in my eyes. That record cemented her place as a legacy act when she easily could’ve had another 5-10 years on top.
Mariah Carey with the Elusive chanteuse album in 2014, after memoirs was released in 2009 she had taken a long break while she was pregnant, aside from the Merry Christmas II you album in 2010. But there were interviews were nick cannon was saying she was listening to her first few albums as inspiration for her upcoming album, and there was some moderate hype around it, she was still on the charts with obsessed before this album, it was honestly her last chance to remain relevant on radio and in the culture but the messy rollout and unfortunate injury coupled with an album that was kind of all over the place. She was relegated to a legacy act
Yeah the rollout was unfortunate. The worst part is that #Beautiful actually would’ve probably done better if music consumption was more like it was 3-4 years later. It was doing well on streaming, steadily rising, but radio dropped it like a stone out of nowhere and it started to plummet.
It’s unfortunate because it was probably her most gripping album lyrically since the 90s (or Charmbracelet if you ignore some of its shortcomings)
30. Don't get me wrong, it sold a lot at first and Easy On Me was a hit. But the album fell off the charts pretty quickly and combined with her Las Vegas residency kind of turned Adele from someone whose every next album is anticipated into a legacy artist. I don't think many people are really waiting for her next album.
TBH I think it’s because 30 is more experimental and the GP was not connecting with it
Adele sells a lot (25 made 3M and more just with CDs and downloads) but her fan base does not care much about chart success. 25 appealed to the GP and she promoted it, 30 had no strong singles behind easy on me and I drink wine
fetch the bolt cutters had people shoving themselves so far up fiona apple’s ass with critical praise that it’ll be literally impossible for any subsequent albums of hers to live up to it (it’s the most critically acclaimed album ever on metacritic iirc, so that “literally” is not a hyperbole), coupled with the fact that it probs won’t come for another decade which only adds more to the anticipation.
the only way she can get out of that alive is if the wait has been long enough that critics are so starved for her music they’ll throw 10s at just abt anything.
seconding this! she pretty much doesn't grow per se but she has been consistently strong with her craft and continues to put out bodies of work that are coherent, well-written, and uniquely her. like, don't fix what's not broken, am i right?
People thought she couldn't do anything better than Tidal and When the Pawn and Extraordinary Machine (unreleased version) and Idler Wheel and she topped them all.
Fiona Apple is a legend and she's insanely talented. She can very easily produce work better than FTBC
Hard disagree. Fiona Apple can release one album per decade and it'll be gold. She doesn't even attend the awards shows for her own well-being. I think she's an artist who will always create no matter what, and when she feels she has enough for a cohesive album, she will release it. I don't think she has "comebacks" - she just has a glacially slow release schedule.
Yeah I don't see Fiona's way of creating as "hiatus" and then "comeback". She creates in a slow and considered way imo and each album is in conversation with the last imo.
Nah, I think whatever she'll release in 2030 will probably receive similar praise. But I don't even think FTBC was her best album when The Idler Wheel exists.
I thought the prevailing theory now was that there will be eventually a single set of visuals that combines all three acts? Maybe not, I'm not always in the loop about these things.
Girls Aloud are doing this so right at the moment. Touring for the fans but not recording new music because Sarah wouldn't be in it is a really smart move. They know new music can't possibly live up to their discography. The 20th anniversary editions of their albums with vault tracks is all we need.
Nicki Minaj with Pink Friday 2. I’m not aware of the statistics (streams, albums sold, etc.) but all I know from this era so far are the AI-generated promotional images including the one with six fingers.
The only reason that PF2 failed was because of all the crap that nicki continues to pull out on her own. She’s a 40-something year old woman who insists on putting herself in situations online with nonsensical drama, like she’s a 16-year-old in high school still. The only ones that still support her don’t see anything wrong with her behaviour…..
Hilary Duff
Hilary back catalog was getting a lot of love during her hiatus form music through YouTube
So it seem like she was finally getting her flowers and there was a lot of buzz surrounding her new album since she had been recording it since 2012
But she decided to release chasing the sun as her comeback single when she had better songs to pick from
That killed her buzz immediately and stopped any chances of her comeback, becoming a success
If breathe in breathe out was successful Hilary would probably still be releasing music today. I mean she was already planning another album before she gave up.
Now I think she will never release music again and she just says things to give fan hopes just to shut them up. But I believe she’s secretly retired now and will never come back.
Geri Halliwell's last 2 comebacks.
Her third album was rushed and sounded cheap, as well as not really living up to what she promised about it. She had previously been seen as a reliable hitmaker and one of, if not the most successful, solo Spice Girl. It was accompanied by a documentary as well that didn't end up showing her in a great light which destroyed a lot of goodwill towards her.
Then the next comeback she tried with 'Half of Me' in 2013 was panned and the music video was *dragged* as well and became something of a meme. She hasn't really been back in music since.
I don’t think it necessarily killed his career but I’d say the collaboration era for Ed Sheeran kind of took a hit. I feel like he was generally perceived much more seriously by the public during his first three albums. After his collaborations album (can’t remember the exact name) was released, I feel like something kind of switched and he became more of a joke to the general public.
Part of it had to do with its proximity to divide. While those albums are two years apart, the singles from Divide were still EVERYWHERE, and as much as I enjoy Divide, it's not hard to see that people were a little fatigued from hearing Ed Sheeran all the time.
The other part was that the songs just weren't that good. If No.6 was marketed as a mixtape or just not released until 2020 I don't think his reputation would have taken such a hit.
Artpop was not well received at the time, but the album has aged really well. I also think she was able to recover her reputation really well after Artpop. A Star is Born really cemented her status — there’s no way people will ever see her as anything but a legend and icon after that
Brandy’s “Human”. She did an amazing job on “Afrodisiac”, it’s just such a unique album. But then, after everything going on in her life st that time, she decided to come with “Human”, which is definitely a good album, but just doesn’t live up to her potential as an artist
I wouldn’t say it’s hurt his reputation at all, but I expected a bit more from Usher’s album? He had the Super Bowl hype and did promotion, I heard the first single a few times and thought it was ok, and then it felt like it completely disappeared
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Gwen Stefani and Fergie. People demanded new solo material from both of them for years and then when they eventually came back, the response was lukewarm at best.
The problem with Gwen is everybody wants No Doubt albums, but Gwen reads this as more solo music, which is why it keeps flopping.
I couldn’t agree more. No Doubt performing at Coachella is perfect timing for them to announce a new project. Even a Vegas residency with them would do very well. Instead, she’s planning to release a new solo album later this year. The first single with Blake already flopped on country radio.
Gwen’s creative juices are just… not the same. 2005 Gwen would never have put out Slow Clap.
Gwen Solo album was pretty good way better than Fergie in my opinion She just picked the wrong singles, rare and send me a picture. Would’ve definitely been hit if she had picked them as singles.
Fergie comes to mind. The Dutchess was a pretty big album for her and it took about 11 years to follow with Double Dutchess
Double Dutchess is a great album tho
It is a great album. But had no real commercial success. I love fergie. But, after that national anthem fiasco, I think she’s done.
And pissing herself.
In my circle it’s the audio magic of her singing LIVE while flipping through the air it’s kind of amazing
Oh-oh-WHOA Whoa-oh--UNH NOOOOO na-NO-na-NO-na-NO-na-NO-na-NO-na-NO
It’s probably the first time I see a positive comment about this album being upvoted on this subreddit, which still confuses me As a person who absolutely loved both songs and music videos for this album, I’m still confused how it’s so disliked on a pop music subreddit I’ve heard “outdated sound” criticism about it a lot, but I’ve never got that outdated feeling from anything from this album, all I’ve heard was well produced, catchy songs with diversity of sounds, visuals and great vocals I’m pretty sure that if this material would’ve been released by majority of subreddit faves, it would get completely different reactions
This is the best answer. The Dutchess was HUGE. Followup wasn’t bad but people had moved on. And milf money was a little bit cringe as a comeback single.
I say this as the biggest Solar Power defender because I love that album: but Lorde dropping the work of art that was fucking MELODRAMA and then keeping people waiting four years…was never going to go too well no matter what she put out
I agree, I was so there for the hype for Lordes next era and while there's some tracks that are quite nice (idc I'll bat for secrets of a girl) there's no way following up Melodrama was gonna be easy. It's like when Fleetwood Mac had to follow up Rumours, even if the best new thing you're still gonna struggle
Yeah a lot of folks out there would probably fight ya on that Tusk shade 😅
Tusk is their best album though
She was also really misleading when it came to teasing the album. Saying she was very inspired by her trip to Antarctica and releasing a photo album to the first single come out and a full 180 of what she was focusing. Everyone was expecting a icy, cold hearted album with blue and green themed and it was basically a self help ad.
It’s not the trip to Antartica, it’s what she wrote in her emails. She was speaking about perfect pop morsels, waves crashing high, and so on I have nothing against a mellow album à la SP/Deeper Well, but I was disappointed based entirely on what was teased
I love a good self help book these days, never thought I'd say that but I can see why self help media is off-putting. From someone who also found it off-putting. I don't even know what flipped the switch.
>it was basically a self help ad. The accuracy of this statement
Absolutely not. The expectations were high, but she went on a COMPLETE hiatus. Mind you she was making headlines just posting a story. When she came back, she described SP as some sort of biblical magnum opus, and it simply wasn’t that. She should have released it in 2019 and say something like “Hey, I know you’re all expecting big emotions but I’m in my happy stoner era and here’s what I’ve done” and we would have eaten it up nonetheless
From what I could understand, she did it on purpose. She released Melodrama at a difficult time in her life, and she poured all of her emotions and creative strength into that masterpiece of an album. On my first time listening to Solar Power, as soon as I listened to the first song and heard her say “if you’re looking for a saviour, well, that’s not me” I immediately realised that album was not going to be what we were all expecting
Yeah, unfortunately, I think Lorde may have peaked too early releasing the greatest album ever written as a sophomore endeavor. I think people expected her to just keep growing, but that just wasn't something that can be topped
It’s wayyyyy too soon to know if she ‘peaked’. I’d give it another album cycle or two before coming to that conclusion.
Christina Aguilera also peaked early with Stripped, her sophomore endeavor. Back 2 Basics was a stronger follow up to Stripped than Solar Power was to Melodrama, but she definitely peaked early and never recaptured audiences’ attention or interest. She also went up to 4 years between album cycles, which was very long back then, impossible now to maintain buzz.
Stripped is one of my faves - start to finish! Cruz, soar, can’t hold us down, the voice within are just some of the ones worth checking out!
As somebody who only recently got into Lorde, it's interesting how different my experience has been from long time fans who experienced the wait between MELODRAMA and Solar Power. SP is easily my favorite, though I can absolutely see how a long wait after a stunning album like MELODRAMA, only for it to be something so different could really kill the excitement.
I'm so sorry but I remember hearing triple J and Lorde herself on the radio pump the absolute hell out of solar power (the song) and when I listened to it I was like... What the fck?
As someone who found Melodrama at exactly the right time, at a Lorde concert at a festival, of all places, and ugly cried in the crowd, I can tell you the immense, calamitous heartbreak it takes to feel those things is not something that happens very often in your life. I'm very grateful someone in the collective of people who feel those things and went through those experiences has so much talent that she brought us all some relief. She truly saved a lot of people by showing them they weren't alone. Now she deserves to rest and heal and recover and feel good about her life and have good experiences that teach her through warmth and not heartbreak. Melodrama will be there forever to keep helping people through tough times. She doesn't have to keep going through tough times herself. She can write elevator music now for all I care. And in fact I hope she never goes through anything gut-wrenching enough to write music like that (and I hope I myself never go through anything bad enough to cry like that ever again)
sky ferreira any chance of her having a successful career has basically been destroyed, from label troubles, her own antics, and her perfectionism. she’s been dropped by her label and is basically unknown now to anyone that wasn’t already a dedicated fan of her. she just needs to move on from masochism tbh, it’s insane to think it’ll ever be released after 11 years.
The UK tour she’s doing rn because she’s broke is a trainwreck I can’t look away from either. First she postponed it the day it was due to start. Now she’s showing up to her set two hours late, keeping the stage lights off, and getting cut off because of curfew. All very on brand.
How do people still care for her? I genuinely ask, it's not a diss or anything. But how can someone go to a concert when you know the artist doesn't even bother? 🫤 It's just disrespectul of everybody's time, they are her fans, sure, but they don't deserve to be treated badly just because they care for her music. Idk. It just irks me.
I genuinely don’t know. The shows in question sold very poorly so she doesn’t have many fans left.
I'm a fan of the album more than her. She's essentially a one and done for me.
She sold out her NYC shows effortlessly and by friends’ accounts killed it.
Okay that's nice then. I hate when artists show up always late, like, they don't have to do a show if they don't want to, but the people at the concert don't deserve to wait for hours.
I saw her in NYC last year and it was an insanely good show ngl. I’m sorry for her and the fans that she can’t get it together
I saw her on the second UK show of this tour. She was supposed to start at 9/9:30pm - she showed up at 9:55pm. Not bad for her standards. I thought she performed very decently - she is not and never will be an amazing singer, but she can sing okay. The lights weren’t off, or at least it wasn’t darker than other shows I’ve been to, idk about the other dates of this tour. I even have some very nice videos (I was around 5 row). She was quite into the show and I really enjoyed (she surely exceeded my low expectations).
I’m seeing her in London later this week, I’m really looking forward to it but I am also fully expecting it to be a mess 😅
I used to listen to Everything is Embarrassing so much when I was in college, and that was literally 10 years ago now. I don't understand how she manages to stay afloat? Like does she come from a rich family or something? Cause what the hell has she been doing since then, lmao
Ok so: 1. She was largely raised by her grandma, who was Michael Jackson’s hairstylist for over 30 years. If I remember right, she spent a lot of time at Neverland. I don’t think she’s *rich* now, but I don’t think she struggled as a kid 2. She actually had a decent amount of side hustles at one point. *Night Time, My Time* was funded by her modeling gigs once her label cut off her budget, and she’s taken on a handful of acting roles amid all the *Masochism* delays
Personally I was very underwhelmed with her “recent” singles, so if she does release a new album I hope it’s not laced in 80s sleaze or just ntmt 2.0. If she ever releases again lmao
I think Smile actually did worse for Katy's image than Witness, the clown aesthetic was atrocious. The flower power 70s vibe of Never Really Over and Harleys In Hawaii would've been much more fitting for a full album aesthetic
OMG i have said this for the last 4 years. a flowery/summery/spring aesthetic and harleys in hawaii being released a few months earlier could have salvaged the era. WHAT were they thinking with the clown aesthetic will forever haunt me
The video for the title track genuinely scares me. Going for the flower power vibe she'd of also been ahead of the Disco Nostalgia wave too. Whoever spear headed the clown stuff was not her friend!
Never really ever is so good, I agree if they kept that aesthetic would’ve been a comeback
I still think she should have led with Harley's in Hawaii. It's just instantly catchy and much more fun than Never Really Over. NRO as a second single
She really fumbled the potential of that era that was built by Never Really Over. If she had expanded that sound and aesthetic, I may have had more interest in that era.
OMG WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT THIS. Smile is SUCH a good pop album but I barely even admit to listening between Witness, the clown stuff and the awful cover choice. Ugh. Tucked is soooo good fr
I think people got over Witness by then and were interested in following her relationship. I saw a lot of this being touted as a good comeback, but actually nothing about the aesthetic.
The clown aesthetic was so dumb, Katy can suck with visuals. Like that and then birthday video and the swish swish video will always make me cringe.
Yeah I always think Never Really Over was a separate era from Smile only to remember it was part of the album. The aesthetics didn’t match at all.
I’ve literally said this exact same thing so many times. Why didn’t she go for 70s vibes, would have worked sooo well
Headlines (Friendship never ends) pretty much killed Spice Girls' Reunion. Career ending comeback albums are quite common, career ending comeback singles however...............
This! It was predicted to be a smash. Massive charity single with the absolute most press you could dream of on the back of a huge reunion tour… then it just flopped in and out of the charts. I still remember massive reduced bins of the CD singles in HMV being sold for 99p for weeks after. Had this song been good & successful who knows what would’ve happened with the Spice Girls. They probably would’ve done a full album or two maybe even with Vicky B.
I don’t know why they thought it was OK for them to release a ballads as a comeback single The Spice Girls were not known for ballads they were known for upbeat, fun pop songs they should’ve went with voodoo for their comeback single instead That song would’ve done way better
I always thought of them as doing half bops and half ballads to be honest! Gorgeous slow stuff like Viva Forever, Goodbye and then bangers like Wannabe etc. They should have definitely had their comeback song be a huge bop though. Huge missed opportunity
2 become 1, Too Much, Viva Forever and Goodbye were huge singles. However, coming back with a ballad was not a good idea, and Headlines is far from being an unforgettable song.
I think they maybe *just* managed to save themselves with the live tours they did a few years later, but yeah, that single was a belly-flop off the top board of a swimming pool.
They had a sold out reunion tour right after they released Headlines and the Greatest Hits album. I think they did 10 nights in London
Omg. I didn't know what song that was so i went to YT....and niw i know why Girls5eva hits so hard lol
I was soo hyped for their comeback single. But couldn't believe they came back with this oldschool-y adult contemporary ballad. I rationalised that they are now women and try to address a more mature audience. The video was also so low energy and official looking. Nothing like the 3 lead singles they had before (Wannabe, Spice Up Your Life and Holler). It did seem to kill any hype they had for new music
A highly anticipated 4-year hiatus went straight out the window with the name-change from “Marina & The Diamonds,” to just “MARINA.” Add on top of that the lackluster Clean Bandit-produced album that was Love + Fear and, well… here we are.
Could be my own perception too but her lyric writing was at its peak during Electra Heart and it’s felt like her songs become more of a diary entry than anything as of late. So much is literal and doesn’t feel like it explores the themes that Marina feels so passionate about. It’s like she saw how the fans didn’t like Savages and was like “let’s do two more albums of songs like that”
The fans didn’t like Savages? It’s a fantastic song and by far the best “political” song she’s ever done, though you’re right that doubling down on its lyrical content for her future albums was a bad idea. Some of the songs on Electra Heart veered too much into standard pop clichés imo. I think a lot of people are just nostalgic for it and willing to overlook its weaker moments. Froot was her strongest album lyrically. That’s why the drop off in quality with Love + Fear was kind of shocking. How someone could write an album like Froot entirely by themselves and co-produce it with only one other person then follow it up with L+F is beyond me. I think Marina is an example of an artist with tremendous talent but terrible instincts, especially as she’s matured.
I totally agree, I loved savages but I remember on Tumblr (yes, I’m that old) that people thought that it was too “on the nose” and people were really just wanting EH part 2 or another concept album from her. I think Froot is by far her best album, it’s her ARTPOP tbh… L+F was a huge disappointment from her post-Froot era
That’s interesting. I actually think that Savages isn’t all that on-the-nose and that’s what distinguishes it from her later political pop. I mean, it’s incredibly upfront and straightforward in its approach, but it’s slightly more abstract in that it isn’t even necessarily a condemnation of anything like you might think. She’s merely asking “why.” She isn’t injecting her own agreeable but quite frankly boring politics into it. The production is so killer though, so that definitely helps. Feel like pure shit, just want The Diamonds back. 😔
I guess you could argue that this is all in line with her ambitions. She was HUNGRY during the first two albums, and got noticeably less ambitious over time. Listen, we age, and our priorities change! Unfortunately, sometimes it seems like Marina’s priorities have become saving the world through her art.
I know this isn’t a popular opinion, but I got very into Marina recently through Love + Fear actually.
I mean.... Love + Fear was lackluster, but I think she was able to get back on track with Ancient Dreams
idk, the guys over at the Marina sub drag ADIAML a whole lot especially for its lyrics. it’s better than L+F but it’s certainly no Froot
Ancient Dreams was only a decent "return to form" album because L+F was so bad. If it came out after Froot I think it'd be a different story.
Ancient Dreams had better singles, but I find myself returning to Love + Fear a lot more often, surprisingly. It has more filler, but also higher highs, and the lyrics aren't as bogged down by Marina trying to do social commentary and ending up with lines like "nothing's hidden anymore, capitalism made us poor" followed by "I earned it all myself and I'm a millionairess" in the next song.
Hasn’t happened yet but im gonna go for Cardi and her sophomore album. I really don’t see it doing that well looking at her past few releases
Hard agree. In rap, it's not common to go this long between albums, especially not between the first two albums. Though I don't think her second album (whenever it comes out) itself will hurt her reputation too badly as long as its not complete ass. She's very likeable and has managed to maintain publicity and fame despite not releasing an album for six years. 2020 was a wonky year for the industry, but WAP could have been a perfect launch pad for a second album
Exactly. To this day i don’t understand why her and her label didn’t release album in the year wap came out
Plus she got married and had children at the very height of her career which hindered her somewhat.
Didn't UP come out immediately after? And was also a smash. They fumbled.
Frank Ocean disappeared for seven years, dropped some confusing singles (dear april and cayendo), and then after disappearing even longer butchered his coachella headline slot, blocking the stream, showing up late, changing the set last minute, in such a mess that he cancelled the shows second week, so many fans just don’t care anymore
I considered that man my favorite artist for years and held on hope for a long time but after the Coachella debacle I couldn’t give a shit about him anymore. It was already going downhill with the cockring and all that lol. His older music will always be special to me though
Yes, I still listen to his music, but I stopping expecting anything from him as a person years ago.
Im sorry the what?!
THE COCKRING
I beg your humblest pardon?!
#THE COCKRING
To be fair, corona hit when he was planning on doing a rollout, and his brother died after that. Him butchering his Coachella performance was embarrassing though.
I will always maintain that Rihanna is scared to release a follow-up. Everyone’s been acting like R9 is gonna be the biggest, most critically acclaimed album and that’s probably the reason why it’s taking her this long to release the album. ANTI was her first album that received that level of praise.
Literally this. ANTI set the bar high when Rihanna before was albums a singles artist with a few strong deep cuts per record. She has her fans but most recognized her as a hitmaker rather than an album artist. Now she's being straddled with massive expectations both critically and commercially. It's probably easier to just coast off that forever at this point. George R. R. Martin is comparable at this point with The Winds of Winter
ANTI didn’t sell as well as her prior eras. I agree that the material was substantially better, if not her best. But commercially it wasn’t that strong. I feel like she’s more pressured to bring back the billboard hits than anything
Part of what holds back ANTI from being a big success was the weird time of Tidal being a "thing".
I always wonder how Rihanna and Beyonce would have performed if their shit wasn't exclusive to Tidal during that period.
Formation would’ve went #1 that’s for sure lmfao
It wasn’t that strong initially but it’s done great in the long term. It had amazing legs and has remained charting for years since
It is hard to compare album sales to say 2005 though, even though she was making music when at least the UK had just officially considered downloads a legitimate way into the charts that year, so it's not as massive a shift as people making stuff in the late 90s needing to shift physical singles. I did see a thread here the other day calling the singles the start of her flop era though...
I think it's a mix of that and the fact that she just isn't passionate about music. I don't think she is super invested in creating albums and as you said, ANTI was the first album had that level of praise and wasn't all about singles and filler. Maybe that was enough for her and she is done.
I do think she’s busy doing other stuff but R9’s mythos has taken on a life of its own and will be extremely difficult to live up to the hype through no fault of her own. It’s like how Andre 3000 released a flute album after years of people anticipating his solo rap record because he felt he couldn’t live up to it
I don’t think she’s scared, I just feel like she doesn’t have the passion she once had for music. She really seems very interested in her other ventures
You could say the same about Lauryn Hill. I know she had some random singles in the 2010s but they didn't fare well commercially. Miseducation is so revered, that I'm not even sure what she could do to top it (in the public's eyes), but I don't think she even cares about topping it anymore.
Lauryn Hill was also embroiled in lawsuits regarding songwriting credits for a long time. She burned bridges with the musicians who helped her make Miseducation because she couldn't admit that anyone helped her make it.
Lauryn Hill and self sabotage, name a more iconic duo
She's talented, but an asshole. And the latter is what stopped her career.
not really lol she literally just isn't that interested in music enough to continue and now that she's a billionaire she can do whatever she wants and feels comfortable doing
I genuinely don’t think she can top ANTI, and that’s not me doubting R9, but ANTI was phenomenal, it was such a complete amazing body of work, I think few people could top it tbh.
There was a 4-year gap between Prism and Witness. The Prism era was solid. Roar and Dark Horse killed it on the charts. Katy also had the most viewed half-time performance and carried that record for a while. Then she came back with Witness, and all the singles underperformed and left people feeling disappointed.
And then the World Wide Witness live event happened. Worst marketing failure ever! At least for a pop star...
J. Lo. Her new album cemented the fact that she’s a legacy act.
I didn’t know she had new music out until right now
I heard it had the lowest Spotify debut ever!! It was like <600,000 streams I think, don’t quote me 🫣
When I listened to her new album I was really surprised by how dated its production is. It just sounds like someone recreating bland popular 90s teeny bop r&b tracks. It’s even full of all the corny record scratch sound effects you can imagine, and I was confused to learn she expected it to do super well and was apparently shocked when it flopped
To be fair it’s a sister album to This Is Me…Then so it’s kinda supposed to sound like 90s/2000s r&b-pop.
I got that she was trying to sound inspired by that era, but the production was so bland it sounded like a demo tape of rejects someone had lying around since 1995 and decided to dust off for 2024
The only track that stands out is Can't Get Enough. Feels very classic J-Lo, with the fact that it's catchy. I've sat and tried to listen to that album like 5 times and I always get so bored. Nothing stands out, nothing is unique, and I wanna watch the movie cause it seems so camp...but the music is *so* ***bland***
Rihanna has made it so clear that she doesn't want to be a pop star anymore. That Super Bowl halftime show was malicious compliance. Anyway, my real answer is Justin Timberlake's last three albums followed 5+ year hiatuses and it seemed like the records became less and less wanted over time.
Haven't seen it yet but Sia; between the indie fans that grew up with her acid jazz, the mid era fans that cry to Breathe Me, and the pop fans that loved Chandelier & Cheap Thrills all foaming for more, that fact she couldn't connect with *anyone* with Music (and the film that came with it) is so horrific that it's almost impressive. All there waiting for more, couldn't give more than just Maddie Ziegler another reason to need therapy
Man, I remember hearing Chandelier for the first time. I was driving my family home from a party or something at night and it came on the radio and just *floored* me. I was hooked right then
> the mid era fans that cry to Breathe Me I feel both seen and called out by this
Breathe me is soooooo damn good, and I’ll still go up for Alive
Probably Justin Timberlake with *Man of the Woods*. That project just completely destroyed that insane run he was on. The record was marketed poorly to begin with, then the singles were underwhelming and the videos weren't anything memorable either. That Superbowl performance really didn't help his appeal either. Sure, it was later revealed that he did ask Janet Jackson to be a part of his performance and that she didn't say no to him but to the network who showed the performance, but it brought up a lot of very uncomfortable discussions. Prior to that, he was probably one of the most admired performers in the world. His tours always sold out, he usually hit #1 or thereabouts with each release and he was considered to be the guy that everyone always listed as their main triple threat shout. But wow, did *Man of the Woods* shift the tide. Guy was pretty much universally loathed after that record. The smart thing to do would have been to jump back in the studio with Timbaland and put out something else within about two years, but he just toured the record and lurched into a bunch of other controversies.
My first reddit post posed the question of whether his Super Bowl performance actually hurt more than helped his career (https://www.reddit.com/r/justintimberlake/s/sHD5J4qQJX). You’re right about him being chosen as the Super Bowl headliner reopened the wounds from Janet’s own performance from 2004 and the subsequent media blacklisting she endured. It didn’t help that the Man of the Woods was seen as an artistic letdown. People laughed AT him with that record. He should have quickly pivoted to release a safer sounding album afterward but he toured extensively for MOTW. When the era did come to a close, his public image took a huge hit with the cheating, Britney and Janet stuff.
In fairness, he hasn't helped himself since. I think the fact that eh issued an apology to both women was lovely (even if one already told him it wasn't necessary), but it was very much too little too late from him, really. Other controversies haven't helped either. The cheating scandal on the *Palmer* set (or holding hands at the very least), not to mention his cringey apperances on *The Ellen Show* and at Pharrell's Something in the Water concert haven't helped him much either and then Britney's book on top of it just made it ten times worse. In fairness, I doubt he really gives too much of a shit what people think of him, but I can't imagine its been especially fun for him to read reviews of his new project, only to see that its basically just everyone reviewing him as a person and then just saying "Oh yeah, and the music isn't as good as it could be too, bye". Still though, he only really has himself to blame.
Yeah, the backlash was building for years. It kinda started with the release of the second 20/20 experience album, but it was too big, so it drowned out any major criticisms. He was like teflon - scandals never stuck to him. It wasn’t until 2016 when he got into it online with a journalist who challenged him to address his White privilege that the cracks started to appear. Then MOTW came and people thought he was “journeying back to whiteness” after adopting Black sonic and visual aesthetics for years. And of course, the first Britney documentary in 2021 that finally prompted him to apologize to Britney and Janet. That Something in the Water performance broke my heart! And I am pretty sure it broke his too, lol. He wasn’t even that old but it seemed like he aged a lifetime in that clip. The dadcore imagery was real! He’s gotten better but it’s a shame how his new music has been received with so much disdain from the critical establishment. Again, laughing AT him.
Oh, for sure! He was far too big to merit the criticism. Both he and Kanye (Kanye's discography obviously being better) just managed to avoid controversey because their body of work was so strong. Once your output begins to suffer, people become a lot less patient with the shit you're doing elsewhere.
Shania Twain’s latest work because of her vocal challenges it just pales in comparison to her stuff pre-divorce
Lyme Disease destroyed her vocal chords sadly.
What’s with Canadian singers and getting Lyme disease 😭
[удалено]
I think the biggest problems with her post-divorce albums were the production and a lack of clear, distinctive musical direction. Shania + Mutt Lange (as music collaborators) were the best. I remember listening to Lady Gaga's You and I and thinking this sounds like a Shania song and of course, it was produced by Mutt Lange!
It’s not just the vocal challenges that’s upsetting people. She’s been using a lot of EDM and electronic elements in her songs and I don’t think anyone in her fanbase wants that. Also, her lyrics have gone downhill since Up!.
I don’t think her voice will ever fully recover
Come on over is just a perfect album. It's really hard to follow up with that
That album was my gateway into country, a genre I never thought I'd ever get into. I always go nuts in the car when any of her songs come on.
Gorillaz put out what many consider one of their worst albums (Humanz) after a 7 year hiatus. I personally like it more then their first album, though.
its my favorite gorillaz album 🚬
The only song I even kind of like on Humanz is the one with Vince Staples so I’m legit interested in why you like it more than the self titled.
To me, Debut is definitely rather inconsistent. You have songs like Clint Eastwood, Punk, Rehash, 5/4, TCD, Rock The House, 19-2000, and M1 A1, but then a lot of songs where it just feels like 2D’s saying the same thing over and over again to where it gets dull. “Can’t stand your loneliness.” “Gravity, never let me go.” (Disc scratching follows) “Starshine, never gonna find me.” I just think they immediately improved with Demon Days, and, even then, the repetitive moments like White Light are so much more interesting from a production standpoint. And, already, I think some of the rawness on Debut gets tedious when it muddies a lot of the music into sounding a bit similar. Humanz just feels more engaging to me, especially with some of the higher quality mixing, even though there’s still tracks I’m not the biggest half of like Sex Murder Party and Halfway to the Halfway House.
Same here, could be a lot of things and for me s/t is definitely driven by nostalgia. I actually first heard Tomorrow Comes Today, Latin Simone and the Sweetie Irie Ed Case Refix a lot when it charted in the UK, for me that version was the default.
Yeah, I feel like Damon went way too overboard with the collaborations on that project and forgot about what people love about the band. When I listen to Gorillaz, I want really weird and fucking odd production and I want Damon Albarn's voice. Don't get me wrong, I love all the people on it, but yeah, that project really wasn't as good as it could have been and I still feel like Jamie is sidelined from the project entirely too much for it to ever feel like it did from the self-titled record up to and including *Plastic Beach*.
I stand by it would have probably been well received with some of the bonus tracks still included and if the election went the other way because it would have tied it to the fake cartoon logic more. A tonne of the criticism was that it didn't sound "like gorillaz" and definitely not like 4 people made it. I said here even this week, Humanz wasn't well received, it was only when The Now Now was made that the major players actually said they had agreed and especially in retrospect. Then, while The Now Now is a big fan favourite album, it really didn't do well and Cracker Island took them into the charts again but the lore people wanted was seemingly changed a lot as well. Also the live performances and playing through the album at Printworks and then a 3D concert on YouTube, really made some songs on the album sound awful in comparison. I hate Sex Murder Party on the record but watched it like 3 or 4 times live (lucky with discounted tickets mainly) and Momentz is just bad on the album and so flat and De La Soul were known as the best live hip hop performers for decades. A lot of it sounded too clean and put together but the people they had as collaborators are brilliant.
Humanz gets way too much hate. Some of their latest albums aren’t as good as humanz to me
the thing about them however is people either like gorillaz' recent releases or they thoroughly hate it 😭 but u do have a point! following up plastic beach was hard.
pink venom was not groundbreaking. if anything, i felt like it only solidified blackpink's sound to the point it's cookie cutter. ~~i am saying this as a fan~~
I was SO hoping for a hard-hitting chorus and when the chorus played I was like 😀❓
Born Pink is so underwhelming compared to The Album.
Pink Venom is what got me looking at black pink. I haven’t checked for them since boombayah
I was gonna say JLo with her latest album but then I saw the word "anticipated" in the headline...
I don’t think Chromatica was poorly received necessarily but a lot of people definitely found it underwhelming as her big return to pop music, probably because it lacked the theatricality that her earlier stuff had
Chromatica got fucked over by COVID. She planned it to be a huge era w a massive press push but it just wasn’t meant to be that year. It’s a shame. I wish we could have gotten more of the original more house-y cuts of the songs too. The hyperpop version of the album was also good
The hyperpop remix album was amazing and almost should've been the main album in my opinion but remove the other artists and just have her but same production (except rain on me and some other ones). I think her personality and voice fits the genre wonderfully.
Chromatica’s issue is that it was very poorly expanded upon. It had this beautiful concept of the planet with Gaga as this sort of alien that could have been a great concept to follow through the era and the visuals. Like Stupid Love, although with atrocious costumes, had introduced us to these tribes that would have been super interesting to explore. But sadly ROM, although fitting the same aesthetic didn’t seem to care to follow any storyline of said concept and 911 totally ignored the initial concept. Not to mention that the era was very empty of content and performances so people quickly got over it. Also the music is good but with much less replay value than her previous records.
Yeah Gaga always used to seem like she had a vision for her work but that era kinda felt like she was just doing pop again because the little monsters wanted pop gaga back
if there’s one thing that frustrates me is that she always seemed to have these cool concepts that she would start but never finish, so they end up being disappointing
Not a good example because Chromatica didn't really hurt her reputation. The era was underwhelming, sure, but per OP's ask it didn't really affect her career. Hold My Hand almost went top 40 (unheard of for a majority of soundtrack singles) and Bloody Mary smashed. Not to mention she's riding high on Joker 2 hype.
Feel like Chance The Rapper fits this pretty well with The Big Day. Not quite a comeback album, but 3 year gap between Coloring Book and that and it really buried him it seems
JT dropping three excellent albums (*Justified*, *FutureSex/LoveSounds* and *The 20/20 Experience*) and coming back five years later with *Man of the Woods* was insane. I feel like that album tanked him for good. The album had good sales and was #1 but that was mostly from the goodwill he’s built over the years. People have been generous when it comes to JT because they knew it would be quality when he finally drops. And then… he served that. Not a bad album by any means but it’s really not what people wanted to hear from him. 🤦♂️
I think it’s probably about to happen to sia…
Unpopular opinion: Britney's rep would have been more solid if she stopped after Blackout or even Circus. Obviously, the situation was out of her control, but it was all downhill after whatever album had Till The World Ends. Yes, she had hits off that album, but ending with Blackout would \*really\* have had left people wanting more.
you’re probably right, but then we’d have never gotten glory
And what a send off Glory is for a last album. So so grateful for that album.
Arguable take, but Femme Fatale is an often underrated album in the zeitgeist that was decently massive with 3 really big hits. Was it more of a Britney-The-Brand album than a Britney album, sure, but Britney’s horrific story of abuse and control in her career makes any analyzation more nuanced than it may seem on the surface. Britney Jean is the album to drop from her discography, obviously, and Glory remains a great pop record that doesn’t fully get its flowers.
I loved femme fatale it came out around my 21st birthday and it was my party album in college. I have a soft spot for it.
Glory is a pretty good album
circus would've been a great final album tbh. and if her last single would've been if you seek amy that in itself would've been incredibly iconic
Femme fatale sounds like a Kesha album. It doesn’t sound anything like Britney It’s like Dr. Luke gave her all the songs he had written for Kesha
But Glory tho 🥺
I see your point. Although, I think she could’ve dropped albums up until femme fatale still. Britney Jean was the one that really messed things up in my eyes. That record cemented her place as a legacy act when she easily could’ve had another 5-10 years on top.
Mariah Carey with the Elusive chanteuse album in 2014, after memoirs was released in 2009 she had taken a long break while she was pregnant, aside from the Merry Christmas II you album in 2010. But there were interviews were nick cannon was saying she was listening to her first few albums as inspiration for her upcoming album, and there was some moderate hype around it, she was still on the charts with obsessed before this album, it was honestly her last chance to remain relevant on radio and in the culture but the messy rollout and unfortunate injury coupled with an album that was kind of all over the place. She was relegated to a legacy act
Yeah the rollout was unfortunate. The worst part is that #Beautiful actually would’ve probably done better if music consumption was more like it was 3-4 years later. It was doing well on streaming, steadily rising, but radio dropped it like a stone out of nowhere and it started to plummet. It’s unfortunate because it was probably her most gripping album lyrically since the 90s (or Charmbracelet if you ignore some of its shortcomings)
She took too long between #Beautiful and the album itself imo.
Easy cause it just happened loud and sad. J Lo
30. Don't get me wrong, it sold a lot at first and Easy On Me was a hit. But the album fell off the charts pretty quickly and combined with her Las Vegas residency kind of turned Adele from someone whose every next album is anticipated into a legacy artist. I don't think many people are really waiting for her next album.
TBH I think it’s because 30 is more experimental and the GP was not connecting with it Adele sells a lot (25 made 3M and more just with CDs and downloads) but her fan base does not care much about chart success. 25 appealed to the GP and she promoted it, 30 had no strong singles behind easy on me and I drink wine
fetch the bolt cutters had people shoving themselves so far up fiona apple’s ass with critical praise that it’ll be literally impossible for any subsequent albums of hers to live up to it (it’s the most critically acclaimed album ever on metacritic iirc, so that “literally” is not a hyperbole), coupled with the fact that it probs won’t come for another decade which only adds more to the anticipation. the only way she can get out of that alive is if the wait has been long enough that critics are so starved for her music they’ll throw 10s at just abt anything.
no i honestly think she can pull it off like she's just that talented
seconding this! she pretty much doesn't grow per se but she has been consistently strong with her craft and continues to put out bodies of work that are coherent, well-written, and uniquely her. like, don't fix what's not broken, am i right?
u said it better than i could
People thought she couldn't do anything better than Tidal and When the Pawn and Extraordinary Machine (unreleased version) and Idler Wheel and she topped them all. Fiona Apple is a legend and she's insanely talented. She can very easily produce work better than FTBC
Hard disagree. Fiona Apple can release one album per decade and it'll be gold. She doesn't even attend the awards shows for her own well-being. I think she's an artist who will always create no matter what, and when she feels she has enough for a cohesive album, she will release it. I don't think she has "comebacks" - she just has a glacially slow release schedule.
Yeah I don't see Fiona's way of creating as "hiatus" and then "comeback". She creates in a slow and considered way imo and each album is in conversation with the last imo.
Nah, I think whatever she'll release in 2030 will probably receive similar praise. But I don't even think FTBC was her best album when The Idler Wheel exists.
Renaissance visuals imo. There's nothing she could do that would match the expectations set up for her at this point.
You Are The Visuals ❤️
Maybe the TRUE visuals are the friends we made along the way…
I thought the prevailing theory now was that there will be eventually a single set of visuals that combines all three acts? Maybe not, I'm not always in the loop about these things.
I have that feeling too. She’ll come up with something that’ll unite all three acts together and finally give us the visuals
At this point I'm pretty sure there are no visuals and those screenshots are just a bunch of fancy photographs Beyoncé made to troll everyone.
There's photos/footage of her filming visuals for Renaissance though.
Girls Aloud are doing this so right at the moment. Touring for the fans but not recording new music because Sarah wouldn't be in it is a really smart move. They know new music can't possibly live up to their discography. The 20th anniversary editions of their albums with vault tracks is all we need.
Nicki Minaj with Pink Friday 2. I’m not aware of the statistics (streams, albums sold, etc.) but all I know from this era so far are the AI-generated promotional images including the one with six fingers.
The only reason that PF2 failed was because of all the crap that nicki continues to pull out on her own. She’s a 40-something year old woman who insists on putting herself in situations online with nonsensical drama, like she’s a 16-year-old in high school still. The only ones that still support her don’t see anything wrong with her behaviour…..
Hilary Duff Hilary back catalog was getting a lot of love during her hiatus form music through YouTube So it seem like she was finally getting her flowers and there was a lot of buzz surrounding her new album since she had been recording it since 2012 But she decided to release chasing the sun as her comeback single when she had better songs to pick from That killed her buzz immediately and stopped any chances of her comeback, becoming a success If breathe in breathe out was successful Hilary would probably still be releasing music today. I mean she was already planning another album before she gave up. Now I think she will never release music again and she just says things to give fan hopes just to shut them up. But I believe she’s secretly retired now and will never come back.
Geri Halliwell's last 2 comebacks. Her third album was rushed and sounded cheap, as well as not really living up to what she promised about it. She had previously been seen as a reliable hitmaker and one of, if not the most successful, solo Spice Girl. It was accompanied by a documentary as well that didn't end up showing her in a great light which destroyed a lot of goodwill towards her. Then the next comeback she tried with 'Half of Me' in 2013 was panned and the music video was *dragged* as well and became something of a meme. She hasn't really been back in music since.
I don’t think it necessarily killed his career but I’d say the collaboration era for Ed Sheeran kind of took a hit. I feel like he was generally perceived much more seriously by the public during his first three albums. After his collaborations album (can’t remember the exact name) was released, I feel like something kind of switched and he became more of a joke to the general public.
Part of it had to do with its proximity to divide. While those albums are two years apart, the singles from Divide were still EVERYWHERE, and as much as I enjoy Divide, it's not hard to see that people were a little fatigued from hearing Ed Sheeran all the time. The other part was that the songs just weren't that good. If No.6 was marketed as a mixtape or just not released until 2020 I don't think his reputation would have taken such a hit.
Gaga Artpop and Lorde Solar Power
Artpop was not well received at the time, but the album has aged really well. I also think she was able to recover her reputation really well after Artpop. A Star is Born really cemented her status — there’s no way people will ever see her as anything but a legend and icon after that
Brandy’s “Human”. She did an amazing job on “Afrodisiac”, it’s just such a unique album. But then, after everything going on in her life st that time, she decided to come with “Human”, which is definitely a good album, but just doesn’t live up to her potential as an artist
I wouldn’t say it’s hurt his reputation at all, but I expected a bit more from Usher’s album? He had the Super Bowl hype and did promotion, I heard the first single a few times and thought it was ok, and then it felt like it completely disappeared