LG5: Critical or Commercial Success?

[Didymus 32,877]

I'm for critical acclaim but the idea that critically acclaimed albums automatically sell.. is bs Check out the highest reviewed albums per year and you'll see that it's actually almost the reverse. The truth is that good albums don't need high sales to be talked about. Bad albums do.

[retroglamx 5,087]

The truth is that good albums don't need high sales to be talked about. Bad albums do.

[flopheart 1,865]

BOTH

[Whispering 18,865]

How about...neither? Neither matter to me! As far as my enjoyment of the music.

I like what I like...don't care if the music reviewers like it of not. (Same way I feel about movies, tv shows, books)

I also don't care if it sells 5 million copies or 5 hundred. The commercial success doesn't keep me from enjoying music or make me enjoy music I don't care for. 

[Dangerous Man 9,245]

Another Grammy for Gaga is what I care for this time. 

[retroglamx 5,087]

I really just want a highly critically acclaimed album. This time Gaga needs to make it about the music not the bling.

[PUKKIE 457]

i think its time for her to be commercial again. Ain no body gat tym for anada era where gaga is called FlopGa left right and centre. lm here for PhoenixGa... RISE FROM THE ASHES AND SLAY THE WORLD WITH 500K FIRST WEEK SALES. 

[giskardsb 12,565]

I'm for critical acclaim but the idea that critically acclaimed albums automatically sell.. is bs Check out the highest reviewed albums per year and you'll see that it's actually almost the reverse. The truth is that good albums don't need high sales to be talked about. Bad albums do.

in pop best selling just means better marketing and radio support.  Labels don't push the best music they push what they think will be most popular. There is a big difference there.  sometimes they correlate, but most often not.  Anybody thinking pop radio represents the best there is to offer has very limited musical experience.  Everyone clamoring for massive commercial success is just proving that the industry marketing machine works. 

[Dramatica 13,264]

Add 'Both' 

[Riot Poof 2,236]

I feel like some of y'all slept on the points I made. 

[Bolkins 3,842]

Commercial success > Teen Choice Awards

Critical success  > Grammys 

Commercial success > One hit wonders

Critical success > Icons 

[Riot Poof 2,236]

Commercial success = Teen Choice Awards

Critical success = Grammys 

Commercial success = One hit wonders

Critical success = Icons 

It's not as black and white as you make it seem.

For example, Led Zeppelin weren't popular with critics when they were first starting out, but they were commercially successful. Now they're icons, and their music is highly praised by rock critics. They were commercially successful, and as time went by, they became critically successful as well.

[Kayla 7,595]

I'm assuming the question means one OR the other in a very strict way- HIGH albums sales but dragged to the pits by critics, or LOW album sales but praised to the heavens by critics. 

Without commercial success, critical acclaim only allows an artist to be remembered and recognized by the people who research music history. In this way, the impact of an artist lives on, even though they probably won't be in a VH1 "Hits of the 2010s!" episode airing in 2050. 

Without critical acclaim, commercial success only allows an artist to be remembered and recognized by the people who were alive at the time to experience their career. In this way, the catchiness of an artist lives on, even though they will not go down in history as someone important to the evolution of the genre itself. 

I'd like Gaga to be an artist who has integrity, offers something unique, and is remembered by general listeners and devout musicians. I'd like to see her sell a lot because of her talent, so that her commercial success is backed up by critical acclaim. In this hypothetical situation/question, though, I'm not sure which choice produces the result closest to that, but I'd rather have Gaga remembered by people who actually know what they're talking about than by a GP that perhaps couldn't care less about the integrity behind the art. 

 

[Jed 7,716]

Critical, because that means a bigger chance at another Grammy

[swakby 4,078]

I think that the one goes with the other when it comes to Gaga. Look at TFM, which has almost 80 on Metacritic - it produced 3 smash hits which will not be easily forgotten.

BTW and TF hold 71 which is pretty fine (although I will never forget that 0 review for BTW) and they were a commercial success.

ARTPOP underperformed because people didn't like the album. (61 on Metacritic)

So I guess that the commercial success depends on the quality when it comes to Gaga