Is sex no longer selling in music?

[Chump 967]

1 hour ago, DrewStevens said:

Because being popular doesn't mean people love you or that people care enough to see you live. Almost everyone knows who PSY is but most people from around the world wouldn't pay to see him  live.

Oh, no, not almost everyone. Almost everyone knows who Madonna or Gaga is, PSY is only popular with teens and those who brows the net all the time. Most people only heard his name, that's not success. And being popular doesn't mean being successful. Success is when your music is popular, not when your ass is popular

Again, musicians write music, and they are successful only when their music is successful. That's the case for Nicki. It's her ass that's popular, not her music. And that's why nobody (almost) wants to see her live

[DrewStevens 5,249]

7 minutes ago, Chump said:

Oh, no, not almost everyone. Almost everyone knows who Madonna or Gaga is, PSY is only popular with teens and those who brows the net all the time. Most people only heard his name, that's not success. And being popular doesn't mean being successful. Success is when your music is popular, not when your ass is popular

Again, musicians write music, and they are successful only when their music is successful. That's the case for Nicki. It's her ass that's popular, not her music. And that's why nobody (almost) wants to see her live

You got a wrong idea of what success means. Being successful is accomplishing your aims and goals. If being a millionaire, traveling around the world, performing with people like Madonna, having some of the most watched videos of all time, having one of the most popular songs ever, being known by millions and being the most famous artist of your country is not success then I don't know what it is. PSY is more successful than the 80% of artists will ever be.

Nicki's tour was quite successful. She earned $16M with less than 50 dates. Her ass is probably one of the main reasons why she is famous and recognized but she is successful. Nicki Minaj is not just a musician, she is a performer and a celebrity, so being successful and popular thanks to her ass is still being successful and popular.

[Chump 967]

34 minutes ago, DrewStevens said:

You got a wrong idea of what success means. Being successful is accomplishing your aims and goals. If being a millionaire, traveling around the world, performing with people like Madonna, having some of the most watched videos of all time, having one of the most popular songs ever, being known by millions and being the most famous artist of your country is not success then I don't know what it is. PSY is more successful than the 80% of artists will ever be.

Nicki's tour was quite successful. She earned $16M with less than 50 dates. Her ass is probably one of the main reasons why she is famous and recognized but she is successful. Nicki Minaj is not just a musician, she is a performer and a celebrity, so being successful and popular thanks to her ass is still being successful and popular.

Right, and musician's aim is to spread their message through their music. Either way, if we look at earnings only, sex isn't selling so well. Taylor Swift, Gaga are among the richest artists this year, did Nicki make the list? Of course sex still makes money, but not as much as it used to

[DrewStevens 5,249]

2 minutes ago, Chump said:

Right, and musician's aim is to spread their message through their music. Either way, if we look at earnings only, sex isn't selling so well. Taylor Swift, Gaga are among the richest artists this year, did Nicki make the list? Of course sex still makes money, but not as much as it used to

Because every year the standards change. This is not the first year sex is not the main way to be popular, it has happened many times.

Only oneself can know and decide our aims and goals. Every musician has different aims and no aim is better than other.

[holy scheisse 21,613]

5 hours ago, Creyk said:

Don't count Lorde.

Her latest single flopped embarrassingly and her follow-up album is nowhere to be seen. She's over.

yuo mean the song where Disclosure is the lead artist?

Or the song that was on a movie (the hunger games') soundtrack?

 

she hasnt released her own solo material since her first album--too early of you to pretend like you know if she's over or not

[Riot Poof 2,236]

5 hours ago, Creyk said:

Don't count Lorde.

Her latest single flopped embarrassingly and her follow-up album is nowhere to be seen. She's over.

Damn. At least wait until her sophomore effort comes out to say that. 

[Creyk 17,001]

9 minutes ago, Riot Poof said:

Damn. At least wait until her sophomore effort comes out to say that. 

I can't, I must diss her and bring her fans down and insult everyone who praises her. Her ugly face just really bothers me, it does not belong to the mainstream.

 

[StrawberryBlond 14,102]

23 hours ago, Harry said:

"Selena Gomez is still struggling to get big hits"

didn't she just have two songs in the iTunes top 10 at the same time?

People will buy music they like. Find me consecutive years where the best selling albums were about sex. It's just a theme. Sexuality has been used in pop for decades now but it's doing the same amount as it ever has. You know nothing as always.

Harry, I really don't want to argue with you, so even if you disagree with what I have to say, can you please keep it civil? I really don't want a screaming match at this time of year.

Selena isn't getting hits internationally. I always judge song performance based on worldwide charts, never just American ones. Thing is, even in her biggest market, she's still yet to get a #1. Good For You was her first single to get into the top 5 and it just slipped under the wire at that. She only seems to get one really successful single off each album, tops. She completely stopped trying after the follow up single to Come And Get It flopped. She'll probably do it again if Same Old Love doesn't rise higher.

I know all kinds of music sells and not all the bestselling albums are about sex, I know. But I'm talking in general - a sexual single selling, a sexual video or live performance for a song causing it to gain more attention and sales. I'm just saying I've been seeing less of that this year. I really think it doesn't have the same impact as it had some years ago. Back in the urban craze of the 2000's (whether it was inspired by this or not), it seemed like every pop girl was getting down and dirty and they were getting lots of hits out of it. Kylie's Fever era, Christina's Stripped era, Britney's In The Zone era, Nelly Furtado's Loose era, Beyonce's B'day era, The Pussycat Dolls PCD era. All some of the most successful, career defining pop albums of the 2000's...and they were all very sexual. But the pop albums that are big now are very conservative, if they're even getting success at all. I do my research, please don't say I know nothing.

10 hours ago, PMKKARDASHiAN said:

Sex will always sell...if a particular artist is deemed "sexy". As another user stated, these girls today are not (imo) sexy. Miley is attractive but not sexy, ariana looks like a child=not sexy, demi isn't sexy, selena is far from sexy (image wise, her music is sensual) and the likes. All these nick/disney girls pushing sex is...weird to me at least... 

Personally I don't find gaga sexy, she's a pretty girl, but sexually, her body isn't that sexy to me... Katy is sexy, rihanna is sexy, Beyonce is sexy.. 

There's something about sex and sexuality you can't fake, it's either natural or it isn't, and some of the pop girls are clearly faking it, thus it's not genuine, thus, it's not believable.. have I completely veered off topic?? Fuk.. 

But yea sex still sells, just depends on who's trying to sell it. 

It's funny because the ones you listed as not sexy were almost all the ones that I do consider sexy! Yeah, Ariana and Selena look very young but knowing they are adults eases that guilty feeling. I look younger than I am and I know how much I hate it when people treat me like a teenager when I'm 25, so I say there's definitely no problem with finding these grown women attractive! I think Demi's new image has made me realise how hot she really is.

Really, you don't find Gaga sexy? I think she's the sexiest pop girl there ever was - everything about her screams sex. How is her body not attractive to you? She's thin but not anorexic and is somewhat T&A based. I actually don't find Katy, Beyonce or Rihanna sexy - they're the ones who seem to fake it for me! Apart from Gaga and Ariana, I'd say Kylie, Shakira and Janet Jackson are the sexiest, which just goes to show that just because you're over 30 doesn't mean you haven't still got it. I think these 5 women are the only really sexy ones left. They project sensuality through their voice, mannerisms, personality, everything. I agree, sexy is something you can't fake, but I think our views of it differ quite a bit.

9 hours ago, Didymus said:

I think it's stupid to pretend that sex always sold in the past, apparently just because an element of sex appeal is in there, as a rule. Absolutely not the case.

And Miley is a wrong example.. her performances aren't sexy She was widely discussed exactly because it was not sexy, because it was vulgar, wild and "wrong". And you can only do that trick once, which is the real reason no one cares about her running around the stage like it now. It's become predictable. But it has nothing to do with sex. It's about provocation using sex. And that does not usually sell, just look at Madonna's career, the Erotica era in particular. I'm sure if you could write about it then, then you'd say "oops, sex isn't selling anymore" too.

I also think you're just.. weird in how you don't define your audiences. I mean, the people who would think these pop stars are sexy the most would be heterosexual men, right? But that's not the group of people that's listening to pop music I mean, do you really expect guys who think Ariana is hot to buy her single? That never happened. So you seem to just be talking about attractive young women who are successful, apparently not because of the quality of their music (that's what I find particularly funny) but just because they're "modest". Can you find me an example of a young attractive female pop artist who always was sexualized and always was successful because of it though? I mean, just today in another thread people are discussing how songs like Christina's Dirrty and Britney's I'm a Slave 4 U actually were commercial failures. If your theory would be correct they'd be massive hits, even more successful than non-sexualized songs (definitely not true for Christina and Britney, ever during their career).

So basically I just think you're constructing something that isn't really there and hasn't been there.

Regardless of whether Miley was considered sexy or not, the very fact she was acting sexual should have got those headlines and translated into public interest, just like what happened with her last album. I agree, it was just a tired trick she was doing, but even so, it was only the second time she'd done it. I thought the public would only get tired around the third or fourth time.

That's the thing - pop girls are made sexual even though the majority of their audience are straight women and gay men. That being the case, why are they selling, then? I think it's because women aren't averse to sexual women (straight men get weird about homoeroticism) and lots of gays love sexual women. When you're a woman, you'll find that we're encouraged to find other sexual women appealing and to sexualise ourselves. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it happens. We buy it because we want to be like these women and their music is fun to dance to and we can see ourselves in it. As for examples of female artists for whom sexuality always helped them sell, well, not always (no one can maintain neverending success and a flop single will happen), but Kylie, Britney, Christina, PCD, Rihanna...all these women had a lot of success when they were making sex bops but struggled when they released vulnerable ballads. There's a reason why they have very few ballads in their singles discography. I posted in that thread you speak of and I said that it was pointless basing the floppage of these songs on their US performance alone, that we had to take worldwide performance into account too. Slave 4 U and Dirrty were big hits worldwide (Dirrty even went to #1 in the UK and became her second biggest hit - remember Europeans are more open to sexuality), but Americans never seem to realise this and think that the US performance defines everything. Plus, Britney was blacklisted in America at the time, not internationally.

[PMKKARDASHiAN 8,570]

16 minutes ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Harry, I really don't want to argue with you, so even if you disagree with what I have to say, can you please keep it civil? I really don't want a screaming match at this time of year.

Selena isn't getting hits internationally. I always judge song performance based on worldwide charts, never just American ones. Thing is, even in her biggest market, she's still yet to get a #1. Good For You was her first single to get into the top 5 and it just slipped under the wire at that. She only seems to get one really successful single off each album, tops. She completely stopped trying after the follow up single to Come And Get It flopped. She'll probably do it again if Same Old Love doesn't rise higher.

I know all kinds of music sells and not all the bestselling albums are about sex, I know. But I'm talking in general - a sexual single selling, a sexual video or live performance for a song causing it to gain more attention and sales. I'm just saying I've been seeing less of that this year. I really think it doesn't have the same impact as it had some years ago. Back in the urban craze of the 2000's (whether it was inspired by this or not), it seemed like every pop girl was getting down and dirty and they were getting lots of hits out of it. Kylie's Fever era, Christina's Stripped era, Britney's In The Zone era, Nelly Furtado's Loose era, Beyonce's B'day era, The Pussycat Dolls PCD era. All some of the most successful, career defining pop albums of the 2000's...and they were all very sexual. But the pop albums that are big now are very conservative, if they're even getting success at all. I do my research, please don't say I know nothing.

It's funny because the ones you listed as not sexy were almost all the ones that I do consider sexy! Yeah, Ariana and Selena look very young but knowing they are adults eases that guilty feeling. I look younger than I am and I know how much I hate it when people treat me like a teenager when I'm 25, so I say there's definitely no problem with finding these grown women attractive! I think Demi's new image has made me realise how hot she really is.

Really, you don't find Gaga sexy? I think she's the sexiest pop girl there ever was - everything about her screams sex. How is her body not attractive to you? She's thin but not anorexic and is somewhat T&A based. I actually don't find Katy, Beyonce or Rihanna sexy - they're the ones who seem to fake it for me! Apart from Gaga and Ariana, I'd say Kylie, Shakira and Janet Jackson are the sexiest, which just goes to show that just because you're over 30 doesn't mean you haven't still got it. I think these 5 women are the only really sexy ones left. They project sensuality through their voice, mannerisms, personality, everything. I agree, sexy is something you can't fake, but I think our views of it differ quite a bit.

Regardless of whether Miley was considered sexy or not, the very fact she was acting sexual should have got those headlines and translated into public interest, just like what happened with her last album. I agree, it was just a tired trick she was doing, but even so, it was only the second time she'd done it. I thought the public would only get tired around the third or fourth time.

That's the thing - pop girls are made sexual even though the majority of their audience are straight women and gay men. That being the case, why are they selling, then? I think it's because women aren't averse to sexual women (straight men get weird about homoeroticism) and lots of gays love sexual women. When you're a woman, you'll find that we're encouraged to find other sexual women appealing and to sexualise ourselves. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it happens. We buy it because we want to be like these women and their music is fun to dance to and we can see ourselves in it. As for examples of female artists for whom sexuality always helped them sell, well, not always (no one can maintain neverending success and a flop single will happen), but Kylie, Britney, Christina, PCD, Rihanna...all these women had a lot of success when they were making sex bops but struggled when they released vulnerable ballads. There's a reason why they have very few ballads in their singles discography. I posted in that thread you speak of and I said that it was pointless basing the floppage of these songs on their US performance alone, that we had to take worldwide performance into account too. Slave 4 U and Dirrty were big hits worldwide (Dirrty even went to #1 in the UK and became her second biggest hit - remember Europeans are more open to sexuality), but Americans never seem to realise this and think that the US performance defines everything. Plus, Britney was blacklisted in America at the time, not internationally.

To each there own. Maybe because selena and ariana look too innocent for me, I like my girls to look like they know a thing or two about sex, but these girls look so sweet. And idk why I don't find gaga sexy...her ass is incredible!! But her breasts...are sad boobs. She was sexy when she came out in 08, but knowing her now and following her now, she's just not sexy to me?? 

And whaaaaat?? Rihanna and Beyonce are the epitome of sexy! Their eyes, their body language, their sultry voices. If I liked twang I'd deeef be into them! And I completely forgot about shakira!  she is insanely sexy! 

[Harry 26,836]

1 hour ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Harry, I really don't want to argue with you, so even if you disagree with what I have to say, can you please keep it civil? I really don't want a screaming match at this time of year.

Selena isn't getting hits internationally. I always judge song performance based on worldwide charts, never just American ones. Thing is, even in her biggest market, she's still yet to get a #1. Good For You was her first single to get into the top 5 and it just slipped under the wire at that. She only seems to get one really successful single off each album, tops. She completely stopped trying after the follow up single to Come And Get It flopped. She'll probably do it again if Same Old Love doesn't rise higher.

I know all kinds of music sells and not all the bestselling albums are about sex, I know. But I'm talking in general - a sexual single selling, a sexual video or live performance for a song causing it to gain more attention and sales. I'm just saying I've been seeing less of that this year. I really think it doesn't have the same impact as it had some years ago. Back in the urban craze of the 2000's (whether it was inspired by this or not), it seemed like every pop girl was getting down and dirty and they were getting lots of hits out of it. Kylie's Fever era, Christina's Stripped era, Britney's In The Zone era, Nelly Furtado's Loose era, Beyonce's B'day era, The Pussycat Dolls PCD era. All some of the most successful, career defining pop albums of the 2000's...and they were all very sexual. But the pop albums that are big now are very conservative, if they're even getting success at all. I do my research, please don't say I know nothing.

It's funny because the ones you listed as not sexy were almost all the ones that I do consider sexy! Yeah, Ariana and Selena look very young but knowing they are adults eases that guilty feeling. I look younger than I am and I know how much I hate it when people treat me like a teenager when I'm 25, so I say there's definitely no problem with finding these grown women attractive! I think Demi's new image has made me realise how hot she really is.

Really, you don't find Gaga sexy? I think she's the sexiest pop girl there ever was - everything about her screams sex. How is her body not attractive to you? She's thin but not anorexic and is somewhat T&A based. I actually don't find Katy, Beyonce or Rihanna sexy - they're the ones who seem to fake it for me! Apart from Gaga and Ariana, I'd say Kylie, Shakira and Janet Jackson are the sexiest, which just goes to show that just because you're over 30 doesn't mean you haven't still got it. I think these 5 women are the only really sexy ones left. They project sensuality through their voice, mannerisms, personality, everything. I agree, sexy is something you can't fake, but I think our views of it differ quite a bit.

Regardless of whether Miley was considered sexy or not, the very fact she was acting sexual should have got those headlines and translated into public interest, just like what happened with her last album. I agree, it was just a tired trick she was doing, but even so, it was only the second time she'd done it. I thought the public would only get tired around the third or fourth time.

That's the thing - pop girls are made sexual even though the majority of their audience are straight women and gay men. That being the case, why are they selling, then? I think it's because women aren't averse to sexual women (straight men get weird about homoeroticism) and lots of gays love sexual women. When you're a woman, you'll find that we're encouraged to find other sexual women appealing and to sexualise ourselves. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it happens. We buy it because we want to be like these women and their music is fun to dance to and we can see ourselves in it. As for examples of female artists for whom sexuality always helped them sell, well, not always (no one can maintain neverending success and a flop single will happen), but Kylie, Britney, Christina, PCD, Rihanna...all these women had a lot of success when they were making sex bops but struggled when they released vulnerable ballads. There's a reason why they have very few ballads in their singles discography. I posted in that thread you speak of and I said that it was pointless basing the floppage of these songs on their US performance alone, that we had to take worldwide performance into account too. Slave 4 U and Dirrty were big hits worldwide (Dirrty even went to #1 in the UK and became her second biggest hit - remember Europeans are more open to sexuality), but Americans never seem to realise this and think that the US performance defines everything. Plus, Britney was blacklisted in America at the time, not internationally.

Why do I feel like you're just making this thread to shade and diminish the accomplishments of Selena Gomez?

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

I completely agree with everything except Ariana Grandes new video being sexual. It's anything but sexual. The song under performed because it was a bad song. The video streaming is the only thing keeping it in the top 20 of the Hot100. Lord knows it's not the sales. 

I do think the public has become desensitized to female sexuality. Even the VS fashion show lost 3 Million viewers. However The Weeknd's album is a major hit. So IMO it's female sexuality that is over saturated in the media.

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

Adele is the answer to this question

Thread closed

[GloZell Green 11,723]

On December 12, 2015 at 7:18 PM, holyscheisse said:

its a combination of Lorde, Adele, Lana Del Rey, etc. coming into the scene in later years reminding us that the anti-popstars can be so much better than actual popstars.

Gaga knows this. tahts why shes doing jazz

Only Adele really. I mean, Honeymoon only had one song chart at number 50. And Lorde didn't do too well either. 

[holy scheisse 21,613]

8 hours ago, GloZell Green said:

Only Adele really. I mean, Honeymoon only had one song chart at number 50. And Lorde didn't do too well either. 

i am talking about Born To Die's impact, the whole aesthetic of Lana and her "alternativeness."

Taylor Swifts "I Knew You Were Trouble" and Xtina's "Your Body"'s music videos were definitely inspired by the Ride music video, for example. Popstars were taking from the Antipopstars image

 

 

The same for Lorde with her rejection of fame/riches in Royals, and the same themes in Team "kinda over getting told to throw me hands up in the air" etc. Its more of a cultural thing. 

and its no coincidence that these songs came out at a time when all the old Popstars began to struggle commercially (ARTPOP, Rihanna's latest singles, Keshas last album's singles, Britney Jean flopping, etc)

[tomsches 17,315]

Nobody knows ariana, demi or selena Where i Come from and miley has been pushing her vagina into our faces for the last few years so it's not exciting anymore and her New Album is just bad and her Take on "being psychedelic" might be confusing for some