Did Bionic start the flop trend ?

[Versace 7,876]

So basically did Christina's Bionic start the flop trend

after coming from such a well-received era and revolutionizing her career with Back To Basics , people were expecting too much from her next album.

However when that album happened to be Bionic , a very gritty electro-pop album with futuristic elements , people deemed it as the biggest let down ever during the time and perhaps it still is to some.

What I don't understand though is many artists had underwhelming albums at the time, Britney's Blackout , Janet's Discipline and even after tbh with Beyonce's 4 and Madonna's MDNA, all these albums were somewhat underwhelming when compared to what preceded them.

What's funny is I love all the albums I mentioned, especially Bionic. I mean Bionic in my opinion has to be one of the best music offerings of the last decade , wtv way you swallow it , it will choke you with musical pleasure. What I love with Bionic is, it was composed with the intention of speaking to a future generation, reliant on technology and appearances. Bionic creates that atmosphere for its listeners.

The hate it got was totally underserved in my opinion , so I want to know what you guys think on its flop situation. 

[SlaeUrAnus 15,564]

Didn't Little Monsters cause it to flop? 

[Fiona Apple 13,006]

Yeah but ARTPOP made the word what it is today 

Bionic is good album btw

[Chromatica 7,031]

1 minute ago, Britney Spears said:

Yeah but ARTPOP made it what it is today 

This. Thomas Eddision may not have invented electricity, but he sure made it a lot sexier.

[eifulien 2,392]

I've never listened to this album. I used to listen to Lotus back on 2012 but now going back to it, it sounds so basic and uninspired. I'm not willing to give Xtina a chance, at least not with older stuff. 

Also I strongly disagree that 4 is underwhelming. It is the best album musically in Bey's discography despite it's commercial underperformance at the time. She got rid of the commercial element in her music and created a timeless record which she is yet to top. (ST has a much more interesting and stronger concept but it has both experimental and commercial pop/RnB songs on it).

About the flop wave - I think every artist experiences downs after strong ups. It's only natural. And those who are capable to overcome the downs stay in industry and come up even stronger. e.g Bey after 4; Rih after Rated R; Gaga now. 

[Quartz 11,923]

It's the lead single's fault as always. The reinvention wasn't enough.

[Versace 7,876]

3 minutes ago, Britney Spears said:

Yeah but ARTPOP made the word what it is today 

Bionic is good album btw

 

Just now, Temple said:

This. Thomas Eddision may not have invented electricity, but he sure made it a lot sexier.

 

Nah tbh , outside the Little Monster fandom and outside the madonna fandom lol , ARTPOP isn't that well recognised as a flop as much as Bionic. 

Bionic was deemed a flop on a pop cultural level and besides Gaga redeemed herself with what followed however Christina's Lotus only highlighted the Bionic situation. It also helps that ARTPOP commercially performed way well than a 100 considered flops and even some perceived successes lol.

[Fiona Apple 13,006]

Just now, Versace said:

 

 

Nah tbh , outside the Little Monster fandom and outside the madonna fandom lol , ARTPOP isn't that well recognised as a flop as much as Bionic. 

Bionic was deemed a flop on a pop cultural level and besides Gaga redeemed herself with what followed however Christina's Lotus only highlighted the Bionic situation. It also helps that ARTPOP commercially performed way well than a 100 considered flops and even some perceived successes lol.

Excuse me no. ARTPOP is a lot more popular as a flop than bionic.. Most people I know don't even know what Aguilera or the album is.. Gaga on the other hand,because she is a lot more popular to the younger generation took a lot more attention for the flop (even though it wasn't that much of a flop). Even people from my school knew the "artflop" thing... Bashing ARTPOP STILL be popular in the media..

[MGC 226]

Bionic wasn't that bad. I think its story is very similar to ARTPOP. Both eras werenlt well managed after the underperformance (tho for different reasons and with different consequences), ppl was expecting something different from what they delivered, critics let down both the albums a lot, Gaga and Xtina were criticized too much. The same mechanism converted an underperformance in what ppl call a flop. 

[AIex 3,102]

Melanie Martinez's 'Cry Baby' debuted higher on every chart than 'Bionic'

 

 

 

buy Cry Baby on iTunes

[Versace 7,876]

Just now, Britney Spears said:

Excuse me no. ARTPOP is a lot more popular as a flop than bionic.. Most people I know don't even know what Aguilera or the album is.. Gaga on the other hand,because she is a lot more popular to the younger generation took a lot more attention for the flop (even though it wasn't that much of a flop). Even people from my school knew the "artflop" thing... Bashing ARTPOP STILL be popular in the media..

Lol maybe that's cause you didn't witness how bad Bionic got criticised during the time, the jokes and puns on Bionic are everywhere if you look hard enough. I mean maybe for you and the people you're talking about, selling 300K+ in opening week and having a radio smash debut at number 4 and still have impact to today is a flop. 

Christina didn't even have the luxury of commercial success with her album , nor was her album in the slightest critically acclaimed. This obviously makes ARTPOP a superior album even when you compare it to many musical efforts such as the albums I mentioned, even the albums of today lol with ANTi and Zayn's new album while those are considered to have slayed lol.

I am talking about legitimately flopping, I mean the way I define flop is having no positive out view on an era , meaning no type of success what so ever (critical, commercial, artistic, financial, impactful) . People like picking on ARTPOP cause Gaga's previous works were just more superior and basically by that I mean it was deemed a flop for Gaga's standards however I don't see why 25 doesn't get deemed a flop when compared to 21. 

[RAMROD 104,212]

No, it's a thing of this life lbr.

One minute you're on top, another you're the bottom.

Circle of life.

[SamJ 8,008]

Did bionic really flop it still seems to be talked about loads today i mean so what if the sales were low it seems to be her most talked about era which is all that matters really this album seems to have kept her talked about year after year.

[Katharine Hepburn 4,607]

Blackout is a great album

[The Child 18,997]

51 minutes ago, Versace said:

What I don't understand though is many artists had underwhelming albums at the time, Britney's Blackout , all these albums were somewhat underwhelming when compared to what preceded them.

Did we listen to the same album? In what world Blackout was underwhelming? The whole Britney fanbase say it's their fave album, it received many good critics.