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Did Bionic start the flop trend ?


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Lord Temptation
18 hours ago, Bury Me said:

No, Glitter did.

Exactly. Because Tommy Mottola paid journalists to trash it.

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StrawberryBlond

I'd say it did start something, yes. After that, it seemed that there were a lot of pop albums that weren't flopping, exactly, but wildly underperforming. I mean, Beyonce, who was unstoppable since 2003, hit the wall with 4. She sold 310k in her opening week in the US and that was deemed a flop at the time. That's how good album sales were at that moment that a major star debuting with those numbers was not good. Nowadays, you'd be praised for sales like that! And more underperformances followed. Here's a list of some pop acts, some international, some local, who went downhill with albums released after 2010:
 

Spoiler

 

2011

Avril Lavigne - Goodbye Lullaby

Britney - Femme Fatale

Beyonce - 4

Pixie Lott - Young Foolish Happy

2012

Madonna - MDNA

Cheryl Cole - A Million Lights

Nelly Furtado - The Spirit Indestructible

Leona Lewis - Glassheart

Christina Aguilera - Lotus

Kesha - Warrior

2013

Jessie J - Alive

Avril Lavigne - Avril Lavigne

Lady Gaga - ARTPOP

Britney - Britney Jean

Justin Bieber - Journals

2014

Kylie Minogue - Kiss Me Once

Shakira - Shakira

Lily Allen - Sheezus

Mariah Carey - Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse

J.Lo - A.K.A

Pixie Lott - Pixie Lott

Jessie J - Sweet Talker

Cheryl Cole - Only Human

2015

Kelly Clarkson - Piece By Piece

Madonna - Rebel Heart

Miley Cyrus - Miley Cyrus And Her Dead Petz

Leona Lewis - I Am

Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon

Avicii - Stories

Demi Lovato - Confident

5 Seconds Of Summer - Sounds Good Feels Good

Ellie Goulding - Delirium

 

And that's just the pop ones, that's not bringing in other genres. As you can see, things have got worse and worse with time. Pop acts never used to underperform like this. And it all seemed to happen after Bionic. It opened the door to flopping and suddenly made it a lot less rare and somehow more acceptable.

Also, I think Bionic started a curse - the curse of the 4th album (yes, Christina's released a Spanish album and all, but they're just side projects, I'm talking about a full-length studio release). You'll notice that after Bionic, the curse of the 4th album was real. It seemed like the 4th album was a difficult era (flopping singles, premature end to the album, no tour, etc) for...

Avril Lavigne - Goodbye Lullaby

Beyonce - 4

Lady Gaga - ARTPOP (yes, I regard TFM as an album)

Cheryl Cole - Only Human

One Direction - Four

Leona Lewis - I Am (not including her Christmas album as that was a side project)

And a lot more. Something about that number (and in the case of Beyonce and 1D, naming your album after the number really jinxes it) seems to cause albums to fail these days.

 

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Bloody
On 30/3/2016 at 11:41 PM, StrawberryBlond said:

 

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Cheryl Cole - Only Human

Did Only Human underperform that bad? I'd like to know from someone who lives in the UK. :huh:

I mean it gained 2 number 1 singles (and a flop 1) and sold around 70k. I guess for the standarts of her previous album sales that was considered a flop. :giveup: 

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StrawberryBlond
Just now, Bloody said:

Did Only Human underperform that bad? I'd like to know from someone who lives in the UK. :huh:

I mean it gained 2 number 1 singles (and a flop 1) and sold around 70k. I guess for the standarts of her previous album sales that was considered a flop. :giveup: 

Oh, yes, it was a massive flop. Barely 60k copies and apart from her debut, she was never an album seller anyway. it was off the charts completely after a couple of weeks and never returned and there was no tour (and she's only had one of those anyway). The lead single only went to #1 because it was on pre-order for 2 months (a system we no longer use, at least not for major artists) and it debuted at the top with 118k sales which is pretty bad considering that was the result of 2 months worth of sales and she's promoted it at so many big events up until that moment. It didn't last long on the charts and has sold around 400k to date - roughly tied with Call My Name as her worst performing lead single ever (and all her lead singles after Fight For This Love have sold around the 400k mark, not coming close to the landmark 1 million copies it sold back in the day). I Don't Care only sold 82k in its opening week but she was lucky there was no competition and went to #1. It's only sold around 200k to date and that's partly because of the swearwords ensuring that a clean version had to be made and her fans bought that too, to inflate her sales. Both videos have barely been watched on YouTube. Yet, because she went to #1 and now holds the record as the British female with the most UK #1's, we've been led to believe that she's still relevant. I wonder how her new material's going to do, now that you need a lot more than sales to get to #1 and she's not a massive streaming force. And X Factor promotion doesn't pay off like it used to.

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Bloody
2 minutes ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Oh, yes, it was a massive flop. Barely 60k copies and apart from her debut, she was never an album seller anyway. it was off the charts completely after a couple of weeks and never returned and there was no tour (and she's only had one of those anyway). The lead single only went to #1 because it was on pre-order for 2 months (a system we no longer use, at least not for major artists) and it debuted at the top with 118k sales which is pretty bad considering that was the result of 2 months worth of sales and she's promoted it at so many big events up until that moment. It didn't last long on the charts and has sold around 400k to date - roughly tied with Call My Name as her worst performing lead single ever (and all her lead singles after Fight For This Love have sold around the 400k mark, not coming close to the landmark 1 million copies it sold back in the day). I Don't Care only sold 82k in its opening week but she was lucky there was no competition and went to #1. It's only sold around 200k to date and that's partly because of the swearwords ensuring that a clean version had to be made and her fans bought that too, to inflate her sales. Both videos have barely been watched on YouTube. Yet, because she went to #1 and now holds the record as the British female with the most UK #1's, we've been led to believe that she's still relevant. I wonder how her new material's going to do, now that you need a lot more than sales to get to #1 and she's not a massive streaming force. And X Factor promotion doesn't pay off like it used to.

What you said about the tours is true. She had 4 albums, yet she toured only once and once more with girls aloud for their 10 year anniversary. And her streaming force isn't that big from what I saw on youtube and spotify.

Maybe her next album, will be more successful from OH, she's a hitmaker and I believe she'll be able to get a #1 single again even if she left from X Factor. She stood out from the rest of the girls in the group for some reason after all. Everyone expected that Nadine would get the best solo career, cause she always had the best voice but she flopped and Cheryl achieved more than everyone expected.

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StrawberryBlond
4 minutes ago, Bloody said:

What you said about the tours is true. She had 4 albums, yet she toured only once and once more with girls aloud for their 10 year anniversary. And her streaming force isn't that big from what I saw on youtube and spotify.

Maybe her next album, will be more successful from OH, she's a hitmaker and I believe she'll be able to get a #1 single again even if she left from X Factor. She stood out from the rest of the girls in the group for some reason after all. Everyone expected that Nadine would get the best solo career, cause she always had the best voice but she flopped and Cheryl achieved more than everyone expected.

I think her touring figures and revenue confirmed that she doesn't have the demand for touring. If she ever does it again, it'll probably be at O2 academies, not arenas. But at this rate, it might be a greatest hits tour, not supporting an album.

So, you're a fan, then? Well, suffice to say, I'm not in the same boat. I've been quite famous for my cutting comments about her over the years, truth be told. Maybe if you lived in the UK, you'd understand a bit more. We're all sick of her at the moment for a number of reasons. It's weird to think she once had so much support and how quickly it died out. I would have much preferred Nicola to be the successful one - she's made the best solo album out of all of them and I can really relate to some of the tracks.

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Bloody
29 minutes ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I think her touring figures and revenue confirmed that she doesn't have the demand for touring. If she ever does it again, it'll probably be at O2 academies, not arenas. But at this rate, it might be a greatest hits tour, not supporting an album.

So, you're a fan, then? Well, suffice to say, I'm not in the same boat. I've been quite famous for my cutting comments about her over the years, truth be told. Maybe if you lived in the UK, you'd understand a bit more. We're all sick of her at the moment for a number of reasons. It's weird to think she once had so much support and how quickly it died out. I would have much preferred Nicola to be the successful one - she's made the best solo album out of all of them and I can really relate to some of the tracks.

Nicola's album was very good indeed, it was critically aclaimed but too bad that it didn't get that success it deserved.

When it comes to Cheryl yes I'm a fan and I enjoy her music. She used to be UK's sweetheart but everything about her personal life got so much press and I understand why everyone got sick of her in a way.

I was watching her interview with Piers Morgan some days ago and I was like damn :giveup:

She got so overexposed in all ways

 

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StrawberryBlond
10 minutes ago, Bloody said:

Nicola's album was very good indeed, it was critically aclaimed but too bad that it didn't get that success it deserved.

When it comes to Cheryl yes I'm a fan and I enjoy her music. She used to be UK's sweetheart but everything about her personal life got so much press and I understand why everyone got sick of her in a way.

I was watching her interview with Piers Morgan some days ago and I was like damn :giveup:

She got so overexposed in all ways

 

Thing is, even at her peak, it was hard to find a true fan of her. She got the young fanbase but most adults were like, what's the big deal? She was just supported because she was pretty, that was all. And she was part of a show that was massive at the time (Nadine apparently really wanted that gig - wonder if her career would have worked out differently if so?) "The nation's sweetheart" was a term that the media acquired and put on us but most rejected it. It was a marketing term to improve her profile, the people didn't come up with it. Honestly, these days, she has about as much respect in the UK as Kim Kardashian. Look up the one star reviews of her autobiography on Amazon UK - most of them are from former fans saying that they liked her up until they read this book but went off her when they realised that all she does is play the victim and nothing is ever her fault.

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Versace
On 3/30/2016 at 0:41 AM, StrawberryBlond said:

I'd say it did start something, yes. After that, it seemed that there were a lot of pop albums that weren't flopping, exactly, but wildly underperforming. I mean, Beyonce, who was unstoppable since 2003, hit the wall with 4. She sold 310k in her opening week in the US and that was deemed a flop at the time. That's how good album sales were at that moment that a major star debuting with those numbers was not good. Nowadays, you'd be praised for sales like that! And more underperformances followed. Here's a list of some pop acts, some international, some local, who went downhill with albums released after 2010:
 

  Hide contents

 

2011

Avril Lavigne - Goodbye Lullaby

Britney - Femme Fatale

Beyonce - 4

Pixie Lott - Young Foolish Happy

2012

Madonna - MDNA

Cheryl Cole - A Million Lights

Nelly Furtado - The Spirit Indestructible

Leona Lewis - Glassheart

Christina Aguilera - Lotus

Kesha - Warrior

2013

Jessie J - Alive

Avril Lavigne - Avril Lavigne

Lady Gaga - ARTPOP

Britney - Britney Jean

Justin Bieber - Journals

2014

Kylie Minogue - Kiss Me Once

Shakira - Shakira

Lily Allen - Sheezus

Mariah Carey - Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse

J.Lo - A.K.A

Pixie Lott - Pixie Lott

Jessie J - Sweet Talker

Cheryl Cole - Only Human

2015

Kelly Clarkson - Piece By Piece

Madonna - Rebel Heart

Miley Cyrus - Miley Cyrus And Her Dead Petz

Leona Lewis - I Am

Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon

Avicii - Stories

Demi Lovato - Confident

5 Seconds Of Summer - Sounds Good Feels Good

Ellie Goulding - Delirium

 

And that's just the pop ones, that's not bringing in other genres. As you can see, things have got worse and worse with time. Pop acts never used to underperform like this. And it all seemed to happen after Bionic. It opened the door to flopping and suddenly made it a lot less rare and somehow more acceptable.

Also, I think Bionic started a curse - the curse of the 4th album (yes, Christina's released a Spanish album and all, but they're just side projects, I'm talking about a full-length studio release). You'll notice that after Bionic, the curse of the 4th album was real. It seemed like the 4th album was a difficult era (flopping singles, premature end to the album, no tour, etc) for...

Avril Lavigne - Goodbye Lullaby

Beyonce - 4

Lady Gaga - ARTPOP (yes, I regard TFM as an album)

Cheryl Cole - Only Human

One Direction - Four

Leona Lewis - I Am (not including her Christmas album as that was a side project)

And a lot more. Something about that number (and in the case of Beyonce and 1D, naming your album after the number really jinxes it) seems to cause albums to fail these days.

 

 

Brilliant Digging , guess i was right , Bionic did start something !!!

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LoveandMagic

I think something to take away from this is that as we look back now, many would say that those albums that flopped (or "flopped") were actually quite good (or much better than the hate they received). Sometimes hype and riding the media band wagon can overshadow the actual quality of the work as well as the efforts and concept behind the era. The work gets tainted by public perception, but upon later listening (ignoring all that came before and after the era), the albums themselves are revealed to be decent or better than originally perceived. 

Just repeat to yourself, "It's just a show. I should really just relax."
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15 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

 

 

15 hours ago, Bloody said:

 

She just announced leaving the X Factor to focus on her next album. I'm really excited to see what it will sound like! I enjoyed Only Human for the most part, but the songs felt effortless to me. I hope she can release a record that sounds like it is more than just a collection of good-ish songs. 

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CakeLikeLG

yes, iconic. Lotus who?

now buy this f*cking album, just buy this f*ckin sh!t

tumblr_m7k69t13TK1rwpjsao1_500.gif

 

live each day like Gaga might drop an album
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teenagechrist

It started with Glitter by Mariah, Xtina followed the path, and Gaga reinvented the term. Ultimate reverse warholian expedition. :hor:

feeling so hot tamale
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