Why didn't the following artists smash?

[Johnikan 602]

After this

 

I dont think the GP wanted anything to do with her.

[StrawberryBlond 14,820]

Marina - She wasn't promoted enough in America even though she was stationed there for a while and she's given no promo in the UK either, despite it being her biggest market.

Natalia - Zero promo anywhere. Even before the X Factor scandal, she wasn't known at all.

Charli - Lack of promo anywhere again.

Lana - She is big, her debut album sales and Vevo views attest to that. But she has faded because she doesn't make the kind of mainstream music that produces successful singles and doesn't promote herself, being very reclusive.

Melanie - Zero promo again. Her music and image is also a bit out there for the public to accept. Plus, a Voice contestant has never been a major success, she's the first there's ever been, across all international versions of the show. This will probably mean that she's lucky to even get this success.

 

It's a shame, because I love Lana, Natalia made a great album with Trouble, Marina had a good album with Electra Heart, Melanie has a good album with Cry Baby and Charli had a decent album with Sucker. All these women have talent but the killer is promo. Promo is what sells albums more than anything and their labels just don't care enough about them. But I don't think they really want to be massive stars anyway and prefer a more chilled-out existence with a small but loyal fanbase instead of the circus that is A list celebrity life.

[Benji 20,113]

Marina and Lana have both had big era's (here anyway) and since then they've stopped worrying about promoting heavily. They've both got their fanbases and are happy just doing their own thing.

Natalia makes some pretty good music, she just lacks the promo and may struggle recovering her image after the world seen her kicking off on X-Factor.

Charli XCX is pretty known here, she was scheduled and may have done our bigger festivals but I didn't see her.

Never heard of Melanie outside of the internet, I imagine it's a promo issue.

[Dominic 11,922]

They don't appeal to the commercial market therefore no smash.  

[OmgSum1Actually 3,041]

In my opinion only Marina and Lana deserve to be bigger than they are now

[Seeka 12,372]

I think you mean inside of America, correct? Minus Melanie who I've never seen but heard about, I think everyone you listed is rather large in Europe and had big followings there.

However, I think the main reasons why none of them really did well, is because of what everyone else has said, promo. Though there are other reasons.

Charlie kind of came around during the girl power mini-era in pop. And I'm sorry, she sounds exactly like a few other artists, and so not many saw her as something serious.

Lana doesn't make music that constantly appeals to an American general populace. Same for Marina. Marina's sounds more poppy, but the lyrics are generally unappealing to normal people. Not to mention, neither of them really have an image that appeals to the GP.

As for Natalia, I'm sure it has to be promo, because she makes rather goood music that would smash on the radio. And she's this dark sex pot.

As for Melanie, I doubt anyone who wins any talent competition anymore will become famous. I'm sorry but like... there aren't that many people who achieve a great amount of permanent fame from winning a talent competition. It seems to be a curse nowadays.