Do you get annoyed when people claim that Till It Happens To You flopped?

[BlahForever1 671]

I am sick and tired of people saying that Till it Happens TO You flopped. Does anyone here honestly expect a song about rape, when we live in a culture that condones rape, to be a smash hit on the charts?

The Hunting Ground came out in March (I think), the song leaked a few weeks after, and was only officially released in September. That's pretty massive gap in between the movie premiere/leak and the official release - obviously, it wasn't going to attract as much attention. Movie singles tend to perform quite differently to usual singles from an album so that combined with the fact that The Hunting Ground was a documentary about rape that had a somewhat limited release, the song was probably not going to be a hit. 

 Furthermore, it was pretty obvious that Gaga and her team wanted the song to have as much social/cultural impact as possible, rather than being a top ten hit (and obviously they were gunning for high profile awards as well).

It just annoys me that people say the song flopped when, in my opinion, the song achieved so much more than Gaga had probably envisioned. In the case of Till It Happens To You, I think it's the social / cultural impact that's the most important, not whether it sells a **** ton or gets played on the radio. 

Sorry, I just had to vent. Do you agree with me/ get annoyed that people claim that the song flopped? 

[The Child 18,997]

I once argued with someone who told me that both Gaga & her label wanted it to be a hit, otherwise they wouldn't have made official remixes and I didn't what to answer to that lol.

[miju 375]

I'm sure gaga and her label might've had hopes that it could've done well on radio and iTunes but I also don't think they really expected it to, they just made some remixes to give it some extra exposure.

Tbh it's not even worth it to argue with someone over whether or not it flopped, anyone calling it a flop is ignorant to the fact that it was created for a rape documentary in the first place - not to top the charts. Plus, the song was important because of its message, not how many times it was bought

[Didymus 34,379]

It barely hit the Hot 100. That's a flop no matter how you spin it, esp. when you think of all the media attention it got. #171 in the UK come on.

Comparison: that irrelevant ass A Very Gaga Holiday EP hit #52 on the Billboard 200 and the track White Christmas (which never got any promo at all) #87 in the UK singles charts.

Her power is gone, TIHTY's lack of commercial success is just a logical illustration of that. She's not able to sell just anything now, or get lots of views for anything now (also clearly illustrated by the video and the live performances of the song compared to her peers). We should be happy she's still getting so much press attention.

Imo a song can be a flop ànd be valuable for social impact. It's not one or the other. Getting so annoyed by someone focusing on commercial success is not the right way to go about it. Admit that it flopped commercially (which it did) and then shine the light on what it did do.

[Jenniferella 2,774]

I never ever heard anyone talking about this song nor heard the song itself anywhere. 

It is a commercial flop.

[crisTEAne 21,059]

i agree, it's annoying. the song is a cultural milestone in terms of the cultural discussion about rape. 

[Redstreak 6,653]

No, it did flop but I don't think anyone was riding on this song to be a hit.

[Didymus 34,379]

What annoys me more actually is Gaga fans neglecting to mention the efforts of the documentary filmmakers. The film got played at film festivals, at school campuses, it got loads of press attention, had its own ridiculous controversies,...

It all leads back to the film. You have to be seriously arrogant and deluded (maybe even more than the people who say TIHTY is a flop) to ignore what the song was a part of, and act like Gaga's the only one who deserves the credit for the whole project and its impact, esp. when the video didn't even get 25% of the views of Bitch I'm Madonna.

[fashion monster 397]

No, it's still a great song and as I don't care for commercial success of music it doesn't affect me.

TBH I'm more annoyed that it didn't get that damned Oscar...

[Altair 2,000]

It was a flop

 

[Antonio 27,762]

10 minutes ago, Altair said:

It was a flop

 

Your ass was a flop

[BlondeQueenOfGGD 25,454]

I don't know what to think about... with this one.. I'll go with neither  

[yxi 4,999]

The song sounds so outdated and the vocals are off putting, it could have never become a hit.

But it was a success because of the message its spread which was Gaga's intention with this song