Shallow Wasn't Meant for Success - A Rant on Promo Singles

[****you 66]

All I care about is that she has a hit at all! 

[****you 66]

2 hours ago, BenG said:

Shallow has become and will continue to be a singing competition staple. Shallow is bigger in many countries outside the US.

I know it’s an unpopular opinion but I hated the final song. It sounded like a regurgitated “I Will Always Love You” from The Bodyguard. Listen to the verses in both and they sound similar musically. My favorite song on the whole soundtrack is “Always Remember Us This Way” and I think that could have been a big hit. I love Shallow though

[Bradley 59,023]

7 hours ago, hellothing said:

Because I believe it was there to create buzz, not to be released. But what do I know? 🐙

I feel like I'll Never Love Again is undoubtedly the more emotional and 'shocking' song, but Shallow is catchy and it features both Gaga and Bradley in a pivotal moment in the movie, this is A Star Is Born, a movie about Jackson Maine and Ally Maine, you can't really let Gaga take all the shine without giving Bradley a proper inclusion.

I guess you could but people love a good ol' romance, and it needs the male lead to work.

[Didymus 34,379]

Great post. Well put together and argumented  

I agree with everything except the last part. INLA has two versions because of that awkward dialogue ending and they knew the fans would also want to hear that final chorus. It was always meant to be a promo song, songs like that don’t do well commercially anymore  While it was definitely designed to be an epic Whitney style new musical classic, I don’t think it was designed to slay the charts.

You’re spot on with everything else though.

[Didymus 34,379]

And I cackled like a beast at the ‘gay fan’ bit omg

[holy scheisse 22,254]

I'm sorry but I'll never love again is a sappy ballad and it's not fun or replayable. Shallow has really intense and strong emotion to it, it's a slow build making that ultimate peak really satisfying, it's more powerful than that other song and I really really doubt that shallow wasn't intended to be the flagship song

[Karl 3,394]

If INLA was gonna smash it would have already, this is the streaming era any song on an album can become a hit. People who have seen the film obviously liked Shallow and ARUTW more as they're streamed more.

[Chuckles 2,549]

Looks like you forgot that the John Wayne music video exists. 

[KatieJudasGaga4 67,907]

13 hours ago, hellothing said:

Judas literally was the reason why people were trying to ban her tour in the Philippines, Indonesia, etc.  It had a huge effect on her image. Staunch Christians still hold this against her. Play Gaga at a highly Catholic environment, judgement will be nigh 

As for Shallow, I get your opposition. Thanks for being respectful 

Judas wasn't the reason for the bans. It was the whole BTW era/movement/album/song. 

[outtahere12428 2,850]

She has done this since always. Even Monster was scrapped as a single. It’s a bit frustrating! I hope that for LG6 they plan it better... This happens because people usually choose the hit, not the label! So when TEOG, DWUW and MR started to be successful, they couldn’t waste te opportunity! Next time either NOT release any promo singles or just choose a bad song so that the GP doesn’t make a hit out of it 😅 lets hope for our sis LG6! 

Nevertheless, I’m glad some things went as they did because 

1. TEOG is one of Gaga’s best songs and one of her greatest hits ever (Her 6th biggest in the US)

2. Million Reasons is the reason Gaga is successful again. We may not like it but it did bring her back!

3. Do What U Want may not be as big (still a top 15 hit in the US) but I don’t think Venus would have overperformed. It’s really not a very commercial song. I think it would have flopped like GUY did. At least DWUW is known by almost everyone 

+ DOPE WAS #8 IN THE US, I’M SURPRISED INTERSCOPE DIDN’T TRY TO MILK THE SH!T OUT OF IT LOL

[FfFfFfFF 55,694]

9 hours ago, derpmonster said:

It was. 

Every radio station was listing INLA as coming up right at the time of the album release. No one listed Shallow yet. Shallow's impact date was 16th of October iirc. INLA was already sent before that and was playlisted starting the week of the release of the soundtrack. they paused those plans and pushed Shallow instead because it blew up more than they expected. 

What radio stations? Do you have a source? That would make INLA the first single off the soundtrack and that is not true. I was around this site when Shallow and ASIB were released and I have 0 memory of this happening.

I also know there is this myth on pop forums that if a radio station plays one song then it must have been sent to them as a single, which is not true.

[derpmonster 22,412]

14 minutes ago, FfFfFfFF said:

What radio stations? Do you have a source? That would make INLA the first single off the soundtrack and that is not true. I was around this site when Shallow and ASIB were released and I have 0 memory of this happening.

I also know there is this myth on pop forums that if a radio station plays one song then it must have been sent to them as a single, which is not true.

I will look this up and let you know. It was here and I remember it clearly. 

And no, it wasn't just one play. I know radios play album tracks at times. I'll find which radio stations did but there were threads that often made it to the top thread of the day about how INLA is possibly the first single. 

Even if it were sent to radio, it wasn't a single though because they never released it as a standalone digital single either. Shallow blew up and was a last minute decision anyway. 

I will find this and get back to you. 

[Inferno 2,880]

First of all, the backlash started with Born This Way the single which was successful but controversial because of its "pandering" to the lgbtqi community on top of the Madonna derivation hoopla. Judas was just the one-two-punch of single drama that started burying her. And if you REALLY wanna dive deep, Alejandro was technically the start of backlash as it didnt do as well as the previous two TFM singles and caused a **** ton of controversy with its video and people were saying she was officially doing too much and again Madonna comparisons grew heavier than ever before (then leading up to BTW being the lead where it just exploded). Barely even past the first paragraph and had to get that out lol

I dont think the GP cared whether or not The Edge of Glory video was jam packed with imagery but ill agree with the single switch and all the pressures adding to the drama for sure.

The Million Reasons music video is literally not bad at all. I really don't understand why fans hate that video so much. Like literally I don't get it. Is it just that its not conceptual and follows a very straightforward story arc? I don't get it. Someone give me an explanation that doesn't revolve around a lack of conceptual artistry please. Because to me, as far as like basic videos go I think its nice.

[Inferno 2,880]

20 hours ago, FfFfFfFF said:

What radio stations? Do you have a source? That would make INLA the first single off the soundtrack and that is not true. I was around this site when Shallow and ASIB were released and I have 0 memory of this happening.

I also know there is this myth on pop forums that if a radio station plays one song then it must have been sent to them as a single, which is not true.

both shallow and INLA impacted AC playlists. Shallow was just the one that took off.

[Economy 49,555]

On 2/7/2019 at 1:46 PM, AJRocketMan said:

I’ll Never Love Again is so generic and uninteresting. It was purposely made for the sake of pulling the viewers heartstrings after Jackson’s death. And it has the same formula and style as all of Dianne Warren’s ‘90s ballads. Til It Happens to You was a lot better in my eyes. INLA was far too calculated.

Also, calling Shallow a monster hit but calling Applause a flop?  Applause peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Shallow peaked at #5. Additionally, Applause has proven itself to have longetivity, with many radio stations still playing the song occasionally even today. I still hear it at work sometimes. I even hear it at the mall every once and a while. I don’t think Shallow is gonna be as well remembered 5.5 years later. 

World Wide Shallow has been bigger than Applause

 

Media wise, attention wise and critical acclaim wise Shallow is doing better

 

Shallow has consistently remained near the top selling singles way longer than Applause and in terms of global streams has ranked higher longer

 

Applause was only bigger on US Pop radio

 

Also a peak of #4 vs #5 is a negligible difference. Many factors affect the peak position. It's not really the most reliable way to see how successful a song was