The song that started Katy’s decay

[CannaeDrive 3,412]

27 minutes ago, dit said:

oh hunty you are wrong. Katy's decline began with "Uncle De Shawn Ali". Dark Horse just was her final hurrah / a fluke. She's been flopping since. CTTR was a cute sized hit though.

Yeah, that's what I saw back then in 2014, it was the beginning of her slow but constant decline:

 

[Ariana Grindr 3,173]

57 minutes ago, Mr S said:

Nah it was the hair coupled with the normal cycle of a pop star.

Most people don't know Migo is homophobic.

Most people don’t know who aMigos is 

[Doot 2]

14 minutes ago, tmo13 said:

but that's such a good song same with Birthday! that song is bop.com

I love Chained To The Rhythm. 

[Chromatography 10,186]

2 minutes ago, Doot said:

I love Chained To The Rhythm. 

my favorite katy song, was so disappointed when it didn’t smash

[pop ate my heart 2,865]

1 hour ago, Red said:

to be fair, This Is How We Do didn't go very well either, maybe it was that

Wasn't TIHWD like the 4th/5th single from that album? that's so normal. it doesn't mean a downfall

[Daylight Jokers 14,958]

Her decline started with Rise. CTTR did fairly well.

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

1 hour ago, Lighter said:

If you remember what happened back in 2017.

Her haircut was only partial to what tore her career.
 

This song blew it all. Why? Because of Migos. They were real hot back then but also known for being homophobic. So instead of having a hit from a popular trio it did the opposite for Katy. This was when it all started. Imagine if it turned out to be the Ariana collab it was rumored to be, she would’ve been in a much different place now.

 

 

Weird how a song with a billion views on YouTube started her decline. 

[Guest Adarsh]

1 hour ago, dzox said:

it was her Applause

Applause was top 10 for 14 consecutive weeks and CTTR was on the Hot 100 a total of 15 weeks 

[MACATL 1,507]

1 hour ago, Red said:

Nah, it was Rise

Edit: to be fair, This Is How We Do didn't go very well either, maybe it was that

This is How We Do may not have done very well chart wise, but I have to say it's one of the catchiest songs she's ever had.  I can play that song and instantly be put in a good mood.  

[Ronk 14,762]

1 hour ago, Cerny said:

It was Birthday. 

I believe she’ll come back strong one day, though. 

 

I believe that too.  Her career is far from over, and better days are ahead.

[dzox 552]

1 hour ago, Cerny said:

It’s a good track, but I think it would have performed just slightly better than Birthday, to be quite frank. Dark Horse (previous single) and Legendary Lovers give me a similar vibe, it would have felt very samey. You want something more distinctive and notable, for a next single.

Love Me or the Taylor Swift-esque Double Rainbow would’ve been better options, in my opinion.

i dont think so. i think legendary lovers could be the next hit from the album. it doesnt give me any similar vibes to dark horse, but if there's any to her other songs it does have some similar vibes with E.T. (and E.T. was one of the highlights from teenage dream).

[dzox 552]

8 minutes ago, Ronk said:

I believe that too.  Her career is far from over, and better days are ahead.

honestly Smile could've done better if the rollout wasnt messy. if the album came out when NRO was still fresh with the 70's themed image it could've done a lot better. i mean the album has a lot of potential hits. 

[GGDisbetter 2,187]

This is how we do cultural appopriation started her decay and bon ape tit was the final nail in coffin. Sad because Witness is easily her best album.

[calmwaters3 11]

For everyone saying Birthday or This Is How We Do, that's not the case. Both songs did well, with Birthday reaching the top 20 and TIHWD reaching the top 30, and both spending decently long on the charts for fourth and fifth singles. I saw someone say Dark Horse was a fluke, and no, it wasn't. Teenage Dream was. No one is going to earn 8 top 3 hits from one album now. Unconditionally was her first underperformer, reaching only no. 14 despite being a pre-release single and getting a big budget MV with high profile performances. Birthday didn't get either of that and still did similarly. And personally I think Birthday was the best single choice on Prism. It fit her brand very well. Instead of Unconditionally she should've gone for the genuinely excellent Double Rainbow. It's much more radio friendly imo and even Billboard ranked it as one of the most deserving non-singles of the decade which ought to be made singles. I think Rise was an underperformer, but it was an awful song with no major performances and still nearly reached the top ten. What killed her career was the decision to take a long break (4 years) between two albums. 2015 was the year imo when streaming overtook digital sales to be the most popular method of single consumption, and any artist who wasn't releasing music to transition into the new era was gonna be on shaky ground with their next albums. Plus, with singles artists like Katy driven more by the general public buying their music rather than huge fanbases are more likely to go obsolete andd need to keep pumping new music to keep themselves in the public eye. Think of Maroon 5 or Post Malone. Katy didn't do that, and considering how quickly the gp loses interest in artists (especially aging female ones), it came to bite her soon. Secondly, going political or at least 'woke' is never a good choice, unless you're aggressive about it. Think of Madonna with American Life. An artist like Katy best known for shallow pop hits (don't come for me, I love her) was obviously going to generate less interest and even controversy that way because people don't think that artist can do that, and frankly she couldn't. The album's promo was misleading. Had it been marketed as a normal pop album, it would've done much better. Thirdly, the aesthetic change also hurt Katy. Katy's long black hair with bangs had become her signature look, and forgoing it meant she was alienating a lot of people. That's like Ariana Grande losing her ponytail in favour of a bob. It's just gonna repulse people. She could've gone blonde and still not hurt her image because she looked good with it. It just shouldn't have been that awful pixie cut. It made her look so much older and the music industry being the ageist and sexist one it is didn't like that. Fourthly, she shouldn't have sent CTTR as the lead to radios. Imo Act My Age was a much better lead. It's really damn catchy and upbeat, and in 2017 escapism was a huge thing. The US viewed Trump's presidency as a sort of death sentence, and an upbeat pop song reminiscent of better times would've resonated much more with the audience. That's a big reason why Shape Of You, Bodak Yellow, Despacito, Havana and That's What I Like were so huge in 2017. They made people forget what was going in the world. Act My Age would've done that, and people would've found it a natural progression from the previous two eras. Fifthly, she should've dropped that feud with Taylor. When Taylor was going at it she was at the peak of her popularity. Katy was at an accelerating point in her decline. In fact, a lot of people hated on Taylor for releasing Bad Blood. Katy doing it brought so much negative publicity towards her. It was an awful idea to release Swish Swish as a single. Tsunami should've been released or even Roulette. That's imo why Katy's career entered rapid decay.

[calmwaters3 11]

Woah didn't realize my post was that long 😁