G.U.Y. flopping makes no sense

[HelloHangoverz 17,360]

I think the label always shits on her with choosing ridiculous singles. Like even for Chromatica, going with Stupid Love as the lead single when Alice, Replay and Sine From Above exist? They play it too safe

[Sherry 4,715]

Seriously tho, G.U.Y is the best song on ARTPOP alongside ARTPOP title track, Venus, MJH, Applause and Gypsy.

[Luke78619 23,277]

Simple, no radio plays, so the GP doesn’t even know it exists 

[Flapjack 1,264]

Just the opening synth should have gotten a Grammy. 

[Anderson123 37,969]

I think Gaga wanted a fan favorite to get the single/music video treatment for once after Dance In The Dark and Scheiße. As far as I remember she used her own money for GUY ? I’m sure she was aware it wasn’t going to do wonders, ARTPOP was just done by that time. 

[AnglerfishbraBENUS 5,734]

i really don’t think it was meant to be successful. she had to self fund the video i think?

i really believe she wanted some sort of additional ARTPOP visual since Venus, MANiCURE, and DWUW were canceled and the rollout for the album was dead in its tracks. In reality i don’t even think applause was anywhere close to the caliber of what she wanted to express with the record. G.U.Y. as single symbolized that she was never going to give up on her art no matter how bad things got behind the scenes and she probably picked this song because to her it means she’s ok being on the bottom of the charts if it means she’s happy and sane. 

[LordByron28 1,038]

Her image and fame had essentially imploded. She received lots of backlash from fans, haters, media, her own team, and the GP at large. A lot of people saw their opportunity to go after her while she was weak then and sunk their teeth in. I know I had to leave this site and didn’t return till the Chromatica era due to how negative and toxic it was. I do think she also wasn’t in the best spot in terms of her health during that time. It is a shame as it is probably one of the strongest and most single worthy tracks off of the album outside of Applause and DWUW. Sexxx Dreams, Manicure, and  Gypsy were the only other contenders with similar strength. Venus is my favorite track off of the album but would’ve been a harder sell. As another user said music trends were more into either hipster sounds or the funky/jazzy sounds that dominated like Blurred Lines. 

[crazygato 503]

GUY was a very single worthy track but Gaga basically disappeared in the pop world around that time. It had everything to be a hit but no momentum or promotion. That was the problem. She had an identity crisis and people were also wondering what happened. Even Applause and DWUW felt like stand alone singles. And zip! She dissapeared again. 

[27monster27 12,750]

4 hours ago, Aglaya said:

EDIT: Also, G.U.Y. was VERY electronic and was released late into the hipster minimalistic sound of 2014 with charting songs like Chandelier, Royals or Happy by Pharrell. Only pop songs from PRISM or Rihanna were popular because they were still very causal and not as electronic and hard as any ARTPOP music was.

See I never understood arguments like this though because Ariana got a strong top five hit with "Break Free" and that was also Zedd produced and very much so a heavy EDM song.

[Hurem 17,800]

Some of you were not there to witness Gaga's fall from grace and it shows

[Babylonian 643]

5 hours ago, Noah said:

It wasn't sent to Radio and it sounded too dated by the time it came out. 

This is not true, the song was sent to Radio 

[ThisGuyTony 29,623]

5 hours ago, artdoll said:

I believe the general consensus is that, at the time, Gaga was far too overexposed and during this era there was a major hate train against her. There's also the factor that the EDM sound of G.U.Y. wasn't as popular during that time. So G.U.Y. not performing as well as past singles makes sense.

 I don't recall Perfect Illusion performing that well, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. As for Joanne (album), if I recall correctly, was not (and arguably still isn't) very popular among fans. 

 

CTC & Joanne were very much needed though, they helped immensely in making the GP view Gaga in a far more positive light and expand the sound of + make wonderful additions to her discography!

 

5 hours ago, Juanlittlem said:

Yeah it debuted and peaked at 15 then went down to 42 next week.

Perfect Illusion had 100k debut digital sales and is eligible to be certified Platinum in the US, is certified Gold in Australia, and Silver in the UK.

I don’t think GUY has any certifications in any country WW.

While PI still flopped, people reacted better to it than they did GUY.🤷🏽‍♂️ 

 

[SimonBaetens 8,300]

It’s not a good song.

[Brizel 593]

5 hours ago, androiduser said:

it just wasn't as great as the fans make it out to be... the chorus is just not there... Geeee Youuuuuu Whyyyyy over and over again is just not the chorus of a hit single . I know fans can't accept it,  but it's just not a hit single. A great song, but has no hit potential.

This 

[StarstruckIllusion 52,315]

Wow

This thread is the first time I’ve ever seen GUY slander in my life

But yeah, all I can do is echo the lateness in the era, her bullying in the media being the highest it’s ever been, how no one cared about her/were tired of her, and the music video being 7 mins long probably didn’t help

We all thought it was the end times for her career 

So happy she saved herself w the Sound of Music, Jazz, AHS and Super bowl