Why Disease is flopping

[Quark 7,085]

o<(0_0)>o

Disease is one of the best pop songs of the year and one of my favorite Gaga songs ever, but here is why the song is flopping:

1. The lyrics: the song’s lyrics are not what most people would listen to. Gaga is singing about unpleasant things and not about love, money, success, which is what most people listen to.

2. The sound: the song has a great industrial/electro beat but if you look at the top 10 in the Billboard hot 100 chart there is nothing that sounds like it. 

3. Gaga’s vocals: Gaga’s vocals sound great in this song but they are weird. There is a lot going on with her voice with screams, moans, growls, and many people could find this unappealing. 

4. Lack of promo: Even if everything is had been GP friendly Gaga hasn’t really promoted the song. Other than a few comments and releasing a music video there has been no interviews, performances, social media posts, etc. 

 

Edited November 11 by Shadow

[Quark 7,085]

Disease Is basically the opposite of DWAS.

Edited November 10 by Quark

[HaveAnOysterBBy 792]

I love Gaga and everything she does and I always will but disease just isn’t a strong come back song so I’m not surprised. I’ve only listened to it a handful of times hoping it would grow on me 

[Chesescake 3,646]

Because there's no promotion. That's the core issue. They said they treat each single as an album rollout and then this.

[Anderson123 35,581]

[Quark 7,085]

8 minutes ago, HaveAnOysterBBy said:

I love Gaga and everything she does and I always will but disease just isn’t a strong come back song so I’m not surprised. I’ve only listened to it a handful of times hoping it would grow on me 

I kind of agree. Disease is a strong song but not a strong single if that makes sense.

[Reality 71,858]

I don't think the lyrics and vocals have anything to do with it. 

I think sound is a factor. This industrial/electronic/dark pop sound is not something most of the GP is used to. Also though, judging by the other snippets we've gotten (aside from Dance in the Shadow), it seems like this is the route she's going for the album. Y'all wanted a record that sounded more like BTW deep cuts for the longest time, and now you're finally getting it. Don't complain when that doesn't connect with the GP, because for the most part, it doesn't.

Lack of promo is also a factor, but I mean, DWAS didn't have much promo at all and that's a smash hit. Music promo has become more minimal. We don't have pop stars doing interviews and live performances every other day anymore. The streaming age has changed many things, and I think the necessity for traditional promo is one of them. Even if she did all kinds of promo for Disease, I don't know if that would've changed much.

Edited November 11 by Reality

[Chlorine 47,975]

I think we need to face the fact that we're all too depressed for this kind of music. I hope since LG7 is released in February (Valentine's month) it'll be an album of feel-good soft pop like we're all truly craving. 

[Starmie25 13,080]

I think you guys need to realise Gaga is quite a polarising music figure when it comes to pop. We love her weirder, sounding music but i repeat, this is the type of sound that pretty much alienated her during 2009-2014. 

That said "Disease" is a banger and I'd like more, please. 

edit: as long as the album and tour sells then I think all will be 👍 @monketsharona

 

Edited November 11 by Starmie25

[Starmie25 13,080]

19 minutes ago, Chesescake said:

Because there's no promotion. That's the core issue. They said they treat each single as an album rollout and then this.

You can't keep saying that guys. It's been added to many different playlists on streaming, including being #1 on TTH. 

[Reality 71,858]

5 minutes ago, Chesescake said:

Because there's no promotion. That's the core issue. They said they treat each single as an album rollout and then this.

DWAS had almost no promo though. I think people are putting so much emphasis on the lack of promo because they're frankly bored with the LG7 era so far, and they're using it as an excuse to express their frustrations. If she did all the promo she could and Disease was still flopping, I don't think people would be complaining as much. 

[Bronco 5,718]

It's not a commerical single which doesn't help its natural numbers without promo. 

And honestly, if we continue to get more experimental and creative releases like Disease and less focus on singles charts? I'm totally happy with that tbh. I'd much rather have a Gaga who's focus is experimenting & enjoying her creativity as opposed to a Gaga who's focused on numbers and making music for numbers

[Flawless 2,211]

I don't think there's a especific reason, maybe didn't resonate with a lot of people i guess. Her team could've pushed a little bit by releasing vynils, physicals, merch, booked some performances to give a cute peak,  engage the fanbase and reach maybe a broader audience but they didn't. 

So there's nothing we can do, let's just move on.

[Edonis 28,595]

1 minute ago, Reality said:

I don't think the lyrics and vocals have anything to do with it. 

I think sound is a factor. This industrial/electronic/dark pop sound is not something most of the GP is used to. Also though, judging by the other snippets we've gotten (aside from Dance in the Shadow), it seems like this is the route she's going for the album. Y'all wanted a record that sounded more like BTW deep cuts for the longest time, and now you're finally getting it.

Lack of promo is also a factor, but I mean, DWAS didn't have much promo at all and that's a smash hit. Music promo has become more and more minimal. We don't have pop stars doing interviews and live performances every other day anymore. The streaming age has changed many things, and I think the necessity for traditional promo is one of them. Even if she did all kinds of promo for Disease, I don't know if that would've changed much.

DWAS actually had a pretty extensive digital promotion campaign that was targeted to casual listeners, not fans, which highlights the big difference between Bruno's team and Gaga's team (whereas Gaga's team tends to focus on fan interaction and engagement, Bruno's team heavily emphasized making sure casual fans and the GP are also tuning in).

The promotional banners on publication websites and social media, autoplay push on spotify and apple music, music video snippets used for social media visibility to chase that needed TikTok virality (and having it available the same day as the song's release), live performances in Vegas, and Bruno doing a few tv spots for East Asian and SE Asian fans (his biggest market) are just a few examples. 

The issue is that Disease has none of that. 

[Edonis 28,595]

And I'm sorry, I get that Disease has a sound that isn't exactly super popular on the Hot 100, BUT, genre has less and less of an importance in the 2024 music soundscape thanks to how streaming has evolved post-pandemic. It's actually a lot harder for labels to pick up on trends and sounds these days because the industry is moving much quicker thanks to the short attention spans of casual listeners, and while I don't doubt Disease's sound will turn off some listeners, there's also a niche out there for electronic body music-tinged pop music that is helping songs like Government Hooker and Judas outstream some of Gaga's more commercial-friendly pop songs.