album Rita Ora - 'You & I'

[Cbreezy]

54 minutes ago, SomeGirl said:

The difference between #6 and #179 is only around 5K copies??  I think there are a few big artists fooling fans into thinking that people still care about albums in 2023 because these sales are soooo low.

Excuses, Excuses.

 

Yes, industry numbers are in the toilet. But #6 to #179 is objectively TERRIBLE. Plus, even with numbers being bad all over, other artists aren't having such drastic drops.  

 

The whole "people don't care about albums" is one argument, but Rita's singles are tanking even harder. So, what gives?

 

No disrespect, but it's much more valuable to artists and their teams (who for sure frequent places like here for insights) to be candid rather than coddling.

 

Like someone else said, there's a major issue. It's anyone's guess if her situation is even salvageable. But one thing I really like about her is that she's extremely resilient. 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Cbreezy

[Popboi.]

#179 is terrible yeah, the era is over for sure.

[Cqmerqn]

Not -173 

[SomeGirl]

On 7/27/2023 at 9:21 AM, Cbreezy said:

Bringing up the Anne Marie's, Becky Hill's etc actually reinforces my point. They are all rather faceless, generic, and indistinguishable from each other musically (especially from a  streaming/radio perspective). Rita should NOT want to be in that bracket (yet unfortunately is). It's too reliant on the need for hits and GP approval. The music almost feels like an afterthought to the hustle of pleasing the most basic lane of the GP. Rita's own trajectory has shown why this is not the way to go. We're not going to sit here and pretend that this positioning happened "to" her and those girls. It's a willful lane they venture down: cater to the many rather than find savvy or interesting ways to grow artistically. There's never any incline, transformation, or experimentation. Like a Madonna, Rih, or Bey. In Rita and co's case, it's always so...mid. 

I don’t actually see how that reinforces your point considering all those “faceless” artists are currently charting/selling. It doesn’t make sense to me to state that you’re correct that the reason Rita’s album didn’t sell well is because she doesn’t connect with the public, but then also say these “faceless” artists are going the wrong route by generically appealing to the GP, who are clearly buying their music. Either it matters highly to the public that artists are “faceless”, or it doesn’t…

 

Spoiler

The fact that she was even able to sell 6K and make the top 10, very nearly top 5, without any hits and a fairly short and comparatively uneventful campaign, in my opinion, tells me that there's still some sort of a base there to buy her music. She likely could've sold more if she had done as many variants, shows, and merch bundles, as other artists are doing. For contrast, Charli is a great example of someone who has built from the ground-up and established a solid base and is now finding commercial success. However, when you look at the numbers, her pandemic album only sold 2K in the first week and it wasn't until her latest commercial/"sell out" era that she found herself at number 1, with her first top 10 album ever, and having had several charting singles over the 7 month campaign. With the exception of a few big artists, a solid base will only get you so far when it comes to sales/charts, most of it is the GP. Rita should absolutely want to have a solid base and should absolutely work on that, but the notion that it's the whole reason for her not having MPG level sales for this album just isn't computing for me.  Considering the presence, or lack thereof, of her base online, it's nearly miraculous.

"We're not going to sit here and pretend that this positioning happened "to" her and those girls."  We don't need to pretend. These conversations around "facelessness" largely occur around women in the industry, not men. That obviously doesn't mean I think they're all transformational artists, but the standards for women are different. For men, it's okay not to be, but for women, particularly in these stan spaces, it's not. As Taylor has said, and I thought we all knew, women have to constantly reinvent themselves or they’re discarded.

 

On 7/27/2023 at 9:21 AM, Cbreezy said:

Relating that to my overall point, it's the exact reason why using her promotional spots effectively is vital. It's a fact that audiences respond to compelling stories. They respond to things that strike a personal chord. Rita is screaming that this "is my most personal album yet" (a very tired cliche in and of itself btw), yet her interviews still come across as vanilla and devoid of any real information that would foster a personal connection to...her. 

A cliche maybe, but pretty obviously true in this case. I think she's made it pretty clear that getting married is a big deal for her (being what the album is largely about). She's talked about that and she's talked about her mental health journey quite a lot. Is it not worth considering that some people, maybe yourself included, just don't find those topics of interest or relatable? I was speaking to a fan who said he felt like she was being too "female-centric" this era and I think that speaks volumes.
 

Spoiler

 

On 7/27/2023 at 9:21 AM, Cbreezy said:

It's not all her fault. She's done well in many regards all things considered. Ageism in Pop is a thing (Pheonix = her 20s / this album = her 30s) and the music industry at large is ruthless. But let's not pretend that a) she's a victim or b) that she hasn't had many chances (musically and across promo duties) to better sell herself artistically...and she constantly doesn't meet the mark. Nothing (literally nothing) separates a Rita song, performance, or interview now from 10 years ago and that's sad.

Again, it’s not computing for me that you’re saying we can't "pretend that she's a victim" when this whole back and forth started because of the disappointment that she didn't discuss in her interview that she's a victim of Roc Nation's negligence and Calvin's narcissism. And more importantly, she is one. To say that we can't "pretend" that a woman who has had to deal with a decade of dehumanizing treatment is a victim is gross to me. I don't think I'll ever give up on her purely because I was so disgusted seeing the way she was treated at the behest of the Kardashians. To go back to my original counterpoint to yours last week, it is my [strong] opinion that this issue she has when it comes to "connecting" with the public is far more because of the decade of dehumanizing treatment by the media and by internet culture than an inability to express herself in interviews. Sure, people respond to compelling stories, but first they have to feel hearing your story is worth their time and understanding, and she was deemed unworthy a long time ago. That in itself is her most compelling story. And to tell that story, you have to find an audience receptive to acknowledging their own responsibility in those situations. Rita was made the biggest butt of everyone's joke a long time ago and that’s not an easy thing to overcome...because people very often prefer what they find entertaining to the truth. The whole "who is she/what does she do" thing, for instance, is not really even serious at this point...it's far more for shits and giggles (and really it always was). And it's not exactly easy to be a fan of someone who is the internet’s favorite punching bag, either.

 

All of that being said, she absolutely needs better music, better visuals, and a better social media strategy. That is something she hasn’t delivered on this era, and to me, that’s her biggest issue. It doesn’t have to be personal, just great music because ultimately that’s what people want. There was more hype over her quick 4 track EP with Imanbek than anything this entire era.  Great music and a great campaign that people really enjoy can take you far and overcome a whole hell of a lot.

[prézli]

Very tragic.

[prézli]

I think her sister is her manager. She will never fire her, so.

[sickoagb]

1 minute ago, prézli said:

I think her sister is her manager. She will never fire her, so.

to be fair she's doing a great job getting her face everywhere even with little results, it's just not translating as no one cares about Rita anymore unfortunately 

[SomeGirl]

2 hours ago, Cbreezy said:

Excuses, Excuses.

 

Yes, industry numbers are in the toilet. But #6 to #179 is objectively TERRIBLE. Plus, even with numbers being bad all over, other artists aren't having such drastic drops.  

 

The whole "people don't care about albums" is one argument, but Rita's singles are tanking even harder. So, what gives?

 

No disrespect, but it's much more valuable to artists and their teams (who for sure frequent places like here for insights) to be candid rather than coddling.

 

Like someone else said, there's a major issue. It's anyone's guess if her situation is even salvageable. But one thing I really like about her is that she's extremely resilient. 

Huh? Not sure where I was making an excuse for anything. I'm genuinely just shocked at how low album sales are. I've never said that this era is some type of success. It's obviously not. I did think the album was going to sell even less than it did, and I'm actually surprised she even sold another 1K this week.  And I have felt for a minute that where it seemed for awhile like we were moving back into people caring about albums, it seems like we're moving backward again, and that was the basis of my comment.

[mrmarrero]

wait... is this the album of the year? i'm listening to it and im in LOVE

[wildthaughts]

Rita is/was a streaming act and we all knew she’d not survive with BMG since they have no impact on streaming/playlisting like they couldn’t even get Kylie on TTH.

[SomeGirl]

2 hours ago, wildthaughts said:

Rita is/was a streaming act and we all knew she’d not survive with BMG since they have no impact on streaming/playlisting like they couldn’t even get Kylie on TTH.

TTH is an American based playlist. Idk why stans of other pop girls always expect them to get on TTH, or why that should be a standard for effective playlisting. Like we know “Kylie can’t break America” has been a thing for a really long time. 
 

Rita had an issue with streaming before she even left Atlantic so I don’t see how we can say it’s BMG. Yes, major labels control the majority of positions, but Rita is not some unknown artist. She has connections and the ability to personally appeal to these curators and judging by the posts she did from their offices, she did that. So if they’re not playlisting her, it’s because they don’t want to and not because of BMG. We know she did get on auto play for YOLM. 
 

Aside from that, like I said in another post, TikTok has taken power away from the streamers as main curators. And with the launch of their streaming app pending…they’re set to chip away at it even more. Focusing on blaming BMG for a lack of Spotify streaming playlisting (even though the peak got to what, 90M in reach?) is a waste of time and behind the trends imo…the focus should be on the need for a TikTok strategy, as well as other social media platforms. Personally, I’m far more dismayed at the lack of videos using her sounds from this era than at the streaming playlisting. She needs a better strategy, and better music. I think we can all see the difference in reaction to the music from this era in comparison to Bang, and of course Phoenix. 
 

Spoiler

 

[Nefertiti0]

On 7/28/2023 at 1:31 AM, SomeGirl said:

On top of that, now there’s people saying that they were told by Sophie Ellis Bextor’s team that they weren’t aware of personalizations, though she did sign them, and there’s people saying their Ellie Goulding signatures don’t match. So clearly this is a very flawed process on Banquet’s part. 

Sophie promoted personalized copies on social media. so how could her team not know about personalization?
Ellie confirmed that she was signing for Banquet, she did not sign all so some people were offered refund.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Banquet didn't post it on Rita's Twitter. Rita and her team were aware of personification.

 

 Rita's team deleted fan's comment asking about signed vinyl instead of clarifying it

Spoiler

 

 

[SomeGirl]

On 7/29/2023 at 1:46 PM, Nefertiti0 said:

Sophie promoted personalized copies on social media. so how could her team not know about personalization?
Ellie confirmed that she was signing for Banquet, she did not sign all so some people were offered refund.

Then the fans saying they heard otherwise from her team are lying? Or her team lied to them? Sure Ellie confirmed, but that doesn’t explain the discrepancy in her signature? My point still is…this is a flawed process. No signed merchandise like this should be sold/bought without authentication. 

 

On 7/29/2023 at 1:46 PM, Nefertiti0 said:

Rita's team deleted fan's comment asking about signed vinyl instead of clarifying it

But her team already responded to Banquet… If people don’t believe it…I’m not sure what else there is to do but get a refund. 

[Rocket]

HOWLING at her lying on ha Insta story saying she's #6 again this week.

 

 

EDIT: She's celebrating the #6 on the Independent Albums Chart.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Rocket

[Sabandija]

I think all she needs is good music. We can discuss all that we want and talk about strategies but at the end of the day the truth is that she's released a flavourless mediocre project.

[Imaginary Friend]

I just saw the insta story 

[Crashed]

12 hours ago, Rocket said:

HOWLING at her lying on ha Insta story saying she's #6 again this week.

 

 

EDIT: She's celebrating the #6 on the Independent Albums Chart.

Her ignoring the drama around the signed copies and pretending that the Independent Albums Chart is the same as the Official Albums Charts... she really is in her delulu era.  I'd rather have her acknowledge the flopping than to continue to make herself look like a fool.  

 

[wildthaughts]

She’s in her indie era, whats wrong with posting that tho!! Respect the indie queen.

[SomeGirl]

9 hours ago, Crashed said:

Her ignoring the drama around the signed copies and pretending that the Independent Albums Chart is the same as the Official Albums Charts... she really is in her delulu era.  I'd rather have her acknowledge the flopping than to continue to make herself look like a fool.  

 

PR is PR. She’s definitely not delusional. I think judging by what she’s said in interviews and how emotional she’s been on stage, she’s probably not coping well and I imagine having the media and social media pile on making fun of her (ie Bebe’s “I’m not giving up”) for underperforming wouldn’t be helpful. 

Edited July 31, 2023 by SomeGirl

[Mordecai]

Well even in spite of her faux pas () at least she's back in the studio so her promise of new music sooner than later might actually be lived up to

[Maroonx]

poor Rita, this album was actually pretty solid. I really enjoyed it

[SomeGirl]

 

[reymiu]

23 hours ago, SomeGirl said:

 

This should have been the single to lead the album !

 

----

 

 

Rita Ora needs to re-connect with Chase & Status ASAP.... They co-produced RIP f Tinie Tempah and their new Becky Hill song is in UK's top 20 ATM

 

After she finishes Y&I promotion, it's time to get back to her debut sound (RIP, How we do, Hot Right Now) but update it to 2023 trends

Edited August 5, 2023 by reymiu

[Walk_Away21]

Waiting for You is the song of the summer @Sexyzinger

You and I should be @Reverse Warholian's first dance (tho I am kinda livid the end of the chorus ends downward, Rita needed me in that editing room!)

Notting Hill is an Ed Sheeran song but good. @GraceRandolph

Rita ate.

[Luis Gustavo]

On 8/4/2023 at 11:18 AM, SomeGirl said:

 

She's so happy