Just now, Squall said:

I am, me answering to you acting delusional has absolutely nothing to do with it. 

It is not delusional, it just doesn’t fit your narrative. Users like you are always raging about how numbers are the only thing matters but when I provide an official institution like IFPI which is the ONLY source that can accurately count global units it doesn’t count because ‘vinyl shipments!!!111’

 

1 is 1. Keep seething. You clearly haven’t moved on from 2021

1. The Lead single was a snoozefest;

2. Album Art (announcement) was VERY underwhelming

...imo

 

Sad that I haven't TOUCHED the album sans a few singles 

 

No artistic growth or innovation. She literally rode the wave of her hype. Next era will NOT smash in the same way. Mark my words. Same happened to Katy Perry and Roar, which smashed but subsequently tanked her cReer. Unless she releases actually surprisingly good stuff, of course.

Edited September 9, 20232 yr by kataraqueen

5 minutes ago, Squall said:

Is Olivia a man? Thank you for telling me  

 

The unnecessary anger and Taylor bringing up though  

I like Taylor’s music. 
 

I don’t like Taylor’s weirdo fans (like you) obsessed with constantly attacking any female artist who has an ounce of success

Literally nothing.

While the album isn't bad, it's not at the level of quality that makes you think the 6 years wait was worth it

Really, the only thing that really went “wrong” was in the album not really comparing to the dominance of her prior two albums, and maybe performing a little worse in the long run than her label anticipated. It was, of course, still a very successful album, and we could never have expected it to do another 20 million units anyway, so can we really say that anything went wrong?

 

Insofar as it performed worse than expected, I think that’s because of a couple things.

 

First, with time, the novelty of Adele’s position within the industry eroded a little. Remember, she broke into the global mainstream at a time when her less synthetic sound was in stark contrast to the biggest stars on radio like Gaga and Katy, and her ascendant popularity was largely viewed as being in part a reaction to several years of electropop dominance. She was viewed as real and authentic, with a remarkable voice, in a world of artifice. By 2021, the idea that she was in complete contrast to everything else was no longer an accurate narrative (though she was, and is, still exceptional).

 

Second, literally nobody in the world could have sustained the popularity of 21 and 25 indefinitely. That astronomical kind of selling power for a single album has really never come three times for any artist off the top of my head. 
 

Finally, like has been mentioned in this thread already, there wasn’t a ton of promo for the album after the first week or so. Not many singles were pushed, in particular, which meant that it would have been hard for the album to sustain itself. My gut reaction is that this was in part because of how Adele has expressed that she didn’t want the ecliptic level of fame she experienced with those first two album - since Easy On Me was a mega-smash despite that desire, maybe she didn’t want to push more singles? Plus, the album wasn’t super conducive to streaming, being a little less accessible and much longer than her other works on average (I haven’t don’t the math, this is just from memory). It’s not like it wasn’t good - it got stellar reviews and a lot of her fans have expressed that they think it’s her best work. I think she showcased impressive growth and depth on it, personally.

 

Ultimately it was still a successful era and not much actually went wrong. Whether you take it from IFPI even with the shipments issue they have, or ChartMasters which isn’t perfect, or any other source, it is among the biggest eras of 2021. I think among women, the only releases that year that have outsold it in the US are Sour and Red TV, and that’s powerful company to keep.

 

And more than that, it was successful enough to put Adele where she wants to be. She’s still successful, rich, famous, and adored for her talents; she’s not the center of the universe, which seemed to stress her, but still among the biggest active artists in the world; and she seems genuinely happy at her Vegas show. Every clip I’ve seen from that show she’s glowing, she’s engaged, and she seems like she’s enjoying her work. That’s the best thing we can hope for with any artist, that they love what they do and they’re thriving while doing that. I’d say that if that’s the metric by which we measure, 30 was a resounding success.

The "no growth" narrative is so exhausting. If you really think that Strangers By Nature, My Little Love, All Night Parking or Love Is A Game could fit on her previous albums you're either disingenuous or need to listen better.

Nothing went wrong, it’s one of the best selling albums of the decade so far. 30 wasn’t meant to be a blockbuster, majority of the tracks on this album aren’t streaming friendly at all. I guess it only looks bad, when you look at her previous albums that were both huge, but overall it was still a success. 

Edited September 9, 20232 yr by thismoment

From a pure sales perspective, it did amazing, but the industry has transitioned to streaming now and 6 minute songs are not it

 

She cares more about work-life balance though and serving quality, there's a reason it's her most critically acclaimed album

25 minutes ago, Love Again said:

I’m not having this tired ass discussion from 2021 again. 30 is the global best selling album of 2021, accept it

Even if you want to believe 30 sold more in 2021. By now Sour largely outsold

Also it was the #1 IFPI album of 2021, made top 10 year end in 20+ countries including making top 15 year end multiple years in a row in multiple countries - she did that in her flop era

Oh god the dramatics here nothing happened, this is her first album she didn’t do upbeat pop sad songs so GP didn’t click and she’s more of an artist for millennials and older generation. 
she by no means have flopped despite whatever you guys say, she again and again had said she doesn’t want a big lifestyle and fame she wants to be there for her kid and is a very family person just because not everyone is chasing for a big tour or big album doesn’t mean they are flopping 😭

 

since beginning she’s been very promo sensitive and nothing really changed even with this. 

Nothing really went wrong but the decline was obvious. She can't remain to be the biggest if she recycles the same formula

It was kind of like her "Up!" and "A New Day Has Come" which all sold significantly less than their previous eras, but were still huge eras in their own right and comparable to the biggest eras of the 2000s  

 

 

Nothing really went wrong. Not every album is going to be a monster hit. As for Vegas. She shouldn’t have done it. A cute 30 date stadium show to go with the album “30” was all she needed. She wouldn’t have needed to travel much because she could’ve chosen 6 cities and done 5 nights in each. I think some bad decisions were made, that’s all. 

The only song that really had hit potential was EOM which was the lead single so everything after that just made no noise. The album is good if you're in the mood for that type of sound and I disagree that there is NO growth like some people are saying, but the great songs are not commercial at all and the ones that are suck.

It doesn't have enough songs for the gays so atrl hate it

I loved Adele's first three albums but this album is not even in my Adele mix except for Easy on Me. 

 

It was a one and done...and that listen was tough to get through. I couldn't tell you how the songs even sound. 

Nothing she released a whole album with literally only one song that was radio friendly enough to be a hit single and still smashed with it. Idk how people can pretend 30 is worse than 25 just because it has less if a pop style. 

the lead single was the problem (even tho it smashed) 

Nothing. She released her best album. The rest is all jazz. 

 

i love adele but the album has terrible replay value and is just too damn depressing with no redeemable musicality. Easy on me set the tone that the album was going to be very depressing and i tuned out as did some people.

Her attitude. She has become unbearable since she moved to California

Edited September 9, 20232 yr by shoganai

'30' was a great album and her best album so quality of the music wasn't what made the album underperform. 

 

It was simply the wait, the musical landscape and the lack of promotion. By the time Adele returned it has been a very long 6 years. The music industry completely changed during this wait. Making a record where most songs are over 6 minutes long just wouldn't work in the peak of the streaming era. Not even for Adele. "Easy On Me" was also the only song that was pushed. Had she released some more hits or radio edits, it would have had more longevity.