single Dua Lipa - "Houdini"

[BrokenMachine]

11 hours ago, NostalgiawithDua said:

This era reminds me so much of Dangerous Woman, Focus was supposed to be the big lead single but was critically panned and in same universe as her previous work, though Houdini is way better, I do feel it might not be the main track of the album like DSN was, hope she has Title Track, Into You, Side to side in her bag…

At least for Focus she performed it a few times before giving up on it. As for Houdini, Dua just released the music video, gave interviews and kept going with her endless sumer vacations 

[Solaria]

2 minutes ago, BrokenMachine said:

The way they gave up on saying stuff like 'Xmas/Sunday impact' and gave up on updating until we got good updates 

I told y´all to leave that ´´lets just wait´´ energy behind. The GP ain´t responding to HOEdini, and it´s okay. Her Rude Boy is just around the corner. In 2025. On The Optimist Edition. 

 

[BrokenMachine]

5 minutes ago, Love Again said:

I told y´all to leave that ´´lets just wait´´ energy behind. The GP ain´t responding to HOEdini, and it´s okay. Her Rude Boy is just around the corner. In 2025. On The Optimist Edition. 

 

Well, I'm giving up on that energy not because the public is not responding, but because HER is not responding to the song. DSN and Levitating exploded in January because she spent December promoting the hell out of those songs. What is she doing now? Who knows 

[Solaria]

1 minute ago, BrokenMachine said:

Well, I'm giving up on that energy not because the public is not responding, but because HER is not responding to the song. DSN and Levitating exploded in January because she spent December promoting the hell out of those songs. What is she doing now? Who knows 

Dance The Night ruined everything. Time to sabotage it in the next Dua rate 

[NostalgiawithDua]

He kinda ate that…..

 

[IBeMe]

A MESS ALERT! Rita Berta Ora is hosting Dick Clarks Dick New Years Eve Party thing so she won't even perform this there for sure now

[romanhoIiday]

I hope there's no plans to give up on this at least until after Christmas because it hasn't aged after my over 900 plays. 

 

WE NEED A PERFORMANCE!

[khalyan]

This thread has single handedly removed all my hype for the era. 
 

Without this thread, I’d be bopping to Houdini and living my life without concern 

[IBeMe]

If she performs this I hope she goes camp and gives us a magic trick mid performance or at the end. It would be kind of cool and cheesy in the right way.

[raven]

1 hour ago, BlackoutZone said:

Despite Xmas flood this was very embarrassing wasn't it

 

There was genuinely 0 point releasing this song now  Dua dropping a single and then spending entire promo schedule on Oscar campaign that she has no chances of winning (or even being nominated if we're being honest)

yeah that’s really bad  i didn’t expect it to be on top but a new single should be able to survive the Christmas flood. They should probs just move onto single 2 in the new year, at least in the US. 

[Papi Juancho]

13 hours ago, NostalgiawithDua said:

This era reminds me so much of Dangerous Woman, Focus was supposed to be the big lead single but was critically panned

The difference is that Houdini is one of her most critically acclaimed songs.  and to me one of her best songs. 

She just needs to do promo, Dua is one of those artists who always go viral for her performances, so that would help.

[James_Dean]

2 hours ago, khalyan said:

This thread has single handedly removed all my hype for the era. 
 

Without this thread, I’d be bopping to Houdini and living my life without concern 

Ban the complainers

[Psyduck]

All this discussion about promo is copium. It's been over a month now. This is a massive, highly worrying bomb in the US and a flop internationally. It's done okay in the UK but she is supposed to be THEE biggest pop star there so still disappointing.

 

In America the next single HAS to be a big hit or she's going to get demoted from A list pop star.

 

I knew switching management was a bad omen. They have no idea what they're doing, the lack of performances is bizarre. 

 

Also whoever is telling her to campaign hard for an Oscar nomination in lieu of promoting her own single is dumb as hell. Only two songs per movie are allowed to be nominated; "I'm Just Ken" is guaranteed one slot (and the likely winner), and the other is going to Billie with a lyrically deep ballad, not this dance-pop fluff nonsense Dua released. They're SO dumb. I know they will obviously tack on Dance the Night to her album to save face and push up streams but the song was so mediocre and forgettable in the first place, like a parody version of her Future Nostalgia sound.

 

Yes I'm being very negative but her team needs a ***** slap, I hope they're reading this.

 

Also one final thing: "Houdini" is a basic pop song, it's not some experimental masterpiece. It's not even that catchy. Kevin Parker is not a hitmaker, this is "Perfect Illusion" 2.0. He just doesn't get pure pop music which is why he's never been good at it.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Psyduck

[SayIt]

5 hours ago, BlackoutZone said:

Despite Xmas flood this was very embarrassing wasn't it

 

There was genuinely 0 point releasing this song now  Dua dropping a single and then spending entire promo schedule on Oscar campaign that she has no chances of winning (or even being nominated if we're being honest)

What is a Oscar campaign? 
 

Does the campaign increase your chances of wining? 

 

Will the campaign hurt DL3 release? 

[katara]

Godini Billboardini

[Jonathan Cruz]

6 hours ago, NostalgiawithDua said:

He kinda ate that…..

 

I mean... He's not entirely wrong, the price of her having a smash hit per year since 2017 would come one day, but I think what is messing Houdini up is how they choose to handle its releasing so far.

 

She's not in a point of her career where one could sustain a release with interviews and public appearances only. Not yet at least. I'm not mad at them campaigning for DTN, if there's a chance they should definitely shoot that shot but they got a song out for her next very anticipated album, so... Promote both, it's not impossible and her team choose to release this in November knowing that matching agendas would be exhausting for her to deal. 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Jonathan Cruz

[bearman]

Some of the takes here … 

[Kristie Kuwa]

The biggest issue is the marketing. "Dua Lipas grand return" doesnt work when she clearly is still so tied to Dance The Night.

Also her doing basically double promo (for DTN and Houdini) doesnt help either. All her interviews are about Barbie.

 

She should either lay low till DL3 or go ham with promo after December

[Neyde]

i want to hear more songs now!!! kind of overplaying it at this point

[BlackoutZone]

9 hours ago, SayIt said:

What is a Oscar campaign? 
 

Does the campaign increase your chances of wining? 

 

Will the campaign hurt DL3 release? 

It’s a vague term. Basically in past month or so she’s been attending various promo spots, interviews and opportunities which were focused on Dua talking about making of Dance the Night/Barbie way more than Houdini. She is trying to present its story in a charming way and reach as many voters as possible so that she could get an advantage at the Oscars and Grammys voting period. It’s a standard practice and it theoretically increases your chances.

 

The problem is that Best Original Song category at all film awards this season has been stacked with Barbie songs. Each and every time Dance the Night, What Was I Made For and I’m Just Ken get nominated. This sounds like a great news for potential Oscar nomination as well, but the key difference is that Oscars, unlike other award shows, only allow max of 2 songs from one movie to be nominated. With their importance in the movie + some already presented wins, it’s very clear that both What Was I Made For and I’m Just Ken are ahead of Dance the Night and the chances of Dua even getting a nomination instead of the other songs are very, very slim. So I personally see this whole campaign as a bit of a waste, she could have spent all that time going harder for Houdini instead.

 

And considering that even if she doesn’t get the Oscar nom, she already received various nominations for other awards (and probably will get even more over time) I can see next month or two also being solely focused on her attending those award shows and being interviewed about Dance the Night more with DL3 era being left in the dust…

[futurenostalgic]

Yeah she's been spending so much more time campaigning attending all these screenings and Oscar stops. Part of why I've been annoyed w her for weeks now lol. She's obvi not getting the nom.  (or idk who knows, they make a change and somehow all three songs get in). God, Dua. Just wait for them to call you for a Bond theme song or something, ***.

Edited December 15, 2023 by futurenostalgic

[LCTV]

I'm bored and the song wasn't as catchy of DSN/Physical to begin with.

[JVSPER]

Just chill for the remainder of the year, listen to her bops and wait for what Dua will bring us early-mid January. I'm sure there will be lots of promo, especially after that interview her team did.

[Vermouth]

3 hours ago, futurenostalgic said:

Yeah she's been spending so much more time campaigning attending all these screenings and Oscar stops. Part of why I've been annoyed w her for weeks now lol. She's obvi not getting the nom.  (or idk who knows, they make a change and somehow all three songs get in). God, Dua. Just wait for them to call you for a Bond theme song or something, ***.

The whole “campaign”, if it’s even to be called that has been bizarre from the off.

 

You either chase the Oscars/Golden Globes or you launch DL3. You don’t try to do both, especially, as others have pointed out, the Oscar chances are a real long shot at best.

 

1) Why release part way through Nov when it’ll run into Xmas traffic within three weeks? Ok didn’t stop Jack Harlow from doing well, but still, a known issue that could be avoided.

 

2) Why release when DTN is still at 14 on US pop charts and pulling 22 million (plus Hot AC etc). Your own song is acting as a roadblock! A known issue.

 

3) DTN’s longevity meant no gap/build up/ in the GP’s eyes in terms of launching a new era. “Miss me?” Well you never left really.

 

4) From a marketing point of view, why the utter absurdity, a week or so into the release, of flying from LA to New York via Japan and Copenhagen ( about 85% circumnavigation of the globe?), to do a party for a few dozen (?) in Tokyo, one photo shoot in a park, an interview with an Indonesian journalist (nothing wrong with that per se of course), a couple of photo dumps of having a party and cooking a fish, and then having a city break with your mates thousands of miles further on? Up to her to live her life as she sees fit of course, and good luck to her, none of our business at the end of the day, but how on earth is that a way to launch an era?

 

5) No performances. Nada. Zilch. Nichts. Nothing.

There’s Jack Harlow (to use him again as an example) on the NFL half-time Thanksgiving show warbling away in the cold but with an audience of millions, and we get mock piano playing with Jimmy Fallon (after more DTN questions), and a drunken cockney version of Happy Birthday to Seth Myers (fun though that was).

 

6) Why not delay till Jan/Feb if you are shooting for the Oscar bauble? Removes Xmas and DTN too as issues.

 

7) Maybe Houdini was not going to click whatever, maybe it still will despite it all, and not so much 5D as about 8D marketing chess is actually being played, however, as it seems right now, who on God’s earth at Warner/her team signed off this strategy for a launch? It looks baffling to me, and is in danger of actually sucking life out of the album launch too as everything just squelches along.

 

Maybe Houdini would never really click but it’s certainly not been helped in any way so far. Maybe those rumours of a last minute lead switch are true and this is a cobbled together last minute campaign? It would explain much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Vermouth

[aaron511]

They simply should've waited with Houdini until mid-Jan and things would've looked much better. But it is what it is. Time to write it off and just enjoy the music while we wait for single #2.