base talk Is "This is me...now" floppage why legends are scared to release?

[Jjang]

The streaming era is seemingly merciless when it comes to Pop acts over the age of 50. We are now seeing this manifest in JLO's catastrophic debut week with her new era. 

 

It seems like now, more than ever, it's harder for older acts to get by in an industry mainly driven by streams. Sales are viably dead and to achieve impressions or longevity on the charts - you must have your streams intact, which is hard to accomplish for older acts, and a failure to make an impression results in catastrophically low streaming numbers. 

 

We've seen this, to a much less extreme extent, happen with Shania - whose album only debuted at #10 on BB200 and only 4,000 of its units came from streaming equivalence. 

 

Do you think that's why older legends such as Mariah, Madonna, Janet, Celine, and more haven't released in such a long time? Perhaps they're scared?

Edited February 19 by Jjang

[BryceG]

5 minutes ago, Jjang said:

JLO's catastrophic debut week

The album has tanked (being an independent release hasn't helped), but the film based on the album has done well, both critically and commercially (based on charting), so I'm unsure if you can call it catastrophic.

[HardBambi]

J Lo’s material is simply not good unfortunately. As a massive J Lo fan, I listened to it twice and there’s nothing I want to listen to again, just not good

 

Justin has faced a pretty big backlash yet his new song placed top20 on Hot100 because it’s OK’ish quality wise, so it can be done

[prettyinpink940]

I mean its not like people would buy the album if streaming didn't exist. 

[HardBambi]

I feel like people would be here for a Madonna album if she served quality even at 65

[Kimi]

Yes they are afraid of that, especially if they used to be big sellers. That kind of flop is gonna be humiliating. Jlo is not a legend tho, just a popstar past her prime.

[Tudors]

11 minutes ago, Jjang said:

The streaming era is seemingly merciless when it comes to Pop acts over the age of 50. We are now seeing this manifest in JLO's catastrophic debut week with her new era. 

 

It seems like now, more than ever, it's harder for older acts to get by in an industry mainly driven by streams. Sales are viably dead and to achieve impressions or longevity on the charts - you must have your streams intact, which is hard to accomplish for older acts, and a failure to make an impression results in catastrophically low streaming numbers. 

 

We've seen this, to a much less extreme extent, happen with Shania - whose album only debuted at #10 on BB200 and only 4,000 of its units came from streaming equivalence. 

 

Do you think that's why older legends such as Mariah, Madonna, Janet, Celine, and more haven't released in such a long time? Perhaps they're scared?

The thing is number 1 in prime stop trolling

[BANKS]

what about Grammy Award winning number 1 smash hit Padam Padam?

 

edit: i just found out this song actually DID win a Grammy omg

Edited February 19 by BANKS

[Robburro]

Jlo bombing is nothing new 

See: AKA ww sales

[AxelFox]

What is it with the gays on this forum and their unrealistic expectations for female artists to remain at the top of the game for the entirety of their lifespan? 
 

Literally every person named in your post has had their fare share of time in the spotlight, has established their place in pop culture & music and has amassed a fortune to last for generations. And at the end of the day that's all that matters.

 

So what if JLo is flopping 25 years into her career? She's already made more money than she can spend in this lifetime. Good for her for putting some of that into a project she's very passionate about even after all these years in the industry. This should be celebrated but instead is being made fun of and ridiculed by frustrated internet homosexuals.

 

The older I get the more tired I am of this pathetic behavior in this sub-culture.

[Binxstan]

I think JLO should be lucky she ever had a singing career with her abysmal vocals.

 

In recent years audiences have become wise to her tricks.

 

If a legend released a quality album it would do well but unfortunately JLO isnt exactly know for quality so she should've thanked her lucky stars she ever made it a singer and stopped while she was ahead.

[Facelessboy]

I think if you don’t release quality you will likely bomb. Unfortunately Jennifer album isn’t good at all. 
 

I think Mariah, Janet, Celine & Madonna if they release quality & promote it they will be fine.

 

 You can’t expect act of them to smash like it’s their prime

[queenoftheclouds]

2 minutes ago, AxelFox said:

What is it with the gays on this forum and their unrealistic expectations for female artists to remain at the top of the game for the entirety of their lifespan? 
 

Literally every person named in your post has had their fare share of time in the spotlight, has established their place in pop culture & music and has amassed a fortune to last for generations. And at the end of the day that's all that matters.

 

So what if JLo is flopping 25 years into her career? She's already made more money than she can spend in this lifetime. Good for her for putting some of that into a project she's very passionate about even after all these years in the industry. This should be celebrated but instead is being made fun of and ridiculed by frustrated internet homosexuals.

 

The older I get the more tired I am of this pathetic behavior in this sub-culture.

That's true. She Made an amazing Album and amazing visuals.

[Bloodflowers.]

It was a Sunday update, streams always decrease on Sunday. J.Lo's new album is an acclaimed album that is beloved by J.Lovers and GP that decide to watch her big budget #1 album musical

[wigglytuffer]

J.LO's has a few factors:

 

• There was seemingly no direction since A.K.A. Aint Your Mama was an EU smash and then she just dropped it and started making Spanish songs. Then didn't house the Spanish songs to any album and became a singles artists where arguably in streaming it's more important to be an album artist than ever
• It's always been trendy to hate on J.Lo, especially musically, and Gen-Z are rediscovering decades-old beef that gets recycled and regurgitated portraying J.Lo as this trend-stealer and vocal-hopper. (Not defending it, but everyone knows that's how the music industry works, demos upon demos with uncredited vocals yet J.Lo's beef just became huge)
• She then tried to get a quick hit with Dinero collabing with Cardi when she was in her Prime but hasn't done anything to rehabilitate her Public image; it seems she's dead set on being the US darling when she should've came to EU where we still had some time for J.Lo
• This Is Me...Now had so many delays due to the writers strike, so initial hype faded incredibly quickly

 

Despite all that though, in film and on stage she remains acclaimed and that's where she'll always shine (IMO). The album is just one part of her "This Is Me.. Now" experience so maybe when she starts touring it'll get a second wind. Personally I think the album is her most cohesive since This Is Me... Then and the film is already acclaimed. I don't think other legacy acts have anything to worry about, charting is just one small part of the experience and they've all made their coin so if they want to release they will

 

 

Edited February 19 by wigglytuffer

[Pheromosa]

she was bombing before the streaming era though 

[swissman]

It does seem that in this streaming age where the majority of people streaming music in large amounts are young, there tends to be a slight imbalance or harder-hill-to-climb for older artists.

 

Considering that prior, in let's say in 1999, everyone old and young needed to buy music to have it at their disposal, this meant that every one piece of interest was generally of the same sales importance.

 

Today, a younger person will probably have more free time and more desire to stream music at a much higher rate thanks someone in their 40s+, so while it's true they are consuming the music much more, the result is that the music older people listen to simply cannot match the same amount of streams as younger artists not because there is simply no interest, but less time to consume the music enough to make a considerable difference.

 

HOWEVER, I'm not sure if this is why older artists are allegedly scared to release. I think part of it is that they are older artists with an entire catalogue of albums that they can literally retire on. They don't need to be releasing anymore, per se. I would assume that the relative underperformance of their newer works compared to their heyday also is discouraging, like for example Mariah doing much the same sound and vibes with Caution as Ariana did TUN album, only one was a "flop" and the other a huge success.

 

Anyway, I think it's a combo of things: they don't need to release albums really, they know their work isn't going to get the same traction so don't need to rush into it, and maybe a bit of ego preventing them from doing so.

[Both Sides Now]

Kylie is the exception to this. Her new material is actually doing well because she is working for it. A lot of the legends are lazy and resting on their laurels. 

 

They are scared. There definitely was motivation for legends to release studio albums up until tour bundles were excluded from Billboard. Now, there is literally no point whatsoever. The cost of promo just doesn’t pay dividends when re-releasing old material actually outperforms the newer stuff (Finally Enough Love, The Rarities, anniversary re-releases). That, and quick little collabs with newer artists.
 

It’s sad. We want Black Diamond!!

[Yudelkis]

She told you in 2007 that she was Brave. 

 

[alfonso12]

17 minutes ago, prettyinpink940 said:

I mean its not like people would buy the album if streaming didn't exist. 

This.

[simplywohoo]

8 minutes ago, Binxstan said:

I think JLO should be lucky she ever had a singing career with her abysmal vocals.

 

In recent years audiences have become wise to her tricks.

 

If a legend released a quality album it would do well but unfortunately JLO isnt exactly know for quality so she should've thanked her lucky stars she ever made it a singer and stopped while she was ahead.

JLos vocals have improved tremendously in the last decade. I get it if people don't like her tone but the bs about how she can't carry a tune is so tired 

[feelslikeadream]

Just now, Yudelkis said:

She told you in 2007 that she was Brave. 

 

Is this AI?

[swissman]

In J.Lo's case the album is actually pretty good. It's not great, but it does the job it needs to do, is polished, solid, makes its points and even contains some songs that are among the best of her career.

 

However I think the film itself overtook the album. There was so much hype and discussion about the film (the budget, the cast, the cheesiness, etc.) that the interest sort of went all to that one place, rather than the album. And imo, the film didn't do a great job of selling the music. I watched it on Friday and listened to the album on Saturday mostly out of curiosity, not because I was thinking I loved what I heard and wanted more. There was one song I felt was good, and I wanted to double check I felt that way. In doing so, I realized the album isn't bad and that the music works better outside the film where it often felt rushed, clichéd or forced.

 

And again, I think this goes back to my point. The film is so ambitious that it doesn't leave a lot of room for the music itself. The fact that it was also so story-heavy made the music take a back seat, and the music rarely progressed the story, it just underlined things we already knew were happening so it already became less integral to the narrative itself.

 

But back to the OP's point, I do think that ageism is greatly affecting our icons because of the streaming era skewing to younger tastes more than ever. And I think for J.Lo, this album especially relies on someone to not be young to really understand it, to get the references, to know her story, to even know what the title means.

[Funnyfatty]

On the floor was one of the biggest streaming era hits though. It reached 500m views in one year which was HUGE in 2011. People still find her beautiful, still are interested and still like her. She just needs the right song as a hit. In the album there is no hit imo but the album is nice. 

[swissman]

5 minutes ago, Both Sides Now said:

Kylie is the exception to this. Her new material is actually doing well because she is working for it. A lot of the legends are lazy and resting on their laurels. 

 

They are scared. There definitely was motivation for legends to release studio albums up until tour bundles were excluded from Billboard. Now, there is literally no point whatsoever. The cost of promo just doesn’t pay dividends when re-releasing old material actually outperforms the newer stuff (Finally Enough Love, The Rarities, anniversary re-releases). That, and quick little collabs with newer artists.
 

It’s sad. We want Black Diamond!!

That's a good point, but Kylie is also perhaps the most consistent popstar of all time. Her fans know what they are going to get from her, and she always delivers it. Her Padam Padam resurgence though is certainly remarkable because it scratched a sort of internet itch for novelty, and because Kylie has such a big, dedicated gay fanbase, even in America. It differs from J.Lo who, despite being a gay icon of sorts, is not really the kind of gay icon who has the gays' eternal support.