I really thought Dance The Night would've been the last hurrah for her disco era and people would be ready for her to move on. Houdini seemed like a logical way forward, Training Season was a cute mix of FN with 80s, Illusion should've gotten the attention of FN fans. Everything was there tbh except for a weird choice of visuals. But that can't be the sole reason. Now the album sounds more like a mix of her debut and FN, with straightforward club tracks but a LOT of... mellow songs I guess. It reminds me of songs like Thinkin Bout You, which never really worked for her. FN had one cute ballad, Debut had like a massive midtempo hit (IDGAF), but... ugh I just don't know, it seems like this isn't her lane.

 

1 hour ago, The7thStranger said:

My theory is that the label got involved and messed it up. The promotion for Houdini is at stark odds with the aesthetics and sound of the rest of the record. I like it, but it feels like some nonsense happened behind the scenes that we weren't privy to.

This 100%. The psychedelic UK rave comments made kinda sense with Houdini as a first sign, but now we have a straightforward 80s and disco influenced album. Houdini doesn't fit the rest of the album at all.

The pandemic ended two years ago. 

1 hour ago, Ethereal said:

 

 Nothing went wrong, an under-performance was inevitable - simply because she just isn't THAT girl. I don't see anything that makes her different from her peers like Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Ava Max, and Cher Lloyd. Plus, neither her vocals nor her performances are anything special. When you put it all together, she kind of comes across as being faceless.

 

You stan normani.....

2 minutes ago, Gam said:

You stan normani.....

Normani is a far superior performer and vocalist compared to Dua. It's disgraceful to even compare her to that white woman.

Let's sit this one out, sweetie.

In short: she's doing fine. Not everybody is gonna be like Taylor or be on top forever. She's still a hugely talked about celebrity with great music.

 

I know that she's a perfectionist and wants to take her time: the album is great however a four year gap is a long time especially in the streaming age. I thought she should have released a cute follow up to FN in 2022 or early 2023 at the latest, because when you leave it so long people's expectations go up so high. I think that resulted in people saying "all her songs sound the same!" because they were expecting a shift from her a few years after FN. Her press releases saying that the album is psychedelic also didn't help. It's a dance pop album that commits to being dance pop and does a great job at it.

 

I think Taylor and Ariana have had good models with recent releases. Just drop the album a few weeks after the beginning of the era with maybe one single beforehand. That allows the narratives that form online about "songs not being good enough" to not happen and people just enjoy the music. I do also love the album photography and packaging however I didn't really like the initial visuals for the era. If she had let us into this summer aesthetic from the inception of the campaign I think that may have been better. So basically a shorter campaign may have done wonders. Though it is a risk and there are benefits to doing a six month campaign like she did.

it's the way Duolingo is doing half the promo for this era 

 

doesn't sound like kevin parker productions

Long break, no core fan base, lackluster singles, no general appeal, and just not great music. A true flop.

1 hour ago, Space Cowboy said:

Dance The Night is one of her most mediocre songs and sounds like a FN reject

It is still super catchy and the people were her for it and this style.

Dance the Night being bigger than any of the RO singles is something I never would've predicted…

I think she should have premiered first single (Houdini) at the Grammys and immediately announced the album, release date and pre-orders.

Between the Grammys and the album, being a guest on all the shows where she was a guest, but without being as mysterious about the album name and release date. What's the point of going on prime time talk shows if you're not promoting anything?

On the day of the release of the album, release TS as the second single, but which has a music video that Illusion had. For me, that video works great for TS.

Long story short: timing and a lot of missed opportunities.

Edited May 4, 20242 yr by Mate

No identity as a star (if you can call her that).

 

No personality in her lyrics. I know she said whatever about not writing "diary" songs and that's fine, really, except that people like Katy and Rihanna managed to infuse their lyrics and production with distinct personality without making deeply personal music. 
 

No established passionate fanbase. 
 

Horribly prolonged and mismanaged album rollout. 
 

Bad singles. It was clear from one listen that none of them would take off on US radio.

 

Wrong collaborators. 

6 minutes ago, Achilles. said:

No identity as a star (if you can call her that).

 

No personality in her lyrics. I know she said whatever about not writing "diary" songs and that's fine, really, except that people like Katy and Rihanna managed to infuse their lyrics and production with distinct personality without making deeply personal music. 
 

No established passionate fanbase. 
 

Horribly prolonged and mismanaged album rollout. 
 

Bad singles. It was clear from one listen that none of them would take off on US radio.

 

Wrong collaborators. 

 

Her best song in a while… But who exactly is this for?

People talking about a gap between albums, I feel the opposite. I feel like there was never a real break - she was always there with features and then Barbie happened. On top of that, the music was all very similar sonically. We never got a real break or palette cleanser - Dance the Night came and sounded like it would be at home on Future Nostalgia, then she released Houdini, which wasn't too different sonically either. She didn't give the GP time to "miss her" so to speak.

 

It doesn't help that she dropped her management and just posts Instagram vacation dumps in her spare time.

the jobless stans like the ones we mostly see on this site

this beautiful album deserved more. but you know certain stans had to drag other artists here 24/7 to bring their faves up instead of actually showing support to the talented Dua.

11 minutes ago, BryceG said:

Her best song in a while… But who exactly is this for?

her streaming numbers post-FN i'm afraid

The music is too nuanced for the GP  anyway, can't wait to bump this thread in 2030.

Because the general public and the so-called "fans" expected Future Nostalgia 2.0, just like they did with Nelly Furtado's Loose and Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics. The album is fantastic on its own, and is a brilliant collection of songs. Those hyping it up too much are the reasons why it's so-called "failing" or "gone wrong."

2 minutes ago, livelikemusic said:

Because the general public and the so-called "fans" expected Future Nostalgia 2.0, just like they did with Nelly Furtado's Loose and Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics. The album is fantastic on its own, and is a brilliant collection of songs. Those hyping it up too much are the reasons why it's so-called "failing" or "gone wrong."

But the streams indicate people weren't really checking out the album at all, so how would they know if it's FN2.0 or not?

Why is the Normandi stan frontin' in here, out of all ppl?

Why do y'all keep ignoring how much the biggest movie of last year gave Dance the Night its push? BARBIE was a phenomenon, it even gave Chari XCX a second career hit. Had it been a Dua loose single it would've had flopped. Cold Heart was BIG in shopping malls. What type of standards do y'all have for Dua? These basic ass bops are exactly why she's at she is right now. She needed to offer a change and edge and she gave more of the same with acoustic band infused production. There's nothing to bite. Nothing to gays to hype and asbolutely nothing for straights to latch on. I was shocked how faceless the music felt after what was shared in interviews. The album never wowed me, it never had the gotcha progression like Houdini or Illusion had for other songs. Same mood with generic progression for most songs. If the label intervened, then that's awful. It definitely did her no favors.

 

In the end, I still think she should've dropped the Loose-inspired and Maneater-like pop/R&B album she was hyping in early 2022. THAT would've been the change of pace she needed. She has the tone and a banging body for those 2000s-ish american pop songs and choreo. We were ready for her In the Zone. Instead she brought that 2000s europop sound that no one cares for right now and with no interesting twists on top of that.

Edited May 4, 20242 yr by liquiddiamonds

The album is just bad.

Smart people have been clocking for years that despite FN being a smash, she failed to establish herself as an artist people actually look forward to listening to, partly because FN's smashing was very inorganic...