base talk Pop music had a golden rule. Why did Lady Gaga break it?

[alex_katycat]

After every major hit, the following song usually enjoys success—not always at the same level as its predecessor, but it rarely ranks among the biggest flops of the year. While there are always exceptions, the rule generally holds true. However, Lady Gaga broke this rule with Disease. Falling 31 spots in its second week on the Billboard Hot 100, dropping out of the Global Spotify Top 100 and the USA Spotify Top 180, the song never gained traction, especially when compared to her previous hit Die with a Smile, which sees significant success.

 

Interscope Records made substantial efforts, securing a major radio deal for Disease and achieving over 120 million playlist placements on Spotify, a figure that hasn't changed much even now. Yet, Disease failed to gain momentum—a stark contrast to Bruno Mars, whose new collaboration on APT. is already on a similar (if slightly smaller) path to global success.

 

So, what went wrong for Gaga?

[Kimi]

GP is not ready for dark pop

[Illuminati]

There are plenty of songs that followed a big single and got overshadowed by it, every artist has at least one

[alexrex]

I don't know alex_katycat. 

 

Could you tell us why? 

[Maneater]

That has never been a golden rule, stop talking out of your ass katycat 

[getBusy]

You're asking the question like Gaga flopped on purpose lol

[John Slayne]

where is this radio deal you speak of, it's currently at 72 on US radio 

[vuelve88]

If only there was a way to determine what factors were missing from the second single... 

[Aston Martin]

I thought the golden rule of pop music was to not run back to Kesha's abuser in a desperate attempt to relive one's glory days  and Lady Gaga hasn't broken that rule at all.

[Glorified]

ok ^_^

[alex_katycat]

1 minute ago, John Slayne said:

where is this radio deal you speak of, it's currently at 72 on US radio 

radio deals run thoughout the first week of release, Disease reached 16.5 million radio audience and placed within the top60 of US Radio overall, which is considered a major radio deal nowadays. 

[Almighty Gaga]

Didn't your fave follow 10 #1s with being unable to chart at all, alex kitty kat?

[bielneira]

"Die With a Smile" is completely different from "Disease", why expect the same results?

[penguintim]

16 minutes ago, alex_katycat said:

After every major hit, the following song usually enjoys success—not always at the same level as its predecessor, but it rarely ranks among the biggest flops of the year. While there are always exceptions, the rule generally holds true. However, Lady Gaga broke this rule with Disease. Falling 31 spots in its second week on the Billboard Hot 100, dropping out of the Global Spotify Top 100 and the USA Spotify Top 180, the song never gained traction, especially when compared to her previous hit Die with a Smile, which sees significant success.

 

Interscope Records made substantial efforts, securing a major radio deal for Disease and achieving over 120 million playlist placements on Spotify, a figure that hasn't changed much even now. Yet, Disease failed to gain momentum—a stark contrast to Bruno Mars, whose new collaboration on APT. is already on a similar (if slightly smaller) path to global success.

 

So, what went wrong for Gaga?

Now why is a katykat trying to lecture us on the workings of major hits

[SharGaga]

Zombie Bride/Zombified the REAL lead single and the better song is coming next, closer to the album release. Disease was a cute little pallete cleanser. They knew whatever they would release would be overshadowed by DWAS so they decided to save global smash Zombie Bride when DWAS has already peaked. Gaga ha mind!

Edited November 12 by SharGaga

[alex_katycat]

2 minutes ago, Aston Martin said:

I thought the golden rule of pop music was to not run back to Kesha's abuser in a desperate attempt to relive one's glory days  and Lady Gaga hasn't broken that rule at all.

Quote

A civil suit filed in 1996 by Tiffany Hawkins alleged that, starting in 1991 when she was age 15, Kelly, aged 24, had sexual relations with her and encouraged her to entice underaged friends. Hawkins' allegations included attempts by Kelly to coerce her into engaging in group sex with her friends.^[

what about Tiffany Hawkins and many others' abuser though? 

 

[AmericanIdol]

Yes, a HUGE flop.

 

Die With A Smile's success is 100% becasue of Bruno. That's why his follow up single APT. is smashing super hard.

[SimSim]

This is very common among huge hits. Following singles get often overshadowed by them. An example? Dark Horse to Birthday or Blinding Lights to In Your Eyes.

[Klein]

Rude Boy to Rockstar 101 (or on a smaller scale, S&M to CKB/MD). And Rihanna is like the biggest hitmaker of our generation. 

 

 

[alex_katycat]

2 minutes ago, SimSim said:

This is very common among huge hits. Following singles get often overshadowed by them. An example? Dark Horse to Birthday or Blinding Lights to In Your Eyes.

Birthday has 630 million streams on Youtube and Spotify alone, and peaked at no.17. 

I get your point but I think there may be better examples.

[shyboi]

Gaga is at that age where the gp ain't going to take darkness from her

 

they want her to sing adult contemporary ballads and call it a day 

[Aston Martin]

1 minute ago, alex_katycat said:

what about Tiffany Hawkins and many others' abuser though? 

 

Lady Gaga should not have worked with R. Kelly. It was a disgusting thing to do. He is a disgusting abuser, rapist, and he deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life. You will not find anyone who defends that decision. Especially given the song material, it was a horrendous thing to do. 

 

And after processing the trauma of her own sexual assault, Lady Gaga issued a public apology and took all versions of the song off all platforms, so that abuser can no longer profit off her work. Two of R. Kelly's victims went on to accept Lady Gaga's apology. https://www.insideedition.com/alleged-victims-r-kelly-applaud-lady-gagas-apology-was-really-powerful-her-49873

 

I hope that anyone who has gone on to work with someone else's abuser follows a similar course of action, wherein they publicly apologize to the wronged party (or parties) at hand and remove their work with the abuser so that he can no longer profit off of them 

[wigglytuffer]

Timings wise I think things just didn't align this time, but truthfully idrc because Disease is a bop and back to the Gaga most of us were craving.

 

She had DWAS smash harder than I think anyone thought it would, Joker then came and she was contractually obliged to give that some love, that turned out to be a massive bomb and she's recovering by releasing a dark-pop single in the same time peoples mindsets are shifting towards Holiday music.

 

In a dream world, DWAS came around Feb 2024 (thinking Valentines vibes), I can't think of a plan off the top of my head to save Joker (💀) and Disease was released late September so it got at least a full month to thrive in Halloween. 

Confident she'll rebound around Jan when Christmas is over

[єѕℓαм]

At least she has a smash and can actually chart 

what is the golden rule for having multiple singles not chart at all ? 

[alex_katycat]

3 minutes ago, Aston Martin said:

Lady Gaga should not have worked with R. Kelly. It was a disgusting thing to do. He is a disgusting abuser, rapist, and he deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life. You will not find anyone who defends that decision. Especially given the song material, it was a horrendous thing to do. 

 

And after processing the trauma of her own sexual assault, Lady Gaga issued a public apology and took all versions of the song off all platforms, so that abuser can no longer profit off her work. Two of R. Kelly's victims went on to accept Lady Gaga's apology. https://www.insideedition.com/alleged-victims-r-kelly-applaud-lady-gagas-apology-was-really-powerful-her-49873

 

I hope that anyone who has gone on to work with someone else's abuser follows a similar course of action, wherein they publicly apologize to the wronged party (or parties) at hand and remove their work with the abuser so that he can no longer profit off of them 

well, it took Miss Gaga 20 years to process the fair points you made, I'm sure others might follow suit!