Olly Murs for me. He's like poor man's Robbie Williams. No idea how all of his albums went Top 2 in the UK.

SZA considering RCA basically had to steal her hard drive so CTRL could be freed from her gatekeeping. Imagine telling someone then that nearly a decade later she would be one of the A-lists.

Olivia Rodrigo screamed one hit wonder to me (she still does), but she has two of the most streamed female albums of all time (one literally is the most stream female album) and a SOLID pure buying base from her two debut weeks. I think her music is simply waaaay too immature for me to like her. Screams angsty teenagers who are upset they didn't get what they wanted. She's clearly working as an artist, but it's just not for me.

Edited December 29, 20241 yr by LustSpell

ana. 

abel. ari. josef. björk. caroline.

tinashe. miguel.  jhené.  florence. alunageorge. chappell.

dua. cruel youth. tove lo. allie. say lou lou. blackpink. red velvet.

28 minutes ago, prézli said:

Olly Murs for me. He's like poor man's Robbie Williams. No idea how all of his albums went Top 2 in the UK.

Interesting I actually like his music

2 minutes ago, Into The Void said:

Interesting I actually like his music

He has 0 personality. A boy-band type of singer. 

Addison Rae 

Rihanna. I thought after the pon de replay that I'd never hear her again yes she is still here. 20 years later.

Meghan Trainor, i thought she would get dropped from her label but she had a new hit, several tiktok hits and a successful tour

 

i didn't expect Maroon 5 to still be going in the 2020s.

 

it makes sense that Kylie still releases music, but i didn't expect her to still be doing the popstar cycle of single -> press -> album -> tour etc

Christina Aguilera. She never had the x factor. Surprised she lasted 3 ish eras

Dua for me.

 

I really didn't connect with her around DL1 and found her sound incredibly annoying and faceless.

 

Future Nostalgia shut me up real quick.

Olivia Rodrigo (never listened to her music tbh)

Camilla Cabello lasted longer than I thought 

 

Dua Lipa

Rihanna. I did not expect the artist who started with "Pon de Replay" to have such a successful career. Given where pop music was at the time, I thought her time in the spotlight would end quickly, like it did for Lumidee, Lil' Mama, Nina Sky, or (regrettably) Kat DeLuna.

Meghan Trainor (I am shocked she is still even somewhat around and can sometimes get a hit)

The Weeknd (I didn't expect him to smash, I thought he'd be forgotten after that hit song with Ariana)

Edited December 29, 20241 yr by JustHoran

38 minutes ago, Esb200713 said:

Rihanna. I thought after the pon de replay that I'd never hear her again yes she is still here. 20 years later.

I remember I hated that song and thought for sure she would be a one hit wonder  I literally love her now though and her music 

Nicki Minaj

 

she felt like a joke that would fade away

 

now she's a joke that won't go away.

I was convinced Gaga's mainstream music career was over in 2014. Pretty thrilled to be proven wrong

H.E.R & megan trainor

50 minutes ago, Saint James said:

Meghan Trainor, i thought she would get dropped from her label but she had a new hit, several tiktok hits and a successful tour

 

i didn't expect Maroon 5 to still be going in the 2020s.

 

it makes sense that Kylie still releases music, but i didn't expect her to still be doing the popstar cycle of single -> press -> album -> tour etc

I wouldn't say they're still going, most of their releases after Memories flopped. But their 2011 resurgence being a full fledged second wind lasting nearly a decade and being bigger than their original peak was indeed surprising.

Carly 

 

Call me maybe was huge but other songs on thaf album weren't so thought she was gonna be a one hit wonder back then but then we got many more albums from her afterwards 

33 minutes ago, The7thStranger said:

Rihanna. I did not expect the artist who started with "Pon de Replay" to have such a successful career. Given where pop music was at the time, I thought her time in the spotlight would end quickly, like it did for Lumidee, Lil' Mama, Nina Sky, or (regrettably) Kat DeLuna.

I honestly thought she would be a one hit wonder

Post Malone.

 

I remember when this song came out and was popular for a little bit

 

Thought he was gonna fizzle away afterwards but here we are almost 10 years later

I really thought Billie Eilish would only last one era.

Katy perry. Dua lipa and Jason DeeeeRuuLoo