base talk Why did "Disease" by Lady Gaga underperform?

[Hexchromatica]

The same way her songs explode 10 years later the public will see the light one day but for now a lack of taste 

[Genie in a Bottle]

I liked it when it first came out, but it had a high burn rate. I don't find myself going back to listen to it anymore

 

Disease was like a nice "ahh she can still do dark pop, cool, ok, can you give us something fresh now?"

Edited 7 hours ago by Genie in a Bottle

[CBC]

The song is shallow af and not in the #1 hit kinda way. It sounds like a rejected demo from the BTW era and the lyrics are cringe af. The GP is also not here for strident sounds. I'm confident in her tho, she always serves no matter what even joanne has its gems 

 

[Rino]

the song is not the catchiest earworm in the world + Gaga doesn't have the pull anymore. I still do appreciate it though, hope she continues with this sound cause it's such a great fit for her 

[dumbsparce]

It had too much going on in the production but what really hindered it was the loud, shouty vocals. It ended up being a noisy song with no hook.

[TedMiracle]

It didn't underperform, it flopped.

[YourFavoriteWeapon]

It's too dark for the GP, they didn't want to hear someone screaming "LIKE YOU'RE GONNA DIE" at them and prefer Gaga's uplifting peaceful music like the #1 smash hit Die With A Smile 

[Roberto]

It doesn't have a friendly appeal (too loud, weird and aggresive). Despite being a great first single, the chances of smashing were límited.

Edited 6 hours ago by Roberto

[qurl]

i do think a lot of the success she enjoys at this stage in her career is the goodwill she garnered from the Sound of Music Oscars performance, jazz standards with Tony, and the adult contemporary pivot with the Star is Born soundtrack (whereas before she was pretty exclusively a gay icon making weird gay dance music)

 

so it's natural that her later AC effort is smashing bc that's what a lot of people want from her .. it's a song meant for people to do karaoke to, or upload covers of on youtube/tiktok but i for one am a big fan of Disease and "weird Gaga" and hope she doesn't view the underperformance as a reason to give up on making eccentric pop music .. we need her vision in pop music

[MonsterNavy]

its doing pretty well for unpromoted experimental lead single?

 

 

here's popstars' latest lead singles in comparison:

 

disease, lady gaga - 108M (2months old)

 

dancing in the flames, the weeknd - 151M (3months old)

 

squabble up, kendrick lamar - 151M (2months old)

 

woman's world, 2013 fad - 48M (7 months old)

 

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by MonsterNavy

[narid]

Experimental? 

 

[Harrier]

Team Gaga misread the viral success of Bloody Mary as there being hunger for dark Gaga, but Bloody Mary is more moody as opposed to dark and twisted like Disease. Disease falls into the same category as like, Government Hooker or Aura, and these songs are just way too much for the GP and only loved by a few gay people.

[Yes, AND]

Disease simply sounded like an artist chasing her glory days, but coming up incredibly short unfortunately. 

[MadMax12]

It wasn't hyped before its release. Her previous leads benefited a lot from weeks of hype and anticipation, so it didn't get the same awareness from the GP. And they didn't release physicals, vinyls, merch and the video on release day which hindered its debut/peak position. That said, it has held well in the hot 100 and a Grammy's performance would really elevate the song to new audiences 

[ImpressMeMuch]

because just as atrl is tired of this same thread being posted again and again

 

the public isn't going to support multiple hit, record breaking singles from stefani at the same time 

[bjorn]

3 hours ago, Moloko Plus said:

As a stan since The Fame I must say … the song sucks and sounds extremely outdated

 

I knew this was gonna flop as soon as I heard it on first listen

This 

[hawx23]

31 minutes ago, ImpressMeMuch said:

because just as atrl is tired of this same thread being posted again and again

 

the public isn't going to support multiple hit, record breaking singles from stefani at the same time 

It's actually insane to expect her to

 

once again, OGHs stupidly being unable to see the irony of them having higher standards for Gaga than her actual fans do lol 

[fememeist]

Her stans are so fake af for making Disease flop

[MissedTheTrain]

I think Harlequin kinda took away a lot of momentum, and then Gaga didn't do anything to push it further.  Oh well, I'm at least glad it's a song I love

[bync]

1 hour ago, Harrier said:

Team Gaga misread the viral success of Bloody Mary as there being hunger for dark Gaga, but Bloody Mary is more moody as opposed to dark and twisted like Disease. Disease falls into the same category as like, Government Hooker or Aura, and these songs are just way too much for the GP and only loved by a few gay people.

Hit the nail on the head.

[babyforlife]

lbr, the first time we've heard disease we all LOVED it but theres no way it's gonna be a hit like BR,PF,JD level. The song is too loud for a gp. She's doing it for the fans.

[DirtyPony87]

It's a great song. I love it. But they were kinda foolish for thinking it would do anything on radio.

[Giorgoc]

5 hours ago, brutal said:

Because it's a solo Lady Gaga song after 2013?

Like Million Reasons and its #4 peak? Like ARUTW with it's billions of streams? Like Stupid Love with its #5 peak? lbr this is her first true flop lead.

 

4 hours ago, l3disko said:

it just wasn't catchy or memorable. I didn't see any part of the song having viral tiktok appeal

 

+ her own stans admitted to having trouble remembering the lyrics

I adore the song BUT truth is I did have trouble remembering the lyrics the first few times.

 

3 hours ago, narid said:

Experimental? 

 

While not experimental per se, it IS way too different to anything out there especially from a commercial pop star.

[niktperkins]

Humanity was tired with diseases after lockdowns and quarantines

[PrettyHurts]

It's not because there's anything wrong with the song. It's fairly good and could have easily resonated with the GP under the right conditions. Look at Bloody Mary, another 'Dark Pop' Gaga song which became a hit recently. The problem is that there was no hype or interest in solo Gaga. She needed a narrative going into the era to make people interested. At the moment she is basically an inoffensive nostalgia act and part-time actress. She has done nothing in the past decade to show that she is on the cutting edge of anything artistically or socially, which is partly what made her famous to begin with. There is no opinion to have about her at the moment other than that she is talented. If she wants to build interest n solo projects she will have to find a way to seem compelling again.