Blackout2006

I'm being generous when I say it returned. It held its own space in the form of radio hits like Can't Stop Feeling, Happy, and Cheerleader, but they didn't dominate the zeitgeist like trap and hip-hop music. Royals showed the big labels that you didn't need a Katy Perry or EDM-backing track or an LMFAO feature or extravaganza to make a juggernaut success of Royals' level. Not only did it leverage the entire alternative-pop community into a bigger subculture in the late 2010s, it changed the hit-making formula.

Myself

Glossy mainstream-pop music did return but it held its own space in mainstream music, it wasn't the dominant force it was in the early 2010s with the EDM-pop craze. Through the late 2010s, hip-hop became the far bigger genre and its popularity moved pop music into a darker and more trap-influenced route. Lorde's Royals came with a bang and rewrote what it looked like to write a chartbuster pop juggernaut in 2013. On the longer run, her debut has influenced so many artists like Conan Gray, Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams, Billie Eilish, and Troye Sivan. It just became part of a larger narrative of albums in the mid-2010s like BTD, Electra Heart, and Ultraviolence that became cornerstones in alternative pop music. But Royal's impact cannot be brushed off like that.

The revisionism with BTD is very weird. It's arguably one of the most influential albums of the 21st century, but when it first came out, it wasn't an immediate critic hit. It took a whole retrospective review from Pitchfork a decade later to give BTD a good score but that album wasn't beloved upon arrival, especially with the controversy surrounding Lana glamourizing toxic relationships. It took sometime for BTD to become a cult classic but Royals was instant. Both of these records were very influential, but people here trying to completely erase Royal's impact is ridiculous.

No WAY that's a new pic She's not aged one bit

I knew this album was going to smash but not this hard, but she really came through with great music, organic anticipation, and hype well translated into success The first few weeks felt like Sourmania all over again

I'm a diehard fan of textless album covers and the reissues cover is stunning, but I think this cover would've looked glorious with the original B'day type font somewhere on the top corner left maybe, it would've completed the album cover look.

I'm a diehard fan of textless album covers and the reissues cover is stunning, but I think this cover would've looked glorious with the original B'day type font somewhere on the top corner left maybe, it would've completed the album cover look.

Geese was pretty big but I can see their controversy as alleged industry plants probably rubbing the committee the wrong way. Most likely, it's going to Ella Langley anyway

169k is actually MASSIVE for an EP by a girl group in the 2020s. Can you imagine the NUMBERS they'd actually pull if they locked in, had all their members back from their sabbaticals, put out stellar non-slop vocal-serve pop bop anthems, and released a full-fledged album? Atp, it sounds like a dream with the sort of music H*be gives them I just wish most of their music now was way better because these girls are sooo talented and they could deservingly be the most definitive girl group of our era.

Wait, didn't someone here a few pages ago predict her making an entire visual thing/documentary out of ts?

Wow, i think my brain is playing with me but for some reason, I thought Massive Attack had more work on Bedtime Stories

i've loved all her work with Massive Attack, so yea

Pack it up

Every time I read up on albums put out by celebrities who were already popular by the time these said albums came out, I never understood why they always debuted outside the top 10 before having to rise through consistent sales and eventually ascend to the top. I can imagine sales accounting prior to the Nielsen Soundscan era was vastly different, but what sort of rule could've disabled or prevented albums that were already successful upon release a high debut? For example, Like a Prayer was released by Madonna at the height of her commercial power and success. Yet, it only charted in the top 40 before it reached the top of the charts. It just doesn't make sense to me. For example, I couldn't imagine Olivia Rodrigo releasing an album as successful as her last one and it not having a hot-shot debut. So why was this the charting norm for all A-list artists of the era? I find it hard to pinpoint shift in consumer behaviour because the moment the Nielsen Soundscan era began, the Bodyguard soundtrack debuted at #1 with 300k+ sales. Such a change would be too instantaneous for it to have been influenced by changes in music consumption. Would appreciate a response on this since the chart geek inside me always thinks about it