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Post by Glove Slap on Mar 4, 2015 17:52:21 GMT -5
That's a disappointing opening for Kelly sales wise. Not by a huge amount (the highest she could have gone I'd say was maybe 110-115k in the best scenario), but still disappointing. Considering that she was able to release 3 successful projects year after year, they could have actually given her more momentum despite the lead single's performance.
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Gabe
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Post by Gabe on Mar 4, 2015 17:53:00 GMT -5
Y'all are comparing the first week sales from this album to her past two releases? Her past two releases were a GREATEST HITS album and a CHRISTMAS album! No comparison can be done here. This is a brand new full length studio album. Compare the first week sales of this album to Thankful, Breakaway, My December, All I Ever Wanted and Stronger. Right, because comparing opening weeks for albums released 12, 11, 8, 6, and 4 years ago is, like, WAY more legit! It sure is. Taylor Swift's latest album opened stronger than her albums released 9, 7, 5 and 3 years ago.
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surfy
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Post by surfy on Mar 4, 2015 17:53:41 GMT -5
Yeah, but it's Taylor Swift...
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dbhmr
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Post by dbhmr on Mar 4, 2015 17:55:06 GMT -5
Right, because comparing opening weeks for albums released 12, 11, 8, 6, and 4 years ago is, like, WAY more legit! It sure is. Taylor Swift's latest album opened stronger than her albums released 9, 7, 5 and 3 years ago. That's a pretty remarkable way to make Taylor Swift...unremarkable.
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neally
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Post by neally on Mar 4, 2015 17:58:47 GMT -5
Right, because comparing opening weeks for albums released 12, 11, 8, 6, and 4 years ago is, like, WAY more legit! It sure is. Taylor Swift's latest album opened stronger than her albums released 9, 7, 5 and 3 years ago. Perhaps you don't realize, but you've just supported the point of dbhmr rather than your own...
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Gabe
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Post by Gabe on Mar 4, 2015 18:01:01 GMT -5
You guys can dance around it all you want, but you can't cover the sun with one finger. This is Kelly's weakest opening week and it has nothing to do with album sales being on a decline. She's just not a strong artist as she once was anymore.
Imagine Dragons just pulled 170k last week. Kid Rock did 135k. Carrie Underwood's Greatest Hits opened to over 100k. You don't have to be an artist as big as Taylor Swift to have a strong first week.
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surfy
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Post by surfy on Mar 4, 2015 18:03:24 GMT -5
You guys can dance around it all you want, but you can't cover the sun with one finger. This is Kelly's weakest opening week and it has nothing to do with album sales being on a decline. She's just not a strong artist as she once was anymore. Imagine Dragons just pulled 170k last week. Kid Rock did 135k. Carrie Underwood's Greatest Hits opened to over 100k. You don't have to be an artist as big as Taylor Swift to have a strong first week. We obviously know that... but trying to defend your logic by comparing her sales to Taylor Swift, the biggest artist in the world right now...
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Post by Gabe on Mar 4, 2015 18:06:05 GMT -5
I would like you to show me exactly where I COMPARED Kelly's sales to Taylor's. What I did was give an example that the "they sell less because artists don't sell as much as they used to anymore." argument isn't necessarily true.
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dbhmr
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Post by dbhmr on Mar 4, 2015 18:08:37 GMT -5
You guys can dance around it all you want, but you can't cover the sun with one finger. This is Kelly's weakest opening week and it has nothing to do with album sales being on a decline. She's just not a strong artist as she once was anymore. Imagine Dragons just pulled 170k last week. Kid Rock did 135k. Carrie Underwood's Greatest Hits opened to over 100k. You don't have to be an artist as big as Taylor Swift to have a strong first week. Literally no one has glossed over this point. Look at the prediction thread--most of the people pointing out the truck-size holes in your posts are people who predicted this very opening, and have cited it as both weak and disappointing. Kelly's brand is far from its peak, she has little radio support, and hasn't been in the public eye until, like, two days ago, and the image the public is seeing isn't flattering one. Kid Rock doing 135k is a serious shock, but Imagine Dragons just released a follow-up to a huge album, and Carrie Underwood is a bigger star who released her album in December (wait, aren't we not even supposed to be comparing this opening to Kelly's GH album? How does comparing it to Carrie's GH album make any sense? Or, really, to any other artist at all, then?). So the only person dancing flailing, predictably, is you, stomping your feet in the same passive aggressive bulls**t you've been spelunking in for actual years. I would like you to show me exactly where I COMPARED Kelly's sales to Taylor's. What I did was give an example that the "they sell less because artists don't sell as much as they used to anymore." argument isn't necessarily true. That's like saying album sales aren't down because Adele sold 11 million copies of 21.
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surfy
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Post by surfy on Mar 4, 2015 18:11:06 GMT -5
I would like you to show me exactly where I COMPARED Kelly's sales to Taylor's. What I did was give an example that the "they sell less because artists don't sell as much as they used to anymore." argument isn't necessarily true. Taylor is a major exception in this industry. And although album sales are inching up... it's still nowhere close to where it used to be back when her other studio albums came out... I didn't mean you compared their sales FIGURES. You compared their sales in another way... You said that Taylor sold more than her other previous albums, but Taylor is the biggest artist in the world right now! I mean... what kind of logic? Kelly is not Taylor.
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Gabe
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Post by Gabe on Mar 4, 2015 18:17:54 GMT -5
Geeeez, Kelly stans definitely like to get their panties in a knot. Bottom line is, comparing Kelly's new album first week to her past two releases (expected weak opening sales for a GH and a Holiday album) is just a way of trying to cover up the fact that she is FAR from the successful artist she was before. And saying her first week sales are not strong because album sales are down is BS. Good day.
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neally
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Post by neally on Mar 4, 2015 18:22:03 GMT -5
I would like you to show me exactly where I COMPARED Kelly's sales to Taylor's. What I did was give an example that the "they sell less because artists don't sell as much as they used to anymore." argument isn't necessarily true. It is true for the large majority (? 90-95%) of mainstream artists. Imagine Dragons is poor example since they hit it big with their last mainstream album. Heck even Carrie Underwood who consistently opens better than Kelly has opened with a considerable decline in sales by numbers each era, not because she is less popular, but mostly because of declining record sales. When Carrie's numbers are adjusted for the sales climate, they are not off by much from the previous era. If 'Stronger', which opened with 163k in 2011, were sold today, it would sell ~114k based on the interval decline in record sales. That tells me that if 'Pieces' only sells 75-80k actual sales (not including streams/singles for the purposes of comparison to 'Stronger'), she is still off by 30%. So, most of the significant decline is due to record sales; however, that other 35-40K is due to Kelly: declining popularity, inadequate single promotion before this week, etc.
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surfy
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Post by surfy on Mar 4, 2015 18:22:17 GMT -5
Geeeez, Kelly stans definitely like to get their panties in a knot. Bottom line is, comparing Kelly's new album first week to her past two releases (expected weak opening sales for a GH and a Holiday album) is just a way of trying to cover up the fact that she is FAR from the successful artist she was before.And saying her first week sales are not strong because album sales are down is BS. Good day. Who in here actually denied that??? Tell me. I don't get where your argument is even coming from. And no, honey. No it isn't... album sales have been lower for many big artists for a while now.
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ss8
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Post by ss8 on Mar 4, 2015 18:31:50 GMT -5
Its VERY simple- it's a combo of a very lackluster (not horrible) but bland/forgettable *1st single mixed in w/ image problems. 'Image' will always and forever=*marketing..possibly the most important factor to many, many people (more than the music unfortunately). Unless you're a new un-established act/singer who has this instantly, amazing, catchy song come out of nowhere where there's little to no expectations (eg: PSY lol), you're gonna struggle! Kelly is a name brand and has been around for 13 years who aside from 1 flop studio album, has been pretty consistent and has smashed more than not. Even w/ the flawless promo, her likability and solid fan base there's just something overall about this era that the public is indifferent about. That said, even w/ it being March while 80k ish is NOT horrible, coming off a 1+ million selling album that had one of the most memorable and biggest pop songs of the decade, won Grammys just 2 years ago, she really should've done around 100k-120k..easily :/
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2015 18:36:27 GMT -5
Its VERY simple- it's a combo of a very lackluster (not horrible) but bland/forgettable *1st single mixed in w/ image problems. 'Image' will always and forever=*marketing..possibly the most important factor to many, many people (more than the music unfortunately). Unless you're a new un-established act/singer who has this instantly, amazing, catchy song come out of nowhere where there's little to no expectations (eg: PSY lol), you're gonna struggle! Kelly is a name brand and has been around for 13 years who aside from 1 flop studio album, has been pretty consistent and has smashed more than not. Even w/ the flawless promo, her likability and solid fan base there's just something overall about this era that the public is indifferent about. That said, even w/ it being March while 80k ish is NOT horrible, coming off a 1+ million selling album that had one of the most memorable and biggest pop songs of the decade, won Grammys just 2 years ago, she really should've done around 100k-120k..easily :/ And maybe she will... They need to lower the prices for this album right now.
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ss8
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Post by ss8 on Mar 4, 2015 19:00:41 GMT -5
Taylor has been playing it ultra safe since day one. Yes, she kind of 'switched' up her sound for 1989 but was it really as risky and ballsy as Kelly going from Breakaway to MD level of risky? LOL. Kelly was *totally against duplicating Breakaway in every way. Kelly at her peak was every bit as on fire as Taylor is now! Very big difference is Kelly did not want to make the same record (which in all likelihood would've continued the epic smashes/success she had w/ Breakaway). We all know the story and what happened. As a big fan I def. would've preferred a similar pop/rock radio friendly formula to Breakaway than what we got w/ MD but *Kelly fought like hell to put out the product she wanted and did the polar opposite of everything Taylor Swift. As much as I wish it was different I truly think Kelly has been indifferent about her career since My December. I think she'd DEF. be happier being on an indie label doing non mainstream music.
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Mack
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Post by Mack on Mar 4, 2015 19:16:14 GMT -5
Taylor has been playing it ultra safe since day one. Yes, she kind of 'switched' up her sound for 1989 but was it really as risky and ballsy as Kelly going from Breakaway to MD level of risky? LOL. Kelly was *totally against duplicating Breakaway in every way. Kelly at her peak was every bit as on fire as Taylor is now! Very big difference is Kelly did not want to make the same record (which in all likelihood would've continued the epic smashes/success she had w/ Breakaway). We all know the story and what happened. As a big fan I def. would've preferred a similar pop/rock radio friendly formula to Breakaway than what we got w/ MD but *Kelly fought like hell to put out the product she wanted and did the polar opposite of everything Taylor Swift. This is all garbage. First of all, none of Taylor's albums are the same, except that the majority of them fall under the pop/country category, just like the majority of Kelly's are pop/rock. Second, if you think that Taylor hasn't really changed her sound or evolved over the years, you need to listen to her debut followed by 1989. Lastly, just because Taylor hasn't had to fight her label or engage in public battles with her bosses doesn't mean that she isn't doing exactly what she wants to do. You're making a lot of assumptions.
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fallensaint
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Post by fallensaint on Mar 4, 2015 19:34:03 GMT -5
Its VERY simple- it's a combo of a very lackluster (not horrible) but bland/forgettable *1st single mixed in w/ image problems. 'Image' will always and forever=*marketing..possibly the most important factor to many, many people (more than the music unfortunately). Unless you're a new un-established act/singer who has this instantly, amazing, catchy song come out of nowhere where there's little to no expectations (eg: PSY lol), you're gonna struggle! Kelly is a name brand and has been around for 13 years who aside from 1 flop studio album, has been pretty consistent and has smashed more than not. Even w/ the flawless promo, her likability and solid fan base there's just something overall about this era that the public is indifferent about. That said, even w/ it being March while 80k ish is NOT horrible, coming off a 1+ million selling album that had one of the most memorable and biggest pop songs of the decade, won Grammys just 2 years ago, she really should've done around 100k-120k..easily :/
Even that "flop" studio album went platinum and has sold almost 900K so far lol
All her 6 studio albums have gone platinum and her GH album has gone gold. Remarkable consistency.
Which is why I agree with your last sentence there...
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Post by Devil Marlena Nylund on Mar 4, 2015 19:35:13 GMT -5
I read all the posts here and I have no idea what is being argued...
Meanwhile, I think this is Brandi's second best opening and just slightly under her last album - released 2012. Go Brandi!
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fallensaint
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Post by fallensaint on Mar 4, 2015 19:40:47 GMT -5
I read all the posts here and I have no idea what is being argued... Meanwhile, I think this is Brandi's second best opening and just slightly under her last album - released 2012. Go Brandi!
I didn't even notice till you mentioned Brandi that this isn't the Kelly Clarkson thread lol
I had forgotten...
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sapphire
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Post by sapphire on Mar 4, 2015 20:05:33 GMT -5
Geeeez, Kelly stans definitely like to get their panties in a knot. Bottom line is, comparing Kelly's new album first week to her past two releases (expected weak opening sales for a GH and a Holiday album) is just a way of trying to cover up the fact that she is FAR from the successful artist she was before. And saying her first week sales are not strong because album sales are down is BS. Good day. TRUTH! And I even consider myself a Kelly fan. I wasn't able to get my copy for this new album yet though, hopefully tomorrow.
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Post by DJ General on Mar 4, 2015 20:11:04 GMT -5
Not at all. Unless I'm forgetting something, I'd consider it a lock to win Top Album Sales, and BB200 will depend on how well the Shades album holds.
And of course, we are assuming Kanye will not suddenly drop his album tmrw, as has been rumored.
What? Were was that rumored? The album won't be out until May and there will be a full promo schedule for it
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dbhmr
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Post by dbhmr on Mar 4, 2015 20:11:15 GMT -5
Geeeez, Kelly stans definitely like to get their panties in a knot. Two stans calling out your ridiculous posts does not a knotted panty make, but whatever keeps your blinders up.
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Gabe
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Post by Gabe on Mar 4, 2015 20:14:11 GMT -5
Geeeez, Kelly stans definitely like to get their panties in a knot. Two stans calling out your ridiculous posts does not a knotted panty make, but whatever keeps your blinders up. My posts are as ridiculous to you, as yours are to me.
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Clauss
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Post by Clauss on Mar 4, 2015 20:18:39 GMT -5
All I want to say, is:
She deserves so much more.
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Post by Oprah on Mar 4, 2015 20:19:45 GMT -5
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Kishi KCM
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Post by Kishi KCM on Mar 4, 2015 20:33:30 GMT -5
I'm not surprised at the numbers for Kelly.
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Post by Love Plastic Love on Mar 4, 2015 20:37:11 GMT -5
I mean, its a bit low, but not unexpected. They released the blandest song on the cd as the first single and there has not been a promo blitz on the level that her other cds received to help the song or cd along. I hoped it would scrap 100K, but am not surprised it is missing it.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Mar 4, 2015 20:47:04 GMT -5
Kelly's opening numbers ARE disappointing. With the fact that Kelly, her fanbase, her label and her management were finally working fairly fluidly and consistently for her last three projects (Stronger, GH:C1, Wrapped In Red), there was absolute cause to expect her to have a a fanbase that could clear 100k for her in her opening week. I mean what else is the benefit/result of her winning Grammy's, releasing Greatest Hits' and experimenting with genres albums if it wasn't to solidify her presence as a major recording artist with a loyal following for the future?
Obviously what was working in the last three instances has clearly not been working to quite that effect this time (so far, anyway). Not to mention the playing field has changed in her personal life.
It's clear that in order for the stars to align for Kelly, she needs a large radio presence, a promotional onslaught with her firing on all cylinders, an inciting factor (that commercial for What Doesn't Kill You, the Christmas commercials etc.). None of which there has really been here.
Heartbeat Song should have been met with a CHR deal, iTunes banner and promo blitz. I know people have to be realistic about what artists command what kind of budget, but RCA must have known things in Kelly's personal life have changed, that it has been a minute since she's released anything, and that given the right combination of promotional outlets she can catch fire. A Q1 release from someone with a solid but dormant fanbase, with an artist who'd priorities have shifted, and an image issue is an uphill struggle to start with. With Kelly, the promotional plan needs to be surgical, and it feels a bit like this time around it was a little nonchalant.
That said, the market is not to blame. We've seen big, solid openings for lots of artists that are on the same level as Kelly. Like I say, artists ten years in the game are all about the right mix of circumstances, and it's clear the Piece By Piece project hasn't been met with those. No I don't think there's been enough promotion, no I don't think what promotion that did came came early enough, yes I think her image has affected the narrative, no I don't blame the market. Maybe even had it had the right rollout, we must blame Heartbeat Song too for not connecting with the American public so far.
So what next? See how Heartbeat Song goes over the next week and if its fortunes don't change, DON'T hang about. Roll out the second single and get to work. Cause that's what it's going to take to make this whole situation work now.
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Post by Au$tin on Mar 4, 2015 20:57:16 GMT -5
Her numbers both are and are not disappointing. They are because the album is amazing and deserves a lot of success. Also, it's a steep fall from previous albums. However, they don't disappoint me at all because they're exactly what I was expecting given the circumstances.
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