The art of selling out

[jaxxalude]

Black Eyed Peas. Definitely. Cop Behind The Front and Bridging The Gap and compare them with both Elephunk and Monkey Business. You wouldn't believe it's the same act!

[lollipopheaven]

pubescentmonster said:

lollipopheaven said:

Ah no. What doors has Christina opened? None actually. She's just doing what once again has been done already.

yes because radio is being flooded w/20',30's,40's jazzy soulful songs like "Candyman" and "I Got Trouble" of course everyone is doing that. She is heading in a completely different direction then everyone else and if u hear CANDYMAN its unlike any song out there today and shes taking a HUGE risk by going that direction I wouldnt be suprised if people actually start copying and start going back in time doing the same thing she is now and cranking out CANDYMAN type songs and calling it their own

ROFL Christina should just stop because it's just terrible. It's nothing like the vibes in the 20/30's and yada yada. Yet again saying people are going to likely start copying Christina. Please that's so far-fetched considering she's just rehashing music that's been done before. If she was smart enough she's create her own sound which she hasn't and never will because she's always saying how she wants to sound like this person or that person.

[Arson]

themaxonline said:

Examples where an artist claims to hate everything that's super mainstream but then does an album that clearly is what you always went against.

I think this is the best definition of selling out.  It's when an artist goes against their supposed beliefs in order to increase sales and make more money.

I don't consider being a copycat, jumping on the bandwagon or changing to a different sound as selling out, unless the artist has previously stressed that they would never do these things. 

I'm not sure what Jewel has said previously about artists sexing up their image, but it seems like she was trying to do a bit of this in 0304, so it could be considered selling out to an extent.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Jewel said duing the '0304' days and in the song 'Intuition' basically that if that's what people want in their music, that's what she'll give them but in her own way. She still wrote the same type of songs, the music backing them up was of a poppy-sexier sound. I think she was doing things by the way mainstream likes but doing it her way. I can see how people say she sold out but I don't really agree completely. That one is an iffy for me.

[Pulse]

But at the time, People wanted Hip Hop Beats & R&B. Why in the world was Jewel giving them dance pop at the time?

[Break The Ice]

I really like "Promiscuous".. its a great song, but I do think that Nelly Furtado was selling out a bit. She didn't release those "remixes" that she'd done in the US for a reason. And her first two albums were strictly folk-type songs (well, most of the songs).. "I'm Like a Bird" was definitly a folk type song and you could tell that she was trying to be creative and not like everyone else on the charts at that time because when that song came out, there wasnt much folk-type songs out. Then she had "Folklore" the album.. that flopped so then I think she knew that she had to make a radical change because if she came out with another album with folk-type songs, that nobody would by it. (Her first album went 2x platinum.. second album only Gold). So she decided to team up with Timbaland for a track ("Promiscuous") and make a hip-hop/r&b album. Her new stuff is great but I think its at a point where 'selling out' means that you change something about you (or in this case, your music), to get money or success. And that's exactly what Nelly Furtado did.

[How Do You Do?]

The only argument I can see for pop artists selling out is when artists receive success and then turn their backs on their older music. That bugs the crap out of me.

Example: Nelly talking about her previous work:

“I went through a feminist phase and read a lot of philosophical stuff. Some of the male bashing brainwashed me for a bit so I stopped. I love men!”

Ignoring the fact that she is too stupid to understand that being a feminist has nothing to do with hating men, that is the kind of selling out that I hate.

Whether music succeeds or fails commercially, you should stand behind it.

[Filthy Pop]

lollipopheaven said:

pubescentmonster said:

yes because radio is being flooded w/20',30's,40's jazzy soulful songs like "Candyman" and "I Got Trouble" of course everyone is doing that. She is heading in a completely different direction then everyone else and if u hear CANDYMAN its unlike any song out there today and shes taking a HUGE risk by going that direction I wouldnt be suprised if people actually start copying and start going back in time doing the same thing she is now and cranking out CANDYMAN type songs and calling it their own

ROFL Christina should just stop because it's just terrible. It's nothing like the vibes in the 20/30's and yada yada. Yet again saying people are going to likely start copying Christina. Please that's so far-fetched considering she's just rehashing music that's been done before. If she was smart enough she's create her own sound which she hasn't and never will because she's always saying how she wants to sound like this person or that person.

She's merging the old style with new style, modernizing it but leaving it authentic in a sense. She hasn't opened any doors yet obviously ANOM has only been out for a month, the album isn't even out yet, she's not going to get many copycats for this because face it a lot of artists can't pull this off. She does have her own sound, I hear Slow Down Baby and think classic Christina that's one of those songs that no one else could have covered and sounded good on. I'm sure people would be saying the same thing if she went in the same route as Stripped and her debut saying she isn't doing anything new. She switches up styles for almost every album to bring something new and different to the table, the songs I have heard so far are very different from what's out there today. Not many artists have the balls to pull this off, and Christina's the only one seeing (and going to see) big successes with this. She took a huge ass risk here and it's pulling off, she's not selling out at all I don't know how you could even consider her selling out she hasn't switched up her style to be more successful she still has the same style with the jazz influences, and could have easily got more songs that sound like the Stripped and her debut era.

[Break The Ice]

Back to Basics should do very well in the first week, with possibly 400,000 being sold. Though I dont see it hitting 4 million total like "Stripped" did.. maybe 2 million. Depends on the singles though.