kimberly
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Post by kimberly on Nov 29, 2022 2:22:50 GMT -5
she's very sweet.
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felipe
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Post by felipe on Nov 29, 2022 6:25:40 GMT -5
I do wonder how the album would have fared if Made You Look or Don't I Make It Look Easy were the first single. There's obviously still an appetite for her, but a ballad as first single was probably a wrong choice by the label. Someone in the thread made a very interesting analysis that Bad For Me was picked to just tend to the core Hot AC audience and get her name out there in a more slow-burn way throughout the summer before Made You Look was to smash. (And now Bad For Me does well with recurrent streaming.) I think all of us were like wtf is Epic doing with Bad For Me, but I think we should probably trust them on this. Album cycles are different now, and Meghan was in a very specific situation. She had a smash hit in the wings but only if Tik Tok gave it the proper foundation, and sometimes, building up to a moment is what allows the moment to actually happen and take off. If Meghan had come from the void and just released Made You Look, it genuinely may not have done well. Remember, even though Bad For Me wasn’t really a hit (and of course everyone would’ve preferred if it was), it did at least give Meghan a reason to be back in everyone’s faces for a bit. You also want to solve the issue of getting her name back out there to prepare for the album while setting the album up for maximum success by having the smash single while the album is *out*. Especially during the holiday season when is the only time albums might actually *sell*. It was thoughtful and they’re putting a lot of effort into her campaign and it’s working. Probably a very good example of when record execs know a bit more about what they’re doing than “release the smash single now!!111” Stan-mantra. This makes a lot of sense as an strategy.
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 29, 2022 7:58:15 GMT -5
I dont think there was any grand strategy to get her a Top 40 hit out of this project. I think they assumed her lane was now exclusively AC & HAC and that is what they were aiming for. Made You Look was a lucky break but I mean come on, the music video is a Candy Crush commercial.
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theflying
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Post by theflying on Nov 29, 2022 9:23:03 GMT -5
I dont think there was any grand strategy to get her a Top 40 hit out of this project. I think they assumed her lane was now exclusively AC & HAC and that is what they were aiming for. Made You Look was a lucky break but I mean come on, the music video is a Candy Crush commercial. I don’t think what you’re saying is what is being said. We’re talking about the wisdom of releasing it first, or Bad For Me first. The wisdom of releasing Bad For Me first is that it allows Meghan to generate some momentum before her album’s release with her core formats, because only the rarest of songs truly blow up with no momentum — and those are usually breakthrough hits by new artists. (All About That Bass being a good example.) You also want the album’s biggest chance at a hit being released with the album out in time for the holidays. It’s one of (one of) the reasons Taylor didn’t release a first single — you want the hit with the album out. So the strategy was to release something with longevity to build up momentum with her core audience (Hot AC, as you said), and then release the main pop push with the best chance at a smash as the album releases in time for the holidays. It’s not “grand strategy” lol, it just makes sense. We were all wondering why Meghan announced her album so far ahead in advance, and then released a ballad instead of a banger. The strategy seems to be working. This was in the context of “Why wasn’t Made You Look released first?” — because unless there was momentum (much of it provided by Meghan on Tik Tok), it may not have caught on. And even then, you ideally want it catching on with the album out.
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Choco
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Post by Choco on Nov 30, 2022 19:42:25 GMT -5
There was no strategy. They got lucky a song went viral lol. No one expected her to get another hit.
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theflying
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Post by theflying on Nov 30, 2022 21:56:52 GMT -5
There was no strategy. They got lucky a song went viral lol. No one expected her to get another hit. An album release strategy is not the same thing as “expecting her to get another hit”. We’re talking about the album release strategy, because Made You Look wasn’t the first single.
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 30, 2022 22:43:06 GMT -5
Right, the "album release strategy" was push a ballad to HAC because they didnt expect her to do anything anywhere else. It wasn't that they were anticipating Made You Look catching on. The album barely cracked the Top 20 and the only way they even made a Made You Look video was by getting Candy Crush to pay for it. The "album" would have already been in the dustbin if she hadn't gone viral on TikTok
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Wave.
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Post by Wave. on Nov 30, 2022 22:49:08 GMT -5
It's no shade at all, she was around, but TikTok definitely helped the visibility(and her doo would sound that initally blew her up), and there's nothing wrong with that cause it's working in her favor.
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Ty
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Post by Ty on Nov 30, 2022 23:28:10 GMT -5
It's really not rocket science. An artist's personality and work ethics (boldening it for all the C-lister pop girls who drop 1-2 songs every year) are much, much more important than any label strategy in the age of social media.
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theflying
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Post by theflying on Dec 1, 2022 1:02:47 GMT -5
Right, the "album release strategy" was push a ballad to HAC because they didnt expect her to do anything anywhere else. It wasn't that they were anticipating Made You Look catching on. The album barely cracked the Top 20 and the only way they even made a Made You Look video was by getting Candy Crush to pay for it. The "album" would have already been in the dustbin if she hadn't gone viral on TikTok I don’t why you’re unable to distill two separate concepts. Just because they weren’t sure that Made You Look was going to be a global smash hit, doesn’t mean you don’t release the strongest song while the album is concurrently out. Again: Then why didn’t they release Made You Look first? Because, uh, it was the best chance to have all the promotion and energy synergize into helping it take off. And it worked. Sometimes, labels do know they have a potential smash on their hands. The whole reason Meghan Trainor is a pop star is because LA Reid knew All About That Bass was a smash. You act like either they knew without a shadow of a doubt Made Yoy Look would smash, which is impossible, or they just sent it out to flop. But they DIDN’T do that. They had a plan. That’s why it’s working. I don’t know why you’re so resistant to that. The song’s success is because Tik Tok made it possible — but it’s on its way to becoming a global smash *because of the strategy*. Meghan has like 14 million Tik Tok followers and gets like 15 million monthly streams. It’s not like the binary is “global smash” or “total flop”. There are in-betweens, ya know, they could have been more realistically hoping for.
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felipe
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Post by felipe on Dec 1, 2022 6:09:21 GMT -5
Right, the "album release strategy" was push a ballad to HAC because they didnt expect her to do anything anywhere else. It wasn't that they were anticipating Made You Look catching on. The album barely cracked the Top 20 and the only way they even made a Made You Look video was by getting Candy Crush to pay for it. The "album" would have already been in the dustbin if she hadn't gone viral on TikTok But if they didn't have hopes for Made You Look, why not push another ballad as the second single to cater to her HAC audience?
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Dec 1, 2022 7:57:56 GMT -5
Because Candy Crush wasn't willing to pay for a video for a ballad
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Choco
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Post by Choco on Dec 1, 2022 14:31:15 GMT -5
Honestly tell me if you lived under a rock since September and heard "Made You Look" and were told it was by C-Lister has been Meghan Trainor would you hear a hit single? No one expected it to catch on. They probably took the Candy Crush coins and did a low budget video and considered it a modest win. Then it somehow caught fire.
It's an OK song and I'm happy she got another hit but she was lucky.
This is not a "Toxic" situation where they willingly saved the best single until the album dropped. They collected the modest airplay on HAC for single #1 then dropped a video to give the album a focus track, with a sponsor willing to pay the bill for it. Then some people used it on TikTok for some reason and... hit.
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theflying
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Post by theflying on Dec 1, 2022 15:28:07 GMT -5
In fact, no, the label paid for a whole second reshoot because the first shoot got plagued by so many issues, including Chris Olsen getting Covid.
You guys are being really dismissive and it’s not grounded in reality except your own preconceived notions of what people who are in charge of making her music a success MUST have thought. Luck is not just luck, right? It’s a combination of timing, and circumstances, and in this case, the song.
Made You Look didn’t catch fire by accidental luck. It caught fire because there were foundations and strategies that were being executed in order for the song to have the best chance at taking off.
Again, the two choices are not “worldwide smash” or “flop into oblivion”.
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felipe
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Post by felipe on Dec 1, 2022 15:50:49 GMT -5
Honestly tell me if you lived under a rock since September and heard "Made You Look" and were told it was by C-Lister has been Meghan Trainor would you hear a hit single? No one expected it to catch on. They probably took the Candy Crush coins and did a low budget video and considered it a modest win. Then it somehow caught fire. It's an OK song and I'm happy she got another hit but she was lucky. This is not a "Toxic" situation where they willingly saved the best single until the album dropped. They collected the modest airplay on HAC for single #1 then dropped a video to give the album a focus track, with a sponsor willing to pay the bill for it. Then some people used it on TikTok for some reason and... hit. But she was much more present on TikTok for Made You Look than she was for Bad For Me, even before it went viral. Snippets from her Fallon performance were all over TikTok even though the song was still at early stages of becoming viral. It did seem like they saw potential in it and were trying hard for a viral hit, not just jumping on the trend after it became viral by luck.
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Au$tin
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Post by Au$tin on Dec 1, 2022 17:23:32 GMT -5
Honestly tell me if you lived under a rock since September and heard "Made You Look" and were told it was by C-Lister has been Meghan Trainor would you hear a hit single? No one expected it to catch on. They probably took the Candy Crush coins and did a low budget video and considered it a modest win. Then it somehow caught fire. It's an OK song and I'm happy she got another hit but she was lucky. This is not a "Toxic" situation where they willingly saved the best single until the album dropped. They collected the modest airplay on HAC for single #1 then dropped a video to give the album a focus track, with a sponsor willing to pay the bill for it. Then some people used it on TikTok for some reason and... hit. But she was much more present on TikTok for Made You Look than she was for Bad For Me, even before it went viral. Snippets from her Fallon performance were all over TikTok even though the song was still at early stages of becoming viral. It did seem like they saw potential in it and were trying hard for a viral hit, not just jumping on the trend after it became viral by luck. Pretty sure that was just typical album promo as the album dropped at the exact same time as all that.
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theflying
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Post by theflying on Dec 1, 2022 17:39:27 GMT -5
But she was much more present on TikTok for Made You Look than she was for Bad For Me, even before it went viral. Snippets from her Fallon performance were all over TikTok even though the song was still at early stages of becoming viral. It did seem like they saw potential in it and were trying hard for a viral hit, not just jumping on the trend after it became viral by luck. Pretty sure that was just typical album promo as the album dropped at the exact same time as all that. ….Right…………which is why they released Made You Look WITH THE ALBUM and not first…
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Wave.
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Post by Wave. on Dec 1, 2022 20:50:41 GMT -5
How was MYL doing before it blew up on TT?
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theflying
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Post by theflying on Dec 1, 2022 21:26:36 GMT -5
How was MYL doing before it blew up on TT? It debuted on Tik Tok about ten days before the album came out. But it pretty much smashed there almost immediately. Some of you are acting like Tik Tok is this unpredictable thing that randomly bestows virality on to songs in a way we can’t measure. Of course that happens sometimes, but that’s not always true lol. People immediately liked this song. I just don’t understand what everyone’s point is. Made You Look is a strong song. It was finished months ago. The label and Meghan used strategy to give it the best chance of it being a hit and also selling the album for the holidays, instead of releasing it first. I don’t understand what’s in dispute about this, except some people seem determined to be a little dismissive (which ALWAYS happens with Meghan) by acting like this song almost randomly luckily took off. She’s a brilliant songwriter, who is still in her 20s, with a big audience, and a big social media presence. There was really no reason she couldn’t have had another hit since all the other ingredients were there and her last album came out before Tik Tok took off during Covid. The potential was always there. And some of ya’ll still are determined to delegitimize her talent and work by saying it was all luck. Well, you know what talent and preparation equal.
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felipe
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Post by felipe on Dec 4, 2022 11:18:04 GMT -5
The song became viral because of the Brookie and Jessie coreography, which was actually out the exact day the song was released. So it really makes me think it was a sponsored video and actually part of the label's marketing strategy, not just luck.
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Wave.
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Post by Wave. on Dec 4, 2022 13:34:41 GMT -5
She's having a good year and I'm happy for her fr. It's a good album, and I hope they can market the next single just as well.
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Dec 5, 2022 12:28:24 GMT -5
Yeah I wondering what their plan for the next single might be. Hopefully not one of the ballads, I just dont think there's a market for a ballad from her, unless its like a WHOA song, and none of the ballads on this project are that IMO. Mama Wanna Mambo could work, and the Natti Natasha feature could get her some crossover airplay. I'd probably put my money on Lucky though. The lyrics are tiktok-able.
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theflying
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Post by theflying on Dec 5, 2022 13:07:43 GMT -5
I loooove Lucky. One of my faves and it really gets stuck in your head. Is it too retro for radio?
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Ty
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Post by Ty on Dec 5, 2022 14:33:51 GMT -5
"Lucky" is a bop! But "Takin' It Back" or "Don't I Make It Look Easy" has to go before it.
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George
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Post by George on Dec 14, 2022 11:57:16 GMT -5
Potential next single?
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wjr15
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Post by wjr15 on Dec 19, 2022 11:34:02 GMT -5
I just gotta say that Meghan’s Christmas album is really good and probably the best pop Christmas album since Kelly’s Wrapped In Red. This is the second year where it’s my go-to album for Christmas music.
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George
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Post by George on Dec 20, 2022 0:51:26 GMT -5
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Ty
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Post by Ty on Dec 20, 2022 1:42:29 GMT -5
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survivorqt
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Post by survivorqt on Dec 20, 2022 20:30:57 GMT -5
I wonder if she would tour, I think she can do Arenas in big cities
And LOL at Epic counting her out, there was no strategy for her at all! I always thought Meghan was a more viable Popstar than that former label mate squeeling chipmunk
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wjr15
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Post by wjr15 on Jan 30, 2023 8:27:13 GMT -5
Meghan Trainor just announced on The Today Show that she is pregnant with baby #2
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