Will Beyoncé bounce back commercially with B7?

[groovy]

Forgive me & let me know if there's been a similar thread.

After a few months hiatus, there's been a lot of talks among the Beyhive of what direction Beyoncé should take for her upcoming album a.k.a B7. Some want her to continue taking risks following the artistic & experimental routes she took with Self-titled, Lemonade & Black Is King. Others want her to go back to the R&B/Pop diva Beyoncé that used to conquer the charts with I Am... Sasha Fierce, B'Day & Dangerously in Love.

With Everything is Love & The Gift underperforming on the charts - two of her recent studio projects where even the fans weren't all totally on board for various reasons, there comes a questions of whether she still has the power to score hit singles. Though last year, she proved that she still had it with "Savage Remix" when she decided to just have fun & become less serious than she usually is. Also, keep in mind that for some reason, Beyoncé's 'side' projects tend to do noticeably worse commercially compared to her main studio albums (e.g. 8 Days of Christmas, "Listen", the Cadillac Record soundtrack, etc.).

So, what do you guys think? What do you want to see from her in B7?

Some opinions from Twitter folks (most of there are just lighthearted jokes I'm pretty sure, just thought I'd share it for fun):

[groovy]

On more factual news:

[Au$tin]

Everything she has done since Lemonade has been a side/passion project, so I don't think it's fair to compare any of the stats of her previous work to those. Likewise, self-titled and Lemonade are not the commercially viable pop/r&b records of those previous either, and actually are very, very impressive stats when compared with fellow female hip-hop peers at the time.

I don't doubt that as long as it's not another passion project, her next album will continue to see overall success, but that may not translate into individual single success. And that's okay. The highest selling and one of the most successful albums in the last ten years essentially only had one significant chart hit to its name. (Adele's 25, and yes before anyone goes there, 21 is older than ten years now. Time flies.) Lemonade itself doesn't have much in terms of individual song success (partially thanks to Formation not being available basically anywhere for a huge amount of time), but it's still one of the most successful and beloved albums overall in the 2010s decade along with self-titled.

Tl;dr - Singles? Nah, probably not. Album? High chance.

[kimberly]

Beyoncé has not bothered with promoting a single properly since "Drunk in Love," perhaps even before that (since that whole album was a surprise drop, too).

I know one thing—Beyoncé will figure out what is right and what makes sense for her at this particular moment. And she'll have internet twinks seething and whining as per usual.

[groovy]

Jul 20, 2021 2:21:24 GMT -5 kimberly said:

I know one thing—Beyoncé will figure out what is right and what makes sense for her at this particular moment.

This one for sure! Honestly this is what always makes me confident in her upcoming album. We don't know what it's gonna sound, but we know for sure she's gonna put her 100% on it.

Although, I personally would love for her to have at least 1 commercially successful album again, kinda miss listening to her hits on the radio.
And for some reason, I don't know why maybe because of their songs' resurgence recently on social media, I'm starting to miss Destiny's Child as well.

[weaver]

I don't think she cares about getting hit singles anymore. If she puts out a solid album, it will sell though.

[Ling-Ling]

If she drops a proper album, I definitely think it will perform better than EIL and The Gift. But I don't expect it to be big. She lost the desire to promote a long time ago. Not to mention, she's turning 40 in a couple of months, she's just naturally aging out.

I expect a solid debut (but nothing close to S/T or Lemonade), some solid (but not overly impressive) streaming numbers and maybe a couple of medium sized hits at Urban or Urban/R&B depending on the music. I don't think Pop will touch her.

I just want another album and another solo tour already.

[Deleted]

I could see her doing decently at Urban/R&B and streaming for the lead single, but it's been 23 years since she debuted with DC which is an eternity in popular music and she doesn't really promote anymore. I'd consider something close to the success of Lemonade to be a huge success for her at this stage of her career.

[back2blk]

Whatever she releases will come with Grammy love, a packed stadium tour, and a Netflix special LOL

[Positive Tension]

I wouldn't be surprised if her next studio album is a success, and I say this as a non-fan. I don't know if it will do Lemonade numbers, but I at least see a high debut.

[when the pawn...]

Questioning if Beyonce can bounce back or not can, or needs to 'bounce back' is both valid and silly. On one hand, her most recent "official LP" was a cultural event and the best-selling album of its year (right?), preceded by another multi-platinum cultural event/industry reset. The softer reception/sales to EIL, Homecoming, The Gift and BIK are kinda irrelevant, especially when you factor in "Savage" and even "Mi Gente."

Then again, I do think there's a point at which the sales and general success of the self-titled and Lemonade become increasingly out of reach with the kind of no-promotion/no-singles strategy she's done. Those two albums, again, were cultural events that were AOTY (in society, not The Grammys rme). Beyonce is obviously capable of doing that again but it's rare, she may have made it look too easy on the last two. If the next album isn't at that level artistically, doesn't spark a ton of conversation, doesn't have heaps of iconic lyrics and visuals, which, again, is so rare for an album to do, the lack of standard-promo singles might leave it dark (assuming she goes that route again - she may not).

All said, Beyonce's legacy is safe. She doesn't really need B7 to be anything considering she has two+ decades of mega-hits, classics, sales, acclaim, etc. And like people have said, if her heart is in it, we can expect something great, not to be discouraged by softer fare like "Black Parade" or even her contribution to "Perfect" (hit or not).

[Koochie]

who

[NeRD]

It may not be as commercially successful as Lemonade, but it will certainly be more successful than her side projects over the past few years.

[mkarns]

Jul 20, 2021 2:16:13 GMT -5 Au$tin said:

The highest selling and one of the most successful albums in the last ten years essentially only had one significant chart hit to its name. (Adele's 25, and yes before anyone goes there, 21 is older than ten years now. Time flies.)

"Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" was #1 at pop and top 10 Hot 100. That's not a significant chart hit?

Regarding Beyonce, I wouldn't mind more focus on hits as well as statements, or at least a somewhat lighter, less serious tone. But she's going to do what's meaningful to her and promote it on her terms, not commercial radio ones. I wish she were still a pop as well as R&B/Urban radio staple, but that ship has likely sailed (though another hit or two is possible.) Whatever she does will undoubtedly get a lot of attention and should at least help maintain her fanbase even if it doesn't tear up the hit singles parade.

[kalmanta]

The last few years have shown her career trajectory quiet obviously imo, merging both mediums film and music into one thing, rather than focusing on hit singles. And that is exactly what she is trying to achieve/complete in the 20s. I don’t know if the Netflix deal has ever been confirmed, but if it’s true, something groundbreaking is gonna happen.