Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone - "Fortnight"

[85la]

Jun 1, 2024 7:15:02 GMT -5 85la said:

Would they actually try to push this to #1? They can't. They might be able to pull it off through straight-up buying, but it would take a long, long time and there'd be no reason to. It would just sabotage all the rest of her singles and the complete rest of the era.

Hmm, so maybe they're trying to push it top 5 with these latest updates or buying some more time in the top 10, but #1, no, that will truly backfire. Two other huge potential hits desperately waiting in the wings that might be squandered.

It also seems they're attemping to "buy" peoples' opinions of it with these drastic increases, and it seems to be working, as some are now pointing out things they like about it and saying "oh, maybe it's not so bad after all."

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Jun 6, 2024 10:14:23 GMT -5 85la said:

Jun 1, 2024 7:15:02 GMT -5 85la said:

Would they actually try to push this to #1? They can't. They might be able to pull it off through straight-up buying, but it would take a long, long time and there'd be no reason to. It would just sabotage all the rest of her singles and the complete rest of the era.

Hmm, so maybe they're trying to push it top 5 with these latest updates or buying some more time in the top 10, but #1, no, that will truly backfire. Two other huge potential hits desperately waiting in the wings that might be squandered.

It also seems they're attemping to "buy" peoples' opinions of it with these drastic increases, and it seems to be working, as some are now pointing out things they like about it and saying "oh, maybe it's not so bad after all."

There is literally no evidence or indication beyond your own speculation to support "Fortnight" is being "bought" spins or benefiting from "payola". Pretty much every song has a slowdown duration during its run at one point or another, typically before entering the top 10. Once you take into consideration this is Taylor Swift we're talking about (an artist whose song programmers are naturally going to jump on and put into immediate heavy rotation) it's not shocking her slowdown would manifest at a higher position (within the top 10) than usual, particularly because it ascended quicker than most. It's not as if the song has awful streams that somehow insinuate its being disingenuously "forced" onto radio listeners, so I'm not sure why you're even peddling this narrative (other than to undermine the song's success) at this point. Just because you don't love the song doesn't automatically mean it's somehow incapable of being successful on its own merits, especially as the lead of an album from a star at the tip top peak of her commercial prime.

With that said, I am more than ready for the next single. If this is to hit the top eventually, hopefully it does it fast and falls even faster as I am ready for a new video and a new addition to the era's single roster and this single's era is dragging on slower than the song itself.

[Mayman]

It never made sense that this slowed down when this has some of the best streaming songs in the current top 10. "Lavender Haze" hit the top 5 with significantly worse streams. I don't know if this will hit #1, but if it does, I think it's deserved because it's doing well on other platforms.

[85la]

Jun 6, 2024 10:23:23 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

Jun 6, 2024 10:14:23 GMT -5 85la said:

Hmm, so maybe they're trying to push it top 5 with these latest updates or buying some more time in the top 10, but #1, no, that will truly backfire. Two other huge potential hits desperately waiting in the wings that might be squandered.

It also seems they're attemping to "buy" peoples' opinions of it with these drastic increases, and it seems to be working, as some are now pointing out things they like about it and saying "oh, maybe it's not so bad after all."

There is literally no evidence or indication beyond your own speculation to support "Fortnight" is being "bought" spins or benefiting from "payola". Pretty much every song has a slowdown duration during its run at one point or another, typically before entering the top 10. Once you take into consideration this is Taylor Swift we're talking about (an artist whose song programmers are naturally going to jump on and put into immediate heavy rotation) it's not shocking her slowdown would manifest at a higher position (within the top 10) than usual, particularly because it ascended quicker than most. It's not as if the song has awful streams that somehow insinuate its being disingenuously "forced" onto radio listeners, so I'm not sure why you're even peddling this narrative (other than to undermine the song's success) at this point. Just because you don't love the song doesn't automatically mean it's somehow incapable of being successful on its own merits, especially as the lead of an album from a star at the tip top peak of her commercial prime.

With that said, I am more than ready for the next single. If this is to hit the top eventually, hopefully it does it fast and falls even faster as I am ready for a new video and a new addition to the era's single roster and this single's era is dragging on slower than the song itself.

I would say I would call myself a Swiftie myself now and am a bigger fan of hers than I have ever been, yet I still assess things fairly and accurately and don't hesitate to call out s*** when I see it, as all reasonable people should. This song has been widely regarded, including most on this board, to definitely be one of the weakest songs on the album, and one of her weakest singles in general, plus it has been noted that the callouts are very low as well, so it is far from my opinion alone that I do not like the song. I've followed the pattern of radio spin increases and decreases for years now, and whether or not a song has excellent or weak callouts, to have slowed down to far less than 100 daily gains or even start to show decreases and then to suddenly get nearly 1000+ gains, is nowhere close to a natural song's progression, even amongst songs that get special pushes or are manipulated. Yes, there are variances in the pattern of spin increases/decreases, with songs often picking up again after slowing down after a while, especially if they are near and in striking distance of #1 or another certain threshold. This sudden and large of a turnaround, especially when it is still nowhere near #1, is not typical at all. And this follows a fairly long and growing list now of pretty much only Taylor Swift songs with a history of making such drastic moves: Look What You Made Me Do and Is It Over Now? definitely, and to a lesser extent songs like Delicate and ME!, among others. To further prove my point, the descents of some of these songs, Especially LWYMMD AND IION, are even more drastic than their ascents, with them both tumbling completely outside of the top 10 just a weeks after reaching #1. If their ascents were natural and so many people liked the songs, why would they fall so dramatically? Most other songs with even manipulated peaks don't have so drastic a decline.

[No Brakes]

This has a run just like Little Image’s “Out Of My Mind” before it went #1 and a few weeks later, fell off the alternative chart and disappeared into the abyss.

Anyone saying this isn’t payola with this spin progression is kidding themselves.

Payola runs radio these days, nothing to see here.

I actually like this song a lot, sounds exactly like College (the band), guess what? Most people do not like them or that sound. Certainly not the demographic of most pop listeners.

[fearlessarrow]

POP:
7 7 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 11361 10509 852 28.335

-20 Spins
-98 Bullet
-0.188 Audience

HOT AC:
3 3 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 5149 4703 446 18.460

+160 Spins
+116 Bullet
+0.319 Audience

AC:
12 11 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 397 351 46 0.866

+6 Spins
+4 Bullet
+0.008 Audience

DANCE:
36 35 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 135 119 16 0.012

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Jun 6, 2024 16:39:03 GMT -5 85la said:

plus it has been noted that the callouts are very low as well, so it is far from my opinion alone that I do not like the song.

Where were the callouts posted? What I saw mentioning it was speculative at best. People were questioning if they were poor. Also, again, your or my subjective opinions aren't enough to prove manipulation/payola. As I said before, it has to be reasonating with a good amount of people because it's streaming is solid, our opinions be damned.

I've followed the pattern of radio spin increases and decreases for years now, and whether or not a song has excellent or weak callouts, to have slowed down to far less than 100 daily gains or even start to show decreases and then to suddenly get nearly 1000+ gains, is nowhere close to a natural song's progression, even amongst songs that get special pushes or are manipulated.

You must not be following too closely because many of Taylor's singles (especially pre Midnights) followed such patterns. Many had a big slowdown at one point, even several losing spins before regaining to peak.

To further prove my point, the descents of some of these songs, Especially LWYMMD AND IION, are even more drastic than their ascents, with them both tumbling completely outside of the top 10 just a weeks after reaching #1. If their ascents were natural and so many people liked the songs, why would they fall so dramatically? Most other songs with even manipulated peaks don't have so drastic a decline.

I don't feel as if you've proven anything at all honestly. You've just stated your own speculative thoughts on the matter. Also, why are we talking about "LWYMMD" and others when we are specifically addressing this song and its performance? I don't doubt "LWYMMD" had an unnatural push, but this song personally (as of yet) is not giving me any huge red flags to suggest such and certainly no evidence (I mean it lost spins today, not much of a push going on).

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Don’t radio stations hold songs at levels of airplay for a few weeks before bumping them up in total plays or down? Like, a station might play a song 7-9 times a day for a few weeks and then bump it up to power rotation for a month until they pull it back again. I thought I read that once. If that was the case, I don’t think the trajectory of this would be that strange afterall. Most stations jumped on it quickly but with mixed results, there might have been some hesitation to increase airplay again and now a bunch are doing that.
Typically songs with slower rises will see more gradual increases because stations aren’t all moving it at the same rate and the same time.
Idk, I feel like sometimes people view radio as a single entity making singular decisions rather than a collective of hundreds or dozens of individual entities that get combined into one.

[Choco]

The point where songs weirdly slow down for a bit changes every few years (it used to be around #11 but it's closer to #8 ish right now). It's where most songs plateau since stations hesitate a bit before putting them into power rotation. Some like Houdini never move much above it, some just spend there a week or so before skyrocketing again.

I still have no idea what happens with this. The hype feels gone but they're also not rushing another single and radio does need to play a Taylor current I guess...

[fearlessarrow]

119 spins away from #1 on HAC, it could get there as early as tomorrow.

POP:
7 7 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 11440 10606 834 28.342

+79 Spins
-18 Bullet
+0.007 Audience

HOT AC:
3 2 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 5285 4727 558 18.637

+136 Spins
+112 Bullet
+0.177 Audience

AC:
12 11 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 392 356 36 0.860

-5 Spins
-10 Bullet
-0.006 Audience

DANCE:
36 34 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 136 117 19 0.014

[85la]

Jun 6, 2024 20:34:57 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

Jun 6, 2024 16:39:03 GMT -5 85la said:

plus it has been noted that the callouts are very low as well, so it is far from my opinion alone that I do not like the song.

Where were the callouts posted? What I saw mentioning it was speculative at best. People were questioning if they were poor. Also, again, your or my subjective opinions aren't enough to prove manipulation/payola. As I said before, it has to be reasonating with a good amount of people because it's streaming is solid, our opinions be damned.

I've followed the pattern of radio spin increases and decreases for years now, and whether or not a song has excellent or weak callouts, to have slowed down to far less than 100 daily gains or even start to show decreases and then to suddenly get nearly 1000+ gains, is nowhere close to a natural song's progression, even amongst songs that get special pushes or are manipulated.

You must not be following too closely because many of Taylor's singles (especially pre Midnights) followed such patterns. Many had a big slowdown at one point, even several losing spins before regaining to peak.

To further prove my point, the descents of some of these songs, Especially LWYMMD AND IION, are even more drastic than their ascents, with them both tumbling completely outside of the top 10 just a weeks after reaching #1. If their ascents were natural and so many people liked the songs, why would they fall so dramatically? Most other songs with even manipulated peaks don't have so drastic a decline.

I don't feel as if you've proven anything at all honestly. You've just stated your own speculative thoughts on the matter. Also, why are we talking about "LWYMMD" and others when we are specifically addressing this song and its performance? I don't doubt "LWYMMD" had an unnatural push, but this song personally (as of yet) is not giving me any huge red flags to suggest such and certainly no evidence (I mean it lost spins today, not much of a push going on).

Don't want to go into a constant back and forth with you and not going to respond to each of your points in turn, but I still stand by my argument. I'm not sure why you have to defend Taylor in every single instance and that no criticism at all is allowed of her for you. I might not be able to "prove anything scientifically," and the entire chart run of Fortnight definitely isn't over, but what I am deducing is definitely very reasonable, that the questionable trajectory so far of Fortnight is definitely starting to resemble a pattern of other songs of hers with very likely heavily manipulated runs, such as Is It Over Now? and LWYMMD, the latter of which you admit so yourself. We'll see the complete story after its run is finished, but something tells me this ain't gonna stay in the top ten for weeks and weeks after it's peaked. As for the callouts, I don't know 100% about that and I'm not sure if they're accessible anymore, but you can look back in the thread and some people did seem to mention they were low, but even completely disregarding callout scores, you'd have to be completely disregarding general feedback on this song that it hasn't been overall poorly received. Do you like it? As for the streaming, it had a huge first week and has performed relatively well mainly because it is Taylor Swift, and as mentioned, was always going to open well as the first single, regardless of the quality. It dropped out of the top 10 on the streaming chart after just 4 weeks, however, so that is not an excellent hold at all for her or even any major hit.

[85la]

Jun 6, 2024 20:57:43 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

Don’t radio stations hold songs at levels of airplay for a few weeks before bumping them up in total plays or down? Like, a station might play a song 7-9 times a day for a few weeks and then bump it up to power rotation for a month until they pull it back again. I thought I read that once. If that was the case, I don’t think the trajectory of this would be that strange afterall. Most stations jumped on it quickly but with mixed results, there might have been some hesitation to increase airplay again and now a bunch are doing that.
Typically songs with slower rises will see more gradual increases because stations aren’t all moving it at the same rate and the same time.
Idk, I feel like sometimes people view radio as a single entity making singular decisions rather than a collective of hundreds or dozens of individual entities that get combined into one.

I'm not sure about that. With the increasing mass consolidation of radio in recent decades, with just a couple or maybe even just one corporation (previously Clear Channel but now I guess iHeart Media) controlling an overwhelming majority of the pie, it's very likely that just a few individuals might control almost everything.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Jun 7, 2024 15:41:03 GMT -5 85la said:

I'm not sure why you have to defend Taylor in every single instance and that no criticism at all is allowed of her for you.

I always know an argument has failed when the person goes personal. First of all, I don't defend Taylor on every single instance of criticism. Not only do I have my own fair share of criticisms of her (which I have widely voiced on this forum), but I only argue against the occasional criticism (as I feel inclined to) when I feel the argument being made is unfounded, disingenuous, or factually inaccurate. Your misrepresentative view of my posting history isn't my problem, the topic at hand, and to be frank, a super tired deflective tactic.

As for the callouts, I don't know 100% about that and I'm not sure if they're accessible anymore, but you can look back in the thread and some people did seem to mention they were low,

Again I only saw people speculating as I said before. No actual data or proof was shown. You reiterating differently over and over won't make it any different.

You have your opinions on the song being artificially boosted, I'm just not persuaded by your argument and agree with others that its performance up to this point doesn't seem too unusual. Now if the song suddenly rockets to #1 for a week and then immediately plummets down the chart with record-breaking spin losses my opinion may shift! Have a good day!

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Jun 7, 2024 15:45:16 GMT -5 85la said:

Jun 6, 2024 20:57:43 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

Don’t radio stations hold songs at levels of airplay for a few weeks before bumping them up in total plays or down? Like, a station might play a song 7-9 times a day for a few weeks and then bump it up to power rotation for a month until they pull it back again. I thought I read that once. If that was the case, I don’t think the trajectory of this would be that strange afterall. Most stations jumped on it quickly but with mixed results, there might have been some hesitation to increase airplay again and now a bunch are doing that.
Typically songs with slower rises will see more gradual increases because stations aren’t all moving it at the same rate and the same time.
Idk, I feel like sometimes people view radio as a single entity making singular decisions rather than a collective of hundreds or dozens of individual entities that get combined into one.

I'm not sure about that. With the increasing mass consolidation of radio in recent decades, with just a couple or maybe even just one corporation (previously Clear Channel but now I guess iHeart Media) controlling an overwhelming majority of the pie, it's very likely that just a few individuals might control almost everything.

Possibly, and I’m sure a breakdown of it exists but my point still stands. A song like “Fortnight” had instant impact so having a slowdown period during its ascent might not be so mysterious.

[Marooned@Midnight]

Pretending this song has been “poorly received” is ludicrous. By what measure? Please.

I didn’t expect it to even go this far on pop radio, so I’ve been very pleased with its performance thus far. Not because of its reception at all, which has been phenomenal by any objective measure, but because it doesn’t strike me as pop radio friendly necessarily. I don’t find the slowdown, nor the recovery, all that surprising. Taylor is the biggest artist in the entire industry and radio needs a current single from her to play. None of this is rocket science. The performance of the album alone warrants pop taking this to the top should it wish to do so. I’m not convinced it will, but won’t complain if it happens…and certainly won’t feel it’s due to any nefarious meddling either way.

[Choco]

Poorly received might be a big reach but honestly with her current fame any other song would have done just as well and actually might even have been a bigger deal. I don't think the song itself has done much itselfand has coasted on being the current single from the big Taylor album.

In the end she was simply too big to fail right now. But at this point it would also be on it's way down the radio chart if it was hated by listeners. It's a nice result but much like "willow" or "Is It Over Now?" it's not gonna be one of her top hits and that's fine.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Jun 7, 2024 19:27:43 GMT -5 Choco said:

Poorly received might be a big reach but honestly with her current fame any other song would have done just as well and actually might even have been a bigger deal. I don't think the song itself has done much itselfand has coasted on being the current single from the big Taylor album.

In the end she was simply too big to fail right now. But at this point it would also be on it's way down the radio chart if it was hated by listeners. It's a nice result but much like "willow" or "Is It Over Now?" it's not gonna be one of her top hits and that's fine.

This is more or less my sentiments as well.

[Hefty Hanna]

A hit? Yes, by all metrics.

‘Anti-Hero’ massive? Absolutely not.

[Grün]

I am guessing we will get another single soon, and then she will move on to Reputation TV.

I hope she comes out of the gate swinging with that one. Please no bedroom or lo-fi pop. Give us a song that truly would fit on Reputation.

While I liked the 1989 TV songs, it did feel like Midnights part 2. Looking for some diversity for Reputation on the vault tracks.

[theflying]

I still have absolutely no idea if casuals like (or how they feel about) this song.

[mccloud]

Jun 8, 2024 8:19:01 GMT -5 theflying said:

I still have absolutely no idea if casuals like (or how they feel about) this song.

For the vast majority of people It's just there. Mildy catchy chorus and its a collab between two big artists. Other than that the song isn't that great

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Jun 7, 2024 21:57:47 GMT -5 Hefty Hanna said:

A hit? Yes, by all metrics.

‘Anti-Hero’ massive? Absolutely not.

My girl "Anti-Hero" is that girl. <3

[Acid Eyes]

#1 on HAC today, will be official tomorrow. Should get at least 2 weeks at the top before Hozier takes over.

[Choco]

Jun 8, 2024 8:19:01 GMT -5 theflying said:

I still have absolutely no idea if casuals like (or how they feel about) this song.

Honestly feel like it made close to zero impact on casuals. They might know a huge TSwift album dropped but they might not be able to quote a song (yet? I still feel like Broken Heart or Down Bad could maybe go viral).

It's not a Taylor issue tbh. In 2024 streaming has segmented the audience so much that outside of the truly cultural behemoths and the ultra viral stuff, general audiences will probably not know the majority of the songs charting well. Even worse for established acts because your fanbase can carry you well enough without the song doing much outside of that target group (and no one has a bigger fanbase than Taylor rn).

[fearlessarrow]

#1 on HAC!

POP:
7 7 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 11572 10750 822 28.386

+132 Spins
-12 Bullet
+0.044 Audience

HOT AC:
3 1 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 5442 4786 656 19.032

+157 Spins
+98 Bullet
+0.395 Audience

AC:
12 11 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 411 352 59 0.884

+19 Spins
+23 Bullet
+0.024 Audience

DANCE:
36 34 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 137 116 21 0.015

[fearlessarrow]

POP:
7 7 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 11601 10911 690 28.337

+29 Spins
-132 Bullet
-0.049 Audience

HOT AC:
3 1 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 5582 4819 763 19.357

+140 Spins
+107 Bullet
+0.325 Audience

AC:
11 11 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 415 368 47 0.883

+4 Spins
-12 Bullet
-0.001 Audience

DANCE:
36 34 TAYLOR SWIFT Fortnight f/Post Malone 138 117 21 0.017

[85la]

Jun 7, 2024 18:38:59 GMT -5 Marooned@Midnight said:

Pretending this song has been “poorly received” is ludicrous. By what measure? Please.

I didn’t expect it to even go this far on pop radio, so I’ve been very pleased with its performance thus far. Not because of its reception at all, which has been phenomenal by any objective measure, but because it doesn’t strike me as pop radio friendly necessarily. I don’t find the slowdown, nor the recovery, all that surprising. Taylor is the biggest artist in the entire industry and radio needs a current single from her to play. None of this is rocket science. The performance of the album alone warrants pop taking this to the top should it wish to do so. I’m not convinced it will, but won’t complain if it happens…and certainly won’t feel it’s due to any nefarious meddling either way.

To clarify, by "poorly received," I meant subjective opinions on the quality of the song, based on posters on this forum as well as much of the GP. I could present endless quotes and screenshots to support that. To argue against THAT would be absolutely "ludicrous."

But even the objective performance of the song chart-wise (aside from its first week) is absolutely nothing "phenomenal" or anything to write home about either, especially for a TS single, falling out of the top 10 after just 5 weeks. Again, its chart run isn't over, but its highly unlikely this will rebound and spend like 10 more weeks in the top 10.

[Marooned@Midnight]

Not every song is Anti-Hero, Cruel Summer, or Shake It Off, nor should it be. That’s an impossible standard. This song has more than done its job and is a worthy addition to her catalogue and is an objective huge hit. Songs don’t need to be #1 on pop radio for that distinction. If someone is looking for every single release to be an eight week hot 100 #1, they are going to be sorely disappointed.

Also, reactions on Pulse or any other online message board are flashes in the pan and are best taken with huge grains of salt.

[jughead]

With all the talks about how this compares to Anti-Hero chart-wise, this is still outstreaming AH at the same point in their chart runs. Globally, at least. So it’s not like this is a huge decline from AH.

[Choco]

Jun 9, 2024 19:10:30 GMT -5 jughead said:

With all the talks about how this compares to Anti-Hero chart-wise, this is still outstreaming AH at the same point in their chart runs. Globally, at least. So it’s not like this is a huge decline from AH.

Without knowing the exact numbers, I do have to point out competition and raw numbers are much higher right now. Streamers seem to have grown their userbases substantially since Anti Hero.

(Also Fortnight is doing much worse on radio and sales).