HITS 5/24: Taylor #1 350k ; Billie #2 300k+

[ificanthaveyou]

May 23, 2024 0:44:17 GMT -5 musiclife said:

May 23, 2024 0:42:25 GMT -5 dremolus - solarpunk said:

I know it's super hot right now but I think the yapping Swifties here could afford to buy some leather this season so they could get some thicker skin.

Or the haters can go ahead and buy the 2 other varients Billie just dropped on her website!! A slow version and a fast version. The irony is so weird... how will this move be defended here? I know Taylor will still be the bitch somehow.

It’s sad how Taylor will always be burned at the stake as soon as she reaches this level of popularity. It’s almost a redux of the Reputation era where people were calling her a snake for the altered phone calls. Now they’re calling her a greedy capitalist for literally doing her job and selling music.

And for all of the detractors, it’s not just about this one instance. Taylor has been raked through the mud for a year now and for what? She’s by no means a perfect human being but the standard that people hold her to is ridiculous. She’s supposed to be a powerful savvy business woman but also expected to just take punches that are thrown her way… I hate when people even refer to her as “petty” or “vindictive”. Are Drake and Kendrick petty or vindictive for their beef they have going on? Is it because Taylor is a woman that she can’t be competitive and business savvy and throw shit back at others when they take the first punch? Whether it’s overt or covert sexism, some people hate the fact that a woman can be this successful without repercussions.

Taylor is expending too much jet fuel!?! (Literally flies for work and fuels entire economies through her tour and isn’t even in the top 10 users). Taylor releases too many variants and is too chart obsessed (Ariana and Billie releasing just as many and not getting the level of heat that Taylor gets). Why does Taylor need more money, she’s a billionaire?! (literally cuts her team massive bonuses and buys carbon credits to offset her carbon footprint).

Regardless of what we post, their minds are made up and it’s whatever. Taylor doesn’t need the casuals to maintain this level of success. She’s simultaneously the biggest artist in the world and a legacy artist now.

[musiclife]

May 23, 2024 1:12:09 GMT -5 ificanthaveyou said:

May 23, 2024 0:44:17 GMT -5 musiclife said:

Or the haters can go ahead and buy the 2 other varients Billie just dropped on her website!! A slow version and a fast version. The irony is so weird... how will this move be defended here? I know Taylor will still be the bitch somehow.

It’s sad how Taylor will always be burned at the stake as soon as she reaches this level of popularity. It’s almost a redux of the Reputation era where people were calling her a snake for the altered phone calls. Now they’re calling her a greedy capitalist for literally doing her job and selling music.

And for all of the detractors, it’s not just about this one instance. Taylor has been raked through the mud for a year now and for what? She’s by no means a perfect human being but the standard that people hold her to is ridiculous. She’s supposed to be a powerful savvy business woman but also expected to just take punches that are thrown her way… I hate when people even refer to her as “petty” or “vindictive”. Are Drake and Kendrick petty or vindictive for their beef they have going on? Is it because Taylor is a woman that she can’t be competitive and business savvy and throw shit back at others when they take the first punch? Whether it’s overt or covert sexism, some people hate the fact that a woman can be this successful without repercussions.

Taylor is expending too much jet fuel!?! (Literally flies for work and fuels entire economies through her tour and isn’t even in the top 10 users). Taylor releases too many variants and is too chart obsessed (Ariana and Billie releasing just as many and not getting the level of heat that Taylor gets). Why does Taylor need more money, she’s a billionaire?! (literally cuts her team massive bonuses and buys carbon credits to offset her carbon footprint).

Regardless of what we post, their minds are made up and it’s whatever. Taylor doesn’t need the casuals to maintain this level of success. She’s simultaneously the biggest artist in the world and a legacy artist now.

I think you literally said it all. People have had a sick obsession over her since as long as I can remember. All these other artists like you said drop all these varients and it's totally okay, but God forbid Taylor does it. I think people just don't like good people, but even then, they'll say she's a bad person cause she's literally doing her job to keep her album #1. I'm very curious what some of these people will say about these 2 new varients and the fact she has to discount her brand new album on the week of release. It speaks volumes and just supports the fact that people have always been on a witch hunt against Taylor. Total flat out jealously.

Once one thing is completely debunked it's a new thing. She isn't even a top 10 jetfuel user like I said, and doesn't hurt anyone. The phone call during the reputation era they ate up. It's just a matter of being a hater.. yet their favs have done worse things in life to people. Jealous people are jealous.

I'm literally looking forward to what people have to say about these 2 new varients though. I can't wait to see how this is okay, and Taylor's varients aren't.

[Coco Yu'Kneek- Saint]

"burned at the stake" this is giving me flashbacks to the diva release weeks of yesteryear when it was far more nasty, more vitriolic. Lady Gaga, KP, Britney, Mariah, Madonna etc when actually talented vocalists or dancers/ entertainers and Katy Perry were doing their thing

[bornfearless2000]

The biggest question is who have those extra $$$ to buy multiple versions of the same album .

[jenglisbe]

May 22, 2024 23:26:30 GMT -5 Hefty Hanna said:

The most confusing part of this thread for me is that both women seem to be doing the exact same thing to their fans with the countless versions of their respective albums being released. I don’t understand how one is better than the other for it.

I think they should both just stop now. I do not care about vinyl variations at all - I actually love them - but the “sped up version of the album” and the “here is a random voice memo for this song version of the album” is a bit ridiculous.

I think Taylor pulling out all the stops for yet another week at the top is extra, and for somebody that doesn’t care whether or not she goes #1 Billie seems to be doing the most. Part of my respects the game, but the other part of me thinks enough is enough - just let the music speak for itself. They’re both great albums.

For me, myself, and I it's about whether or not fans have to pay to get the new stuff. I don't think releasing a sped up version to streaming in the debut week is a huge deal. What I don't know is if Billie fans have to pay to get all of the new stuff or not; if they do, then personally I think that's tacky. And yes, doing things for a random week at #1 definitely feels extra, but again for me it's mostly about whether or not people have to pay for it. Artists know stans are going to shell out money, so making it where they have to purchase new versions of an album they already have to get the extra content feels like taking advantage of a power dynamic.

Separately from that stuff, in terms of whether or not Billie is being hypocritical, my understanding is she criticized variants for environmental reasons. Billie releasing digital variants (if that's what has happened) is not contradictory because her criticism was about packaging. People need to at least stick to what the artists have said.

[Enigma.]

Love this thread so much!!!

I went to The Eras Tour in Stockholm and witnessed the total nothingness of her new album in the context of the rest of the show, her massive hits and her most successful eras (musically speaking). I am not surprised that she is milking the TTPD album now as much as she can because I cannot see a long-term future for it, she'll move onto the TVs and then hopefully have a break.

Why did I write "hopefully"? She is not doing herself any favors with that massive tour: 3.5 hours, 4 nights a week, usually 3 days in a row. In Stockholm, she couldn't carry the show to the end with her voice and sounded absolutely awful by the time she performed the Midnights era and STILL has 60 shows to go. When I talked about her voice cracking too many times to another Swiftie, I was being called a hater (not in a too aggressive way lol, more like "you don't just understand her" kind of way) - after paying all that money and travel to another country and loving most part of the show.

All in all, it feels her stans don't care about her health and stuff, they just want MORE MORE MORE from her. I kinda feel she is trapped in being Taylor Swift sadly.

EDIT: That said, I think The Eras Tour concept is her own and she is not forced to do so many concerts. She has also broken all the touring records already so don't know why she has so many tour dates. We'll see how it goes.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

May 23, 2024 1:11:12 GMT -5 musiclife said:

May 23, 2024 1:06:13 GMT -5 dremolus - solarpunk said:

The fact you immediately came at me for a snide says more about you than me.

I'm begging that you go outside and reacquaint with grass. A normal person  shouldn't be on Pulse for this many hours in a day.

You started the snide first. Guess you should buy the thicker skin before coming at others.

Are you 14? You must be like 14. If so, it explains a lot and I apologize for being mean to you before.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

May 23, 2024 1:12:09 GMT -5 ificanthaveyou said:

May 23, 2024 0:44:17 GMT -5 musiclife said:

Or the haters can go ahead and buy the 2 other varients Billie just dropped on her website!! A slow version and a fast version. The irony is so weird... how will this move be defended here? I know Taylor will still be the bitch somehow.

It’s sad how Taylor will always be burned at the stake as soon as she reaches this level of popularity. It’s almost a redux of the Reputation era where people were calling her a snake for the altered phone calls. Now they’re calling her a greedy capitalist for literally doing her job and selling music.

And for all of the detractors, it’s not just about this one instance. Taylor has been raked through the mud for a year now and for what? She’s by no means a perfect human being but the standard that people hold her to is ridiculous. She’s supposed to be a powerful savvy business woman but also expected to just take punches that are thrown her way… I hate when people even refer to her as “petty” or “vindictive”. Are Drake and Kendrick petty or vindictive for their beef they have going on? Is it because Taylor is a woman that she can’t be competitive and business savvy and throw shit back at others when they take the first punch? Whether it’s overt or covert sexism, some people hate the fact that a woman can be this successful without repercussions.

Taylor is expending too much jet fuel!?! (Literally flies for work and fuels entire economies through her tour and isn’t even in the top 10 users). Taylor releases too many variants and is too chart obsessed (Ariana and Billie releasing just as many and not getting the level of heat that Taylor gets). Why does Taylor need more money, she’s a billionaire?! (literally cuts her team massive bonuses and buys carbon credits to offset her carbon footprint).

Regardless of what we post, their minds are made up and it’s whatever. Taylor doesn’t need the casuals to maintain this level of success. She’s simultaneously the biggest artist in the world and a legacy artist now.

I think what I find most frustrating about these discussions is that they’re genuinely interesting to me to talk about, both from a marketing and chart-watching perspective, but they so quickly dive into stan war territory because people get so defensive of any criticism lobbied at their fav, so of course people respond similarly and any chance at a reasonable discussion gets lost as sides are perceived and lines are drawn in the sand.

[Taylor.]

May 23, 2024 6:39:56 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

May 22, 2024 23:26:30 GMT -5 Hefty Hanna said:

The most confusing part of this thread for me is that both women seem to be doing the exact same thing to their fans with the countless versions of their respective albums being released. I don’t understand how one is better than the other for it.

I think they should both just stop now. I do not care about vinyl variations at all - I actually love them - but the “sped up version of the album” and the “here is a random voice memo for this song version of the album” is a bit ridiculous.

I think Taylor pulling out all the stops for yet another week at the top is extra, and for somebody that doesn’t care whether or not she goes #1 Billie seems to be doing the most. Part of my respects the game, but the other part of me thinks enough is enough - just let the music speak for itself. They’re both great albums.

For me, myself, and I it's about whether or not fans have to pay to get the new stuff. I don't think releasing a sped up version to streaming in the debut week is a huge deal. What I don't know is if Billie fans have to pay to get all of the new stuff or not; if they do, then personally I think that's tacky. And yes, doing things for a random week at #1 definitely feels extra, but again for me it's mostly about whether or not people have to pay for it. Artists know stans are going to shell out money, so making it where they have to purchase new versions of an album they already have to get the extra content feels like taking advantage of a power dynamic.

Separately from that stuff, in terms of whether or not Billie is being hypocritical, my understanding is she criticized variants for environmental reasons. Billie releasing digital variants (if that's what has happened) is not contradictory because her criticism was about packaging. People need to at least stick to what the artists have said.

The sped up and slowed down versions of her album are only available for purchase on Billie's webstore. Not on streaming.

They're both playing the same game here and doing the same thing. Taylor "struck" first and came out the gate swinging, but she's never claimed to not care about charts. Love Billie, and she's very young so I get it, but she does kind of pretend to be above industry tactics and games while simultaneously playing them. She clearly does care about charts, awards, etc. — and that's fine!

[85la]

May 23, 2024 6:27:34 GMT -5 bornfearless2000 said:

The biggest question is who have those extra $$$ to buy multiple versions of the same album .

Exactly. Who are these fans that can just casually spend an extra $200 or so on extra vinyls, digital copies, or whatever format, and why they do care so much to get their fav to #1? It's the fans really who are the worst and make this practice a reality because they are always at the beck and call of these artists. I'm realizing both artists might be to blame here, but Taylor so much more because Billie never mentioned or singled her out explicitly at all, and even if she did, what a petty, extreme way for Taylor to react, especially when she has already had several gargantuan weeks at #1, and she is obviously a much bigger fish in the pond and can more easily create a bigger impact from her fans.

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

May 23, 2024 1:18:41 GMT -5 musiclife said:

May 23, 2024 1:12:09 GMT -5 ificanthaveyou said:

I'm literally looking forward to what people have to say about these 2 new varients though. I can't wait to see how this is okay, and Taylor's varients aren't.

nothing? I hate when artists releases 20 varients, but Billie is fighting for her first week at #1 (and this is obviously the answer to Taylor's move) and Taylor for her 5th. Billie and her label probably want that #1 peak and her biggest opening week, Taylor wants to 'steal' the #1 from her because she didn't like a comment that could potentially refer to her.

Be objective sometimes, it's a really nice and liberating feeling.

I know I've been debating this all week, but personally I don't give a shit if Taylor blocks Billie, yeah it'd be nice if Billie reaches #1 because HMHAS is already one of my favorites of all-time, and that #2-peak didn't stop me from loving Good Girls Gone Bad, Born To Die, good kid, m.A.A.d city, Dawn FM, Blackout, Planet Her...
In their world, #1 album means something because they can refer it to as a #1 album (I remember I think iHype? explaining it very well), so there's a big difference between I had the best-selling album of the week and I sold 500k copies but wasn't #1. Longevity is what matters at the end of the day, and you can't force that.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

May 22, 2024 23:26:30 GMT -5 Hefty Hanna said:

The most confusing part of this thread for me is that both women seem to be doing the exact same thing to their fans with the countless versions of their respective albums being released. I don’t understand how one is better than the other for it.

I think they should both just stop now. I do not care about vinyl variations at all - I actually love them - but the “sped up version of the album” and the “here is a random voice memo for this song version of the album” is a bit ridiculous.

I think Taylor pulling out all the stops for yet another week at the top is extra, and for somebody that doesn’t care whether or not she goes #1 Billie seems to be doing the most. Part of my respects the game, but the other part of me thinks enough is enough - just let the music speak for itself. They’re both great albums.

Coming in with the sensibility as always! ❤️

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

To be fair, much of the discussion happened before Billie started throwing out random crap so I guess we’ve come full circle 😂

[musiclife]

May 23, 2024 7:10:20 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

May 23, 2024 1:11:12 GMT -5 musiclife said:

You started the snide first. Guess you should buy the thicker skin before coming at others.

Are you 14? You must be like 14. If so, it explains a lot and I apologize for being mean to you before.

Are you like 60? You must be like 60. The way you're hating on women younger than you. If so, it explains a lot and I apologize for being mean to you before.

[balletgirlmom]

Both Taylor and Billie have great albums out.  Frans of Billie and Taylor love them.  I love both and will enjoy both albums now forever. Great music by both of them.  Sometimes too much emphasis is on charts and somehow female artists are always pitted against each other. Sad.  Music is a business, and both of these artists are VERY good at making music.  In future weeks, months or years, Billie will be #1 and Taylor #2.  Both will continue to have successful music careers and keep making great music.  

[AP]

At think at this point Billie's team is likely pushing to outdo the 313k WWAFAWDWG did in 2019 so they can claim it's Billie's biggest sales week ever. Passing Taylor doesn't seem to be in sight.

[dbhmr]

Gotta thank both women for bringing out some genuine Legendtina vibes from this place for the first time in a long time. Feeling the kind of blessed you can only get from some nostalgia locking into place.

The hyperbole, the victimhood, the DRAMA. I live.

[artifexlife]

May 23, 2024 8:51:32 GMT -5 musiclife said:

May 23, 2024 7:10:20 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

Are you 14? You must be like 14. If so, it explains a lot and I apologize for being mean to you before.

Are you like 60? You must be like 60. The way you're hating on women younger than you. If so, it explains a lot and I apologize for being mean to you before.

If someone said this to Taylor it would be labelled sexist lmao

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

May 23, 2024 8:51:32 GMT -5 musiclife said:

May 23, 2024 7:10:20 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

Are you 14? You must be like 14. If so, it explains a lot and I apologize for being mean to you before.

Are you like 60? You must be like 60. The way you're hating on women younger than you. If so, it explains a lot and I apologize for being mean to you before.

Which woman have I hated on?

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

May 23, 2024 8:03:17 GMT -5 85la said:

May 23, 2024 6:27:34 GMT -5 bornfearless2000 said:

The biggest question is who have those extra $$$ to buy multiple versions of the same album .

Exactly. Who are these fans that can just casually spend an extra $200 or so on extra vinyls, digital copies, or whatever format, and why they do care so much to get their fav to #1? It's the fans really who are the worst and make this practice a reality because they are always at the beck and call of these artists. I'm realizing both artists might be to blame here, but Taylor so much more because Billie never mentioned or singled her out explicitly at all, and even if she did, what a petty, extreme way for Taylor to react, especially when she has already had several gargantuan weeks at #1, and she is obviously a much bigger fish in the pond and can more easily create a bigger impact from her fans.

I also keep going back to the suggestion that Taylor is retaliating against Billie with the extra releases. Maybe she is, but she could also just be promoting? I know week 5 isn’t normal for an artist to release extra versions of an album but Taylor has released remixes of songs before beyond week 1, usually (seemingly) in an effort to hold #1. Her album has been #1 since its release and it’s possible she/the label want it to hold it for as long as they can because they can. Maybe it’s just coincidence that this happens to be the week someone is seriously challenging her and that someone happens to be Billie, so some fans have chosen to make it personal. I know some have said there’s evidence of Taylor being petty but idk, when I take a step back from it, it does seem a bit far fetched to me in this case.

[Choco]

May 23, 2024 8:45:24 GMT -5 HEADOFTHEPACK said:

To be fair, much of the discussion happened before Billie started throwing out random crap so I guess we’ve come full circle 😂

lmao yeah, honestly my issue with Billie this era is that she's giving lack of PR training. I bet her team was mad when she said the variant thing (amongst many weird things she said on multiple interviews leading up to the album), because they already had some of these on the "break in case of emergency" vault.

[Grün]

May 23, 2024 6:27:34 GMT -5 bornfearless2000 said:

The biggest question is who have those extra $$$ to buy multiple versions of the same album .

This. I am fighting for my life with bills(student loans, rent, and life), and people have $150 in discretionary income for the same album in a different color.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Yeah I echo sentiments above. I never really look at the artists in frustration for releasing how many ever variants (as I expect them to maximize profits and chart performance by any legal means necessary for the most part) though I do fundamentally disagree with the practice, but I do reserve a bit of judgement (perhaps unfairly) and side eye the actual people purchasing 20 variations of the same album. 😂 I'm just much too stingy with my money, but I suppose it's their passion and there's no difference in that and me having 30 variations of nearly the same shade of lipstick. 😂

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

My angle now is more environmental (I'm just that way) - regardless of artist, it's just so much production and waste. Vinyls are generally less so than streaming/downloads (interestingly enough) because you buy them once and that's it. Touring is also a MASSIVE one and it's so hard to track, because you have fans traveling in by so many means as well.

Entirely different conversation and I get they have to make money somehow for it to be a sustainable (lol) business, it's just spiraling out of control a bit. Not that this is much different than having millions upon millions of CDs out there gathering dust, just not very of the times to be sending out tons of shit every time an album is released. So much cheaply made merch as well.

Ok standing down.

[imbuemyblue]

May 23, 2024 6:39:56 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

Separately from that stuff, in terms of whether or not Billie is being hypocritical, my understanding is she criticized variants for environmental reasons. Billie releasing digital variants (if that's what has happened) is not contradictory because her criticism was about packaging. People need to at least stick to what the artists have said.

Not exactly the whole picture. She criticized it for environmental reasons and for 'caring that much about your numbers and making money'. So the latter part is where the hypocrisy comes in, unless 'caring that much about numbers' is fine if it's not bad for the environment? Idk.

[Choco]

And as someone said earlier on this very thread I believe, it's not like meaningless digital downloads do not have any impact on the enviroment as they have to be stored on servers that distribute it. It's negligible compared to plastic or mining bitcoins which does require massive amounts of energy. But it's not nothing.

And of course she said she doesn't care about numbers. I actually believe her but I don't think her team and label are on the same bandwagon lol.

Again she probably should have worded that entire answer better.

[avamaxstan]

May 23, 2024 9:42:11 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

May 23, 2024 8:03:17 GMT -5 85la said:

Exactly. Who are these fans that can just casually spend an extra $200 or so on extra vinyls, digital copies, or whatever format, and why they do care so much to get their fav to #1? It's the fans really who are the worst and make this practice a reality because they are always at the beck and call of these artists. I'm realizing both artists might be to blame here, but Taylor so much more because Billie never mentioned or singled her out explicitly at all, and even if she did, what a petty, extreme way for Taylor to react, especially when she has already had several gargantuan weeks at #1, and she is obviously a much bigger fish in the pond and can more easily create a bigger impact from her fans.

I also keep going back to the suggestion that Taylor is retaliating against Billie with the extra releases. Maybe she is, but she could also just be promoting? I know week 5 isn’t normal for an artist to release extra versions of an album but Taylor has released remixes of songs before beyond week 1, usually (seemingly) in an effort to hold #1. Her album has been #1 since its release and it’s possible she/the label want it to hold it for as long as they can because they can. Maybe it’s just coincidence that this happens to be the week someone is seriously challenging her and that someone happens to be Billie, so some fans have chosen to make it personal. I know some have said there’s evidence of Taylor being petty but idk, when I take a step back from it, it does seem a bit far fetched to me in this case.

I would be willing to entertain that argument for pretty much any other artist. But when it comes to Taylor Alison Swift, there is no such thing as coincidences. The woman has probably already lined up every hidden easter egg and promo for her next era in 2026. Once she dropped the Fortnight remix with the environmental activist DJ, that removed any doubt about this being targeted at Billie.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

May 23, 2024 14:56:31 GMT -5 avamaxstan said:

May 23, 2024 9:42:11 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

I also keep going back to the suggestion that Taylor is retaliating against Billie with the extra releases. Maybe she is, but she could also just be promoting? I know week 5 isn’t normal for an artist to release extra versions of an album but Taylor has released remixes of songs before beyond week 1, usually (seemingly) in an effort to hold #1. Her album has been #1 since its release and it’s possible she/the label want it to hold it for as long as they can because they can. Maybe it’s just coincidence that this happens to be the week someone is seriously challenging her and that someone happens to be Billie, so some fans have chosen to make it personal. I know some have said there’s evidence of Taylor being petty but idk, when I take a step back from it, it does seem a bit far fetched to me in this case.

I would be willing to entertain that argument for pretty much any other artist. But when it comes to Taylor Alison Swift, there is no such thing as coincidences. The woman has probably already lined up every hidden easter egg and promo for her next era in 2026. Once she dropped the Fortnight remix with the environmental activist DJ, that removed any doubt about this being targeted at Billie.

Yeah maybe. But even though I allegedly hate on women, I do choose to give the benefit of the doubt.

[suburbandreams]

Taylor did the same to Drake and Pop Smoke. It's just about extending her weeks at #1. Taylor is trying to get the most career weeks at #1 of any artist. It's about competition with the Beatles and Michael Jackson for commerical domination.

She doesn't believe in participation trophies. And Taylor is far from the only artist with that policy.

Billie's team is the one saying shady things to the press while Taylor's camp hasn't responded at all to their provocations. Taylor's team is treating this like a business while Billie's managers has kept on liking negatives tweets about Taylor.

TTPD is the more streamed album so her team isn't going to just surrender the #1 to any artist .

(sidenote streaming is pretty energy intensive due to the  fact that info about each song has to be continuously sent over the internet. downloads are more green and if people actually regularly listened to their vinyl instead of streaming that would also be more green).

And the fortnight remix was dropped to keep fortnight in the top 10 not to block Billie whose top song will chart higher regardless.  The producer is primarily a producer who has an environmental cause on the side.  If the side activities of the producer matter to Taylor's team, it was likely more about countering her image as an eco-terrorist not Billie related.

[eyeofthestorm]

I think it's spectacular that were in May 2024 and we have two albums that are doing over 300k.