katy perry - prism

that's possible, but "chained to the rhythm" was only a flop in the context of katy perry insofar as it didn't hit #1 and stay there for weeks. it did fine otherwise tho.

another aspect is that they're going w/ the old school model of choosing specific pre-release singles w/ the album still months away, whereas i.e. bruno mars had a little trouble finding a second single after "24k magic" but the album was timed to where they were able to look at streaming data while "24k magic" was still on the charts, which led to the elevation of "that's what i like" as a people's choice pick that the label eventually got behind

"that's possible" is re the idea that this single is flopping bcuz "chained to the rhythm" also underperformed

i mean the obvious difference is: chained to the rhythm is a bad song, and this is not

many songs just take time to break regardless of who made them, 'thats what i like' was also not a hit out the gate even if it was a streaming fav

well, i disagree entirely that the song is any good... it struck me immediately as really generic from the beat to the concept, and the hook is muted, doesn't grab you at all. i'm stunned it's something that came from max martin frankly.

it's a retread of this song off her last album which is like 100 times better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4D5egXVqSg

there's no real history as far as i remember of a pre-album katy perry single taking any time whatsoever to climb the charts, but maybe this will be the one

it's currently #142 on itunes, which is two spots behind "slippery"

i dont hear the similarity between those two songs at all! walking on air is straight edm

I typically don't care about Katy Perry's chart success or failures all that much, but I guess I'm maybe 1% curious to see if this is her first album without a #1 or if she'll continue the streak.

I can't see her getting a number 1, particularly given the general scarcity of women in the upper echelons of the charts at the moment who aren't featured vocalists - see Maura's post on this in the New Jersey thread

her lead single spent two weeks in the top 10 -- its first two weeks. it likely would have spent zero weeks in the top 10 had she not performed on the grammys broadcast the week it dropped. as j0rdan pointed out this new one is plummeting at an alarming rate on itunes (where it never even cracked the top 10) + furthermore has paltry stats on the streaming services (where sleeper hits tend to show their early promise), is not doing the usual katy perry thing at radio. it's almost certain she will not be getting another number one hit this time around. it seems like a very real possibility that the album won't go #1 either.

I mean it's pretty obvious, she's not working with her old writers/producers anymore

the new haircut is not really on-brand

I'm not saying this is going number one or some shit im just saying it's good and I have trouble envisioning it as a flop... just seems an immediate and obviously appealing song tbh

i like the track but good god the lyrics. it's like that birthday song all over again.

Lol I mean it is katy perry

"i am your servant woman! i exist to please you!"

I remember thinking California girls had amazingly generic lyrics for a song w such massive and easy potential for memorable or vivid ones

Oh bikinis huh

california gurls is practically feminist compared to birthday and bon appetit

Idk, I like this song. It's birthday but with black guys and while white radio might have a problem with that, I don't. There's obviously some sort of KP backlash going on atm but I generally appreciate her shameless persona. The main problem w Chained was the skip marley iz MORPHEUS part. She should have fed him to the lions.

new song "swish swish" w/ nicki is surprisingly good, her last good single since... "dark horse" or "birthday" maybe?

not sure if true but i hear duke dumont produced?? wouldn't surprise me if true + maybe it would give him inroads to american pop radio

if it really was duke dumont behind the prod i'm surprised either of them got properly credited

It's like a shitty "Truffle Butter".

Well whoever produced it must have been listening to lesser known Fatboy Slim singles. Or Roland Clark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s765wPKjNRk

The writing credits for the album allegedly include Purity Ring, Hot Chip, Mike Will Made It and Noonie Bao, amongst others (no Dr Luke).

not bad but yea sounds like truffle buttre

hey wait, Purity Ring did a song on this?

per wikipedia, but it's also possible they were just sampled

"swish swish" isn't great... like "bon appetit" the concept quickly gets pretty strained. can't imagine it being popular either. this album is sort of fascinating.

The video for Bon Appetit is... something.

I'm weirdly excited for this album.

I don't mind either Bon Appetit or Swish Swish; neither is going to get the "play endlessly for a year" treatment I gave Dark Horse

Bon Appetit and Swish Swish are tanking down the Hot 100 - Bon Appetit went from 67 to 96, Swish Swish from 46 to 78.

Chained to the Rhythm has an Applause air to it, underperforming but still crushing the followup attempts.

taking the analogy further, "Bon Appétit" might be the "Swine" of this album - catchy as hell but ruined by gross lyrics.

Just listening to the new album. The title track is one of the best songs she's ever done.

Has anyone come up with a coherent reason why this record isn't finding a foothold? Personally I'm in the "only ever been moderately interested in Katy" camp but from where I'm standing this is a major step up for her production-wise, at least. Even the Max Martin stuff is like the peak version of that post-Wolf Cousins sweet spot he's been hitting lately.

women with personality who aren't rihanna are out of vogue on pop radio

and say what you will about katy perry, she is overflowing with personality

A good chunk of this album is excellent. Fantastic production, very of the moment but also unusually forward looking for a Katy Perry album. The roll out for the album has been a mess—bum singles, gross videos, desperate SNL performances, some weirdly testy interviews—but I gotta imagine this will more or less live up to sales expectations. There are singles here.

I always liked her personality. She's smart as hell and doesn't try to hide it (saw her in a concert a few years ago and even during the routine audience engagement parts she seemed to be cutting down fans with her wit) but I do think on this album cycle for some reason she's come across as testy, defensive and generally unlikable. Can't quite pinpoint what's putting me off this time around, but I think part of it is post-Miley I'm pretty weary of pop stars who suddenly reinvent themselves as way into rap culture.

The whole marketing of this album seems off. It's a savvy, club-friendly pop album (something there's always a market for) that tried to disguise itself as a late-to-the-party rap-minded pop album (something there's almost no market for right now, at time when many radio stations clip rap verses out of songs).

the rap part is explainable enough, "Dark Horse" was probably the biggest hit off Prism

Yeah, definitely get why they'd wanna return to that well. "Dark Horse" is her best song imo. But I think they learned the wrong lessons from that song. You coulda cut Juicy J out of that song and it still would have been a jam.

katy perry is still probably one of the most likable major musicians going rn imo

likable person or likable people in her songs?

Most of her songs are menaces.

likable person, the songs i avoid. though i'm willing to let 'roar' slide bc our 6 yr old loves it (and i suspect has a crush on her.)

This will change if/when she scores a real hit from the album, but right now the lasting image from this album cycle is her on SNL, doing this:

http://www.bet.com/music/2017/05/24/katy-perry-migos-snl-performance-reactions/_jcr_content/image.heroimage.dimg/__1495661949157/052417-Music-Katy-Perry-SNL-Awkward-Dance.gif

Beyond how ridiculous and unflattering that is, it confirms our worst suspicions about pop stars. Here she is, rolling her eyes at the very performance she's giving, winking and nudging her fans by saying, yeah, I'm doing this, but I'm not really into it. I'm way too smart for rap music.

likable person, the songs i avoid. though i'm willing to let 'roar' slide bc our 6 yr old loves it (and i suspect has a crush on her.)

― nomar, Friday, June 9, 2017 12:54 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My 6 year old as well! It's on her little playlist right next to the theme from Rocky III. Does the new album have any tunes about wildlife?

Beyond how ridiculous and unflattering that is, it confirms our worst suspicions about pop stars. Here she is, rolling her eyes at the very performance she's giving, winking and nudging her fans by saying, yeah, I'm doing this, but I'm not really into it. I'm way too smart for rap music.

Or... she is trying to do a stankface and is failing miserably at it.

These videos and gifs of her attempting to perform any of this music has been the best part of this whole campaign so far.

http://i.imgur.com/9nDMape.gif

and say what you will about katy perry, she is overflowing with personality

― maura, Friday, June 9, 2017 12:28 PM (thirty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark

i think people may sense a falseness and desperation about her in-your-face Personality

also i seriously hear next to nothing to like in this album, and i'll go to the mat for a lot of prism & even teenage dream. the roll out of this album's singles makes more sense hearing the rest of the album bcuz there really isn't much else to work with.

some of the decisions are just weird. like, she worked w/ dj mustard and hot chip and made two ballads?

a few of the songs w/ purity ring aren't bad tho