Is Lady Gaga A Fading Chart Star?

[satchmo76]

I think she is the 3rd or 4th biggest act of 2011 so far behind Adele, Rihanna and maybe Jessie J but where will she be at the end of this year then at the end of 2012?

[SheriffFatman]

Not being funny, but what did you expect? For her to remain the most successful pop star for ever?

[rubcale]

I can see where satchmo76 is coming from.

No-one is gonna stay #1 for ever but the sales of successive records seem to be declining quite rapidly - in the UK at least.

[evansabove]

She has definielty faded in this era but if she goes away and actually bothers to records something up to the standard of her earlier work then there is no reason why she can't get her position back again. Right now for sure she is behind Adele & Rihanna as biggest global act

[satchmo76]

Rihanna has come back from a slight dip a couple of years ago, so it's possible Lady G can do the same. However, at one point it looked like Lady G might duplicate Madonna's success of the 1980's. That can't now happen because Madonna's 2nd and 3rd albums were far bigger than Lady G's current one (in quality and sales). Madonna's status as biggest female act of all-time is not under threat from Lady G; Rihanna has a better chance of that (but still has a long way to go).

[Vetroplach]

This world is rarely forgiving second album slip. And that's actually what happened to her - the second album is just way too average compered to the first. But hey, I was in doubts she can repeat the magic. She needs to take a deep breath and come back next summer or fall with something new. And better.

[tboy]

The way I see it, she was massive with the first album and she and her team realised it but failed to see the true reasons for her success. They thought that the outlandish costumes and performances and the contraversialness of her was the real reason for her success but in truth it was because she made great pop songs. A lot of her new stuff has a heavier emphasis on style over substance and that's why this era has been weaker.

[orthon7]

I have heard a rumour that the Born This Way Album will have an extra CD added,
& will be re-issued as Re-Born This Way - we will see.

[MrIndependent]

'Born This Way' is a far more impressive piece of work overall than 'The Fame' or 'The Fame Monster' for me, it has nothing to do with quality because since when did quality ever equal sales? Like Rihanna with 'Rated R', as it has been mentioned, 'Born This Way' is nowhere near as commercial as Gaga's earlier work and she's taking risks with the single releases and that is simply what it is.

I do agree with sherrifffatman as well, though - there was no way her sales were going to add up to the sales of her first two albums. She's not doing half as bad as people are complaining though - her first two albums sold eight million and this one has so far sold five million. It will close out at least over six million by the end of the holiday season and continue to sell into 2012.

So no, not really.

[borneoman]

^she's not taking risks... she's taking the wrong choices... she's focusing on being controversial instead of writing good songs. I think gaga can go back on track if she wants to, she just has to focus on writing good songs... that's the good thing, unlike Rihanna, Gaga doesn't depend on other people, which is good...

on the Fame vs BTW album debate... they're both mediocre albums with a few good songs thrown in there...

[MrIndependent]

I disagree about being controversial. Judas has the religious tag attached to it, but other than that, The Edge of Glory makes use of instruments which aren't heard of in the charts and is an ode to the 90s, whilst Yoü and I certainly isn't commercial. Very different to what's in the charts right now.

With regards to whether she writes 'good songs' and whether or not they're good albums, that's subjective.

[tboy]

^But she is too concerned with what she's going to wear in her next video or how she will surprise people at the next award show rather than focussing on her music. Edge of Glory is the only decent song I've heard from her in this era.

[raliverpool]

Oct 6, 2011 14:19:53 GMT 1 MrIndependent said:

'Born This Way' is a far more impressive piece of work overall than 'The Fame' or 'The Fame Monster' for me, it has nothing to do with quality because since when did quality ever equal sales? Like Rihanna with 'Rated R', as it has been mentioned, 'Born This Way' is nowhere near as commercial as Gaga's earlier work and she's taking risks with the single releases and that is simply what it is.

I do agree with sherrifffatman as well, though - there was no way her sales were going to add up to the sales of her first two albums. She's not doing half as bad as people are complaining though - her first two albums sold eight million and this one has so far sold five million. It will close out at least over six million by the end of the holiday season and continue to sell into 2012.

So no, not really.

Nail on head. This third album is more cohesive and less commercial than the very patchy debut, or it's shorter more impressive follow up. Just like Rated R is Riihanna best (in my view only good) album to date.

Using a Madonna comparison, so because Her Madgesty's best selling studio album was 1986's True Blue (24 million), (the follow up to the 21 million selling 2nd album 1984's Like A Virgin), sold nearly double her follow up critically regarded best album 1989's Like A Prayer (13 million) (which was dwarfed that year by the likes of Jason Donovan, Simply Red & Kylie in the UK, and the likes of Paula Abdul, Bobby Brown, New Kids On The Block, Janet Jackson & Debbie Gibson in the USA) then it does not necessarily mean an artist's career is going down the toilet.

[borneoman]

but the fact that BTW is better and more cohesive that the debut does say nothing... just tells you how bad was the debut besides the singles. A bad cohesive album is still a bad album. Some songs off BTW are so bad that they should have never left the studio (i.e. Judas) The Edge of Glory is the only good song in there.

[MrIndependent]

A good album, to me, at least, is one that is consistent and cohesive yet at the same time diverse, but not so diverse that it does not sound like an album.

Born This Way achieves that more than her first two do; it's a very versatile record (as shown by the single releases) but simultaneously many of the tracks have the same vibe. The production on her latest is very good, and the majority of the tracks have interesting and outlandish structures that differ from usual releases. The Fame and Monster are very fresh albums, fresher than Born This Way at that, but they are very averagely structured in that they sound like radio-friendly hits. Born This Way, on the other hand, doesn't and that's why it hasn't sold as well.

[mjdangerous]

BTW is not 'better' than her debut. It has been produced with much more money, got to be worked out longer, yes. It sounds better finished, with a more 'professional' sound, yes. But music isn't about finishings only, it is about creativity and inspiration too.

Creativity-wise, BTW is just incredibly cheap. There is nothing interesting on it, melodies sound horrible and dance tracks make you everything bar dance with their messy instrumentals. Take random tracks from the first singer out in the street, put them on hands of the best producers giving them tons of money to work with, they will add some sounds artifices and polish tracks to death, and you will get BTW v2.

Her first album wasn't good, but PF and JD are more relevant musically speaking than all BTW songs together.

[jeangrey]

Here's her sales in the US:
6,388,000, "Poker Face"
6,348,000, "Just Dance"
4,939,000, "Bad Romance"
3,285,000, "Born This Way"
3,126,000, "Paparazzi"
3,011,000, "Telephone"
2,433,000, "LoveGame"
2,285,000, "Alejandro"
2,036,000, "The Edge of Glory"
1,003,000, "You and I"
822,000, "Judas"

4,312,000, "The Fame"
1,827,000, "Born This Way"
1,510,000, "The Fame Monster"
249,000, "The Remix"

www.billboard.com/#/column/chartb....92.story?page=2

She has sold less copies with her latest album/singles but it's still a lot.

[evansabove]

I am sure that when the expanded version of BTW arrives in November the new tracks will be very much in the Monster style and consequently much better

[MrIndependent]

Oct 8, 2011 10:08:04 GMT 1 mjdangerous said:

Creativity-wise, BTW is just incredibly cheap. There is nothing interesting on it.

This is an interesting point which I entirely disagree with. I can understand some tracks sounding 'incredibly cheap', some of them have that typical, generic club scene sound, but I don't agree that it's not creative and that there's nothing interesting on it. Elaborate? I think, as I said, in terms of its 'freshness' it's a little more generic than The Fame or The Fame Monster, so for Gaga's standards, perhaps one could say it's not interesting in comparison to her previous work, but there are so many styles and, as you say, 'artifaces' on that album for it to be considered uninteresting from my point of view.

evansabove, I'm not sure there's going to be a new version of Born This Way. A newsletter on her site says the 'new, 17-track album' will be packaged with the Monster Ball DVD and Born This Way: The Remix, but I just assumed that that's gonna be the deluxe edition without the bonus remix disc.

[orthon7]

Whether or not it has new Tracks added, it looks like there will definitely be a Remix
Album of Born This Way - due in November. (With the Track List - as yet - unconfirmed).

It will be called Born This Way : The Remix. (It will contain 14 Tracks).
(Remixed by several DJ's, & Producers).

That CD will be a release on its own. It will also be added to Born This Way - The Collection.
That Set will also contain the Born This Way CD, & The Monster Ball Tour DVD.

The Collection, & The Remix are both out on November 21st.