Because half the album was a snore fest; Uncle, TIHWD were terrible single choices and Birthday was mishandled (horrible video).
If she wants to end this era off on a good note, she needs to release Legendary Lovers.

.

They aren't as good. That being said, they are better as a whole than anyone else's 5 singles from their current era, if they can even get the support to get that far. Katy still wins.

She keeps chasing hits with the same sound which is not popular anymore. Birthday and TIHWD sound like they'd have been hits in 2011, not 2014. Her two biggest hits from this era (Roar, DH) were ones that were deviations from her typical sound, even if they fit right into today's musical climate.

Because Prism is not as solid as Teenage Dream
TD is near perfection

The record is an once in 20 years occurrence. She isn't trying and chosed to not use the TD era single release schedule (2 to 3 month well planned buildup). That was mathematical approach to push any song as close a possible to #1. She could keep using it and push ever weaker songs to #1 till nothing works anymore.

She chosed for being venerable by snubbing each single of it's fighting chances by releasing music videos a month too early, by removing campy elements to see how we respond on a highend sophisticated look, releasing the music video that wasn't a music video,... and make the difference between a really big hit and underperformance clearly visible.

She experiments with all kinds of deviations. There is a lot of un-TD-era stuff tested and she also tested re-using TD-era sounds. Once she gets all the information, it's time for her second reinvention. Dance pop is a dead end now, just like pop rock was in 2009.

E.T. was about DH sized

WAIT not y'all thinking TIHWD is done

The song literally just started

I remember you said the same thing about Birthday when it didn't go T40. Three weeks later it was T20 and remained there for a month.

People are so ready to discredit Katy on this site it's incredible. She isn't a front-loaded artist, she builds over time.

You can't repeat TD's success and plus she's doing amazing this era, you guys are doing a bit too much,

She already killed many careers
she's the only one with longevity for 6 singles with just one álbum

Other gurls could neva

She's just "evening out" success wise. Like someone else in here said she's having a more conventional popgirl era, she has her hits and under performances.

Plus I think the fact she's considered a superstar now with a huge established fan base is actually hindering her single success slightly. During TD not as many people checked for her as an artist, just her singles. So she slayed over and over again without being too overexposed.

Unconditionally was a bad single choice, we all know that now. But it had an amazing video so I'm not too pressed. Birthday would've done a lot better with a good video, that was timed better. TIHWD is doing fine right now despite the complete void of promo apart from the video. (Ain't even gonna count the feat. Rug-Rat remix.)

Didn't realise this turned into such an essay! But yeah, she's doing fine. Y'all need to calm down.

Teenage Dream was a once in a lifetime album, what she achieved with that album is iconic. She obviously was not going to top that with any other era. And i disagree with Dark Horse being as big as any TD single, at least not in my country. Firework is bigger

Oversaturation, radio and consumer fatigue. Taylor Swift had it during Speak Now after the relentless smashing of Fearless. She'll be fine

n; not people calling her an album artist

Ha music just isn't as good any more.







But seriously, TD had a chain of #1s that would be hard for any one to replicate. To expect a similar (or better) result the second time round is just asking to be disappointed.