Since everybody's ranting, Queen of Meltdowns Daydreams can come in without looking insane
...
Here are my thoughts:
She needs to evolve musically with this next era, she needs to modernize promotionally with this next era, and she needs to do it by Q4 2019
at the very very latest. This album is the first out of the trilogy, the first under the new deal, it needs to get out there to set a strong tone for the future. It'll be a new beginning or the beginning of the end.
I don't think she's truly lazy, and I think she cares very much about being successful. I have no doubt she worked hard on this album, I have no doubt she made the effort to get the era off the ground with the Hello MV and in NYC, and I have no doubt she's working her ass off on tour. I appreciate tremendously her doing those things, and one of my favorite things about her is that if she
wants to do something, it'll be impeccable or it won't happen until it is. But she/her team are not resilient in-era, and they refuse to accept and learn from mistakes.
She wants to be an albums artist in an era where people are slowly ceasing their consumption of albums as complete works. And while her recent album sales are outstanding, (though perhaps, as a harbinger, decidedly frontloaded), in a way it's an uphill battle, especially since she seems to ignore what makes big albums so big are their multiple, individual big songs. People aren't going to keep buying her albums if they have at most one big song on them, especially if the song is the same thing she's been putting out for multiple albums prior. She can be the last successful albums artist, be legendary for that, but she has to release collections of songs that people want to listen to much more than one of, she has to promote these collections as if more than one of the songs really matters, and she has to keep up with and not act like she's superior than the majority of artists that are now only singles-focused or the general public that follows them.
That begins with making the MVs. CC and I have discussed her filming like 3-4 before the album's out (that's necessary, usable work time, not private life), and then releasing each as the single is. It saves time later, she can make them more detailed and cohesive with one director. In general, have them and other little "moments" planned after those first couple months, around the tour—another era necessity going forward, going around saying "I don't need to tour" when it's just about everyone's favorite form of promo from any artist is arrogant ******** that sits well with no one. I feel like I say this once a week, but seriously, stadium summer tours are all or more of the tickets and income with a quarter of the time undertaking from her side.
She also needs to stop disenfranchising the increasing number of her fans that consume music through streaming out of a thinly-veiled desire for sales. It's great that she chooses to buy her albums as a fan, it's great that she was right this time about her ability to sell the album this time around. But, it's stupid to continue to receive criticism for something that could so easily be fixed. If they're concerned about not setting the records and getting their money's worth, cut the required deals to release on streaming first to only paid services like Apple Music and Tidal, at most a month after sales release. Those subscribers are PAYING to LEGALLY hear music. They respect the system as much as anybody purchasing an album/tracks is. As a result, either Spotify will be desperate enough to cut a deal including only their paid service, or they'll suffer the loss of missing another major release.
Then, of course, no more taking advantage of the people that like her (under the claim that she's being "real") with these ridiculous, long breaks.
21 to
25 was a special circumstance in every possible way. Now, she's acting like she expects everyone to respond even more positively to her whenever she wants than we do to the artists that have been openly putting in the time while she's away stagnating again and again. If she wants to relate well to her audience, it's not about creating and portraying all of these ways she's 'just like them', or even that she needs them to subsist (her bank account confirms otherwise), rather, show them that she wants what they want to give her--not the pap pics, but actual support--for sharing whatever truly moves her personally... the fact that she feels like she still has to say she does care every night on tour isn't a good sign of that relationship to me, and the fact that she essentially considers all the time away from the spotlight, the meetings, the writing and recording, all part of her "real life" is almost insulting. Your life is only 'fake' when we're allowed to be a part of it?
Finally, she has to chill with her kid. I have zero desire or intent to insult her personally here (she doesn't deserve insult, all signs point to her being lovely in her interactions as a mother), or talk about her son when he's not my business. However, CC's "obsessed mom" critique has some weight... it's as if she spends every day thinking that because of her career he's going to hate her, or she'll lose him in some way. That's not true, and it's not healthy to think like that. She's not 'messing him up' by working, in fact, what she did this year, taking him all around the world with her, more than likely facilitated his development and enriched his quality of life tremendously. She knows now she can't just keep him in the house as was confirmed she did during her depressed state in Ellen, but it's also not great to keep take years and years off of her tremendous career to helicopter as he grows in general. Don't get me wrong, quality time with him is A+, but what is she teaching him with her own grander trajectory of life? That you should throw away everything you've worked for essentially your whole life when you have a child? She seemed to have figured out the situation at the beginning of this tour (i.e. 'I want him to see what I do'), now I'm not so sure. Being close to but without her kid while going to the studio or performing is nothing like deserting him as a parent, it never will be. Especially when every opportunity he has now and will be put in the place to make for himself in the future as her child is because she did and does those things.
And don't get me started on her wanting to have another one after what it did to her head last time... I feel like we almost lost her, even if she says she was never suicidal. I don't know her personally, and it still scares me. I can't legislate her uterus, but I will say, statistically, it'd be like playing with fire.
So much potential. Anything she ever puts even half of her all into is incredible, so the frustration comes from her not doing that.
we're dragging our own fave.
Phoenix is not that far from LA, also she mentioned multiple times how she came last minute to whatever city she's performing at.
Especially because all of her singles from 19 got videos without an issue (and they released a live video for "Melt My Heart to Stone" on iTunes as well). With 21, she had an excuse for filming only two videos, but this time around, she has no excuse. I don't think it would be as problematic if it weren't for the fact that she picks the songs that would have the best videos to not film anything for.
And I thought I wrote a lot....