The Beginning of a Solo Career
Welcome back to #PopIndustry! The home of the exclusive Billboard charts. This year, we employed a new chart formula – not only changing the method in which the Hot Singles chart was calculated, but in adding two new minor charts that affect the Top Albums chart. It was certainly a new beginning for us. But that’s not the only new beginning within the realm of music this year!
One girl, in particular, embarked on a journey; a new beginning. She made the jump from girl group member to solo artist and was featured on the cover of Billboard’s latest magazine issue! Her name is Perrie Edwards. Edwards was a member of the group Little Mix – best known for their track, ‘Love & Coffee’ – until they decided to part ways. Edwards made an announcement in the latter-half of 2017, stating she would return to music. She was also nominated for the ‘Most Hyped Return’ category at the 2017 #PI Awards!
‘Ready Steady Go’, she told herself. And that’s exactly what she did. Her lead single – ‘Ready Steady Go’ – zooms past all the other racers to land itself at the #1 spot. While the track was not #1 on any individual metric – in fact, it was #3 on each of them – the combined prowess of the track bolstered its success. Edwards previously announced that ‘Tastes Like Bubblegum’ – which features Adam Levine – will be her second single, and her self-titled debut album will be out very soon. (Our interview with Edwards has now been published in full, on our website!)
The fluctuations within the charts this week were nothing short of a movie. You really needed your popcorn this time! And one artist who just missed the #1 spot was Barbadian princess Rihanna. Her new track, ‘Showtime’ – which features Lady Gaga and Kesha - debuts at #2 this week. However, Rihanna’s fifth full-length studio album, of the same name, wins the top prize on the Top Albums Chart – fuelled by strong digital sales. Unfortunately, it’s not all been plain sailing for Rihanna this week. She has been embroiled in various feuds with other artists, and more recently involved in a label-signing dispute between Christina Aguilera and P!nk. Earlier, Rihanna announced that her next single will be ‘Please Don’t Fall' – a track featuring Aguilera and Erika Jayne. We’re sure RCA will playlist it… right?
Speaking of RCA, let’s talk about their current executive; P!nk. P!nk was also nominated in the ‘Most Hyped Return’ category at the #PI awards last year, and also emerged the winner. She returned to music with her number-one track, ‘Shoot You Down’. This year, she released a remix of the track, featuring Kesha, which slips 1-3 on the Hot Singles Chart. P!nk performed two new tracks at the Label Festival earlier tonight; ‘Just Not You’ and ‘…Enough’. Earlier this week, P!nk announced that ‘Just Not You’ would be her next single, and her fourth studio album would be released later this year.
Moving onto Republic Records now, and the most successful Streaming artist of the week (and perhaps, ever?). Christina Aguilera announced ‘Let It Rain’ around one week ago, and this track – from her fifth studio album, ‘Blonde’ – debuts at #5 on the Hot Singles Chart, after being less receptive to success on the Digital and Radio charts. The aforementioned, ‘Blonde’, shoots in at #2 on the Top Album Chart. We can only imagine the frustration felt by Aguilera and her Label right now; not only does she not have a life, she doesn’t have a number-one either. Sad!
The third and final of the major record labels – Interscope Records – is still run by Lady Gaga. However, Gaga has now retired from music and is currently expanding her brand, by diversifying into the markets of fashion and make-up. Instead, she leaves all music-related decisions up to her newest representative, Lana Del Rey. Rey, while previously having released music, refuses to acknowledge her old material. Therefore, her “debut” single, ‘Milk & Honey’ finds itself at #10 on the Hot Singles Chart this week!
Whilst we’re on the subject of new artists, let’s talk about some. Shawn Mendes came out of the woodwork (not the closet) with his first-ever single, ‘Slow Motion’. This track has fared well over the past week and charts at a strong #8 placement. The track’s parent-album, ‘No Filter’, was also released and find itself at #4 on the Top Albums chart. We wish Mendes an ounce of luck with his career. You know what they say; slow and steady wins the race… Do they say that?
Out with the new, and in with the old; let’s talk about Adam Levine and Erika Jayne. Both of these veteran artists have had a successful start to their current releases. Levine collaborated with Edwards on his newest track, ‘Not Interested’ (#4), whilst Jayne issued out a new single, ‘Lonely Tears (#7). Levine also took the opportunity to rush-release out his newest studio album (we have lost track of how many he has now), titled ‘In Cœlo In Inferno’, which charts at #3. Both artists tried their best to keep up with the quick fingers of the younger counterparts, but alas. Their best just wasn’t good enough.
Similarly, there is no better way than “Not Good Enough” to describe the new releases of Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez and Jungkook. Lopez chose to abandon her favorite collaborator, Pitbull, for a collaboration with some girl called Anitta, titled ‘You’re Not Mine’ (#21). Gomez sniffed a gallon of crack before finding her way onto Twitter and the tabloids, later releasing ‘Feelings’ (#22). And Jungkook… what did he even do? He said “Hello”, unleashed his debut single ‘Run! Run! Run!’ (#23) – which was more comparable to “Stop! Stop! Stop!” - and then disappeared forever. Not good enough. We hope that these artists can gain some success in the coming weeks… whilst they look for a career they’re more suited to.