Susan Boyle Will Go Scorched Earth on Adam Lambert, Rihanna, Says Billboard Editor
The editor of Billboard Magazine, Bill Werde, hath spoken, via Twitter:
@bwerde: hearing that susan boyle will go scorched earth on rihanna and adam lambert in album sales this week. so much for a showdown.
I’m not really surprised…
thanks maura…
Update from Hits Daily Double:
DREAM COMES TRUE: Susan Boyle’s Columbia album, I Dreamed a Dream, which hit the streets today, is already selling two to three times the estimated pre-release total for retailers, on top of breaking the all-time pre-order record at Amazon.com. Based on current tallies, the disc will easily top 500k and could go even higher. (11/23p)
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I wanna know how Gaga’s sales are projected and where she fits into all of this. I went to the local Best Buy today and The Fame Monster was completely sold out. Gaga is also dominating the Itunes Charts.
My predictions:
#1/#2- Susan Boyle/Lady Gaga (it might be close)
#3/#4- Rihanna/ Adam Lambert (again it might be close)
The worst thing about the whole AMA controversy is that it has totally pushed aside any conversation about Adam’s album. Here Nov. 23, the day FYE dropped, has come and gone, and yet very little attention was paid, here and elsewhere, to the fact that this was the day of that milestone in Adam’s career. The only thread devoted to the album here is one about how SuBo is expected to kick Adam’s arse sales-wise.
At least on Nov. 17 we had this:
http://mjsbigblog.com/kris-allen-album-on-itunes-1-on-pop-4-overall.htm
I listened to For Your Entertainment for the FIRST time today, and I think it’s absolutely phenomenal, one of the best pop albums I’ve ever heard. This should have been a day to celebrate that, but it’s been completely overshadowed. To me, that’s the saddest fallout from last night’s debacle.
A-fucking-men. We can just celebrate by ourselves
The same can be said about American Idol.
Make that a table for three and open a tab. It’s been rough today with all of the bashing, but Adam is doing well on ITUNES. Who knows if he would have done better if the AMA had gone differently, but he’s been inching his way up the ITUNES chart all evening. He has 15 songs in the pop top 200. He’s got both versions of his album in the top 10 (both pop and overall) and four singles in the top 200 overall.
Wait, I thought mj posted a thread saying “For Your Entertainment” now available everywhere! Wouldn’t this be the thread where the discussion for his album takes place?
I don’t know…after hearing Lady Gaga’s cd, I think if I were an Adam fan I would be worried. I realize why women dominate pop. Her visual performances, and the sound of her music make her fascinating. The guys just don’t translate the same as the women.
On another note…as an AI fan, I cannot knock the success of someone like SB. I mean this is what these competitions are all about, plucking someone, with talent, from obscurity.
OMG you are absolutely right, somehow I missed that. I’m so sorry MJ, my bad.
Off to go read that thread now. Yay!
I can’t believe I’m on a website defending Susan Boyle, but here goes:
From my understanding of Susan Boyle, she has been trying to make it as a singer in the music industry for years and going on BGT was her last ditch attempt and it worked.
And now huge hype resulting from that has catapulted her into massive sales worldwide.
Totally ITA with Nocterm Seizure.
This is AI writ large, especially this year!
I believe the only the Gaga Typhoon can hold a candle against the SuBo Tsunami.
“rolling stones wrote a review for FYE, 3/5 stars that’s the avarage rating for RS so that’s good IMO. Here’s the link”
Wait, it is a review? One of the shortest one. Kris’s was shorter though because I hadn’t noticed it. Good for him I supposed.
How is she any different than an Idol contestant? She went the tv game show route to fame. Just like Chris Daughtry or Carrie Underwood or . It worked. And now, people are buying her cd. I won’t be one of them but good for her.
Also arguably true of the entire American Idol enterprise. This is why many musicians resent it.
Millions of Americans think the Idols are the top talent we have because they have no idea how many great musicians are out there slaving in the trenches unable to get a big break and they imagine that the ones that get on television and, often, reel the audience with their looks or charm or back stories whatever are the best that we have. And that understandably pisses off some of those who are slaving for the relatively small amounts of money we’re willing to dole out to actual artists, especially in these days of free downloading.
Susan Boyle is just that phenomenon taken to its logical extreme. Obviously she’s touching an emotional chord in a bunch of people, though, so I guess there’s probably some value in *that*, too, and you don’t really get that from musicians — it’s more like what you get from having that poster of the kitten clinging to the branch looking terrified and the saying, “Hang in there, baby.” It’s all emotional, not musical. It’s like logs burning in the fireplace next to a warmly lit Christmas tree on a cold winter night or a Thomas Kinkade painting. Seriously, a song of mine just came up on my Ipod and as I listened to it I said to myself, Crap, I sing at least as well as Susan Boyle does — but the point isn’t the singing at all but the pull at the heartstrings, for ineffable reasons. … I think it’s kind of sweet, actually. …
For that reason, though, I expect she’s basically a one-time emotional purchase and when and if she puts out a second album her sales will drop a lot. I hope that she has a good investment plan for this money, and if she does I’m sure she’ll do well for the rest of her life playing gigs that start out big and get increasingly smaller, as I expect her cd sales to do. She isn’t really competing with anybody in the long run, I don’t think. I don’t believe that most people buying her album would buy anybody else’s music anyway, if they didn’t make the SB purchase. They’re not looking for music. They’re looking for chicken soup for the soul — another franchise that you might argue takes sales away from actual, you know, writers!
Well, to defend you’d need to refute what was said, just saying that she tried before to get into the music business doesn’t negate what’s said about her success not being about hard work and talent (going on talent shows or making an amateur CDs or two doesn’t make it hard work).
Susan simply sings everything like she is doing a tragic love song (like, singing it really slow), whether it is be Daydream Believer or Wild Horses. OK if you like those kind of things I suppose, but terribly tedious to me listening to a few of her songs in a row. There is however always a market for above-average singers like her (also Michael Buble and the likes) who sings inoffensive songs inoffensively, their voice wafting gently in the background and doesn’t engage the brain in anyway. Makes for good presents for the aunties and grannies and she’ll likely go multi-platinum before the Christmas holiday is over (she’ll easily go platinum in the first week of sales in the UK if the report is correct).
There are commercials all day long for Susan Boyle’s album on my TV. Also, going on QVC ensures any product of instant success. Just scoring an opportunity to get on there is like, the biggest marketing coup. I had no doubt she’d have a phenomenal release and it doesn’t bother me at all. People buying music is always a great thing no matter who it is. And Adam CLEARLY has decided to go in his specific direction. Although it would be hysterical to see him on there playing it up to the ladies. Like on the Access interview when he tells her how pretty she is when she’s blushing. That kid has an enormous future in whatever he does as long as his psyche and stamina hold up. GO ADAM.
Idol needs to find their own Susan Boyle for S9. The show needs a female contestand that combines a great back story and singing chops.
They haven’t had a superstar (in terms of sales) since Daughtry. (It’s too early to say how Adam will do.) SuBo looks on track to have the #1 album of the year (possibly in the world).
But Simon is still the biggest star from Idol. Worth every $.
LOLOLOLOLOL
Wasn’t he supposed to debut at no. 1?
LOLOLOL
I have been reading a lot of mean drival ,couched in “shock”, that she should not have taken the place of (and I paraphrase) serious singers or musicians.
It is all the fault of a PR conspiracy led primarily by one of the Simons, who latched on to, or possibly invented a backstory that tugs at any normal
non agenda’ized human heart and brain. Small minded conversation for sure. Would border on cruel if this was ever read to her.
Having a better than average voice, the absolute right vehicle (XF),a very
sad and appealing backstory,never been kissed,looking like a midlleaged
scruffy puppy,her life mostly church choir and taking care of Mum, to
finally making a promise to make something of herself………….DESYTINY! Many less cynical people fell in love with this Underpuppy!!! Good for them and good for her……Maybe she just has good Karma?
I agree that she will probably not be as big in a couple years ,and her star may fade to doing small venues etc. I’m just oping she has good honest
management, so that her financial boost will keep her in comfort and I
really hope she gets that sincere kiss one day!! Nice that someone classed her with Michael Buble….I suppose he has also robbed a real hard working
singer as well??
I can’t imagine they’ll do this, though.
Because wouldn’t she have to be homely for it to work in the Susan Boyle way? I think so, anyway. I think Susan’s plainness worked for her way more than the backstory because the plainness is on display every time you see her — so you’re always reminded that she’s an apparent phenomenon — but at the same time she can’t be accused of having it be her own fault or of milking it, or whatever. It just *is.*
And in Season Six, they tried having a cast that wasn’t very good looking — and with some of the best, such as Melinda, the plainest …. And they hated that, consider it the worst season ever, had a low-selling tour, etc … So they seem pretty bound and determined not to give ordinary-looking people much of a chance any more. Honestly, in seasons seven and eight, I’m *sure* looks were a huge part of casting. Everybody in those two seasons could pose for photographs; they’re all various versions of gorgeous. And it’s such a marked departure from season six, which way disappointed them, that I can’t imagine the good looks aren’t a very deliberate choice — and since the two looker seasons have done better (in tour revenues, at least; jury’s obviously still out on sales here….), I can’t see them abandoning it.
I truly think that just a backstory wouldn’t do it (especially for somebody young, like an AI contestant — because there’s still hope for her, whereas with Boyle, you really did get the feeling that this was absolutely the last chance for her, which heightened the emotional pull). I think you need “plain” or “homely,” too. And they really aren’t going to do that — among other reasons, because they hope to sell a *pop* star, which seems to require looks, and not a souvenir emotional comfort-food cd from a heartwarming-loser-turns-winner person …
After all, look at Elliott. I know that part of the reason that the didn’t want him was what they see as the low sales potential of blue-eyed soul, but nobody will ever convince me that looks didn’t have something to do with it as well. (and Elliott’s actually a nice-looking guy!)
You never thought that I would even consider Michael Buble a great singer, did you? He fits perfectly in the above-average, inoffensive singer category who croons away to those who aren’t demanding in what they listen to, exactly the same type of people who’d like and buy Susan Boyle CD.
Well, I went to the store to purchase Adam’s CD today. They actually had the CD’s behind a counter and the sales clerk had to assist you. I was disappointed to find they were imposing a limit on the number of copies a customer could purchase. I wanted to purchase 4 CD’s to use as stocking stuffers, but they would only sell me 2 CD’s even though they had about 7 copies on the shelf. The guy simply said, “Sorry there’s a limit of 2 per person.” The CD’s were on sale for $6.99 so that was an unexpected surprise. Still annoys me that they limited the number I could purchase. I’ve never had that happen in a retail store. Normally they are happy to get rid of the product.
LOL taking in to consideration all the hype and promotion he’s been getting peaking at number 6 is a HUGE FAILURE.