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BuzzJack Music Forum _ Pop _ If Rita released album 2 in 2014...

Posted by: JosephSivan 23rd January 2018, 05:54 PM

...where would she be at now?

I'm sure we all know that Rita was working on her second album originally with her then-boyfriend Calvin Harris, but despite the huge smash of I Will Never Let You Down, the album was scrapped when Calvin and Rita broke up and Calvin refused to hand over the songs. My question is this: if we'd received an album four years ago, produced by Calvin, do we think it would've been big? It's hard to tell without hearing the songs of course, but let's assume IWNLYD is a good indicator.

I think it would've depended a lot on the second single, but IWNLYD set things up really nicely for a second era and I absolutely loved the song she was going for with it. I think she could've achieved another successful album, but I think she's actually in a better position now. There's a definite thirst for new Rita and the constant pushbacks have almost become a farce, but the album's eventual arrival will be more of an event. She needed hits like Your Song, Lonely Together and Anywhere to launch her back into the spotlight and I think she's actually bigger than ever right now, so in a way it's kinda worked out for the best.

Posted by: Dart 23rd January 2018, 06:33 PM

Yeah I feel like she’s at the peak of her career right now. Not sure on her first album sales total but this could do well.

Posted by: Jüpiter 23rd January 2018, 08:01 PM

She would've done well I think, especially as she probably would've capitalised on the fact Rihanna was taking a break and she didn't have so much UK female competition either. But, she might also have fizzled out and not be in the position she's in now in 2017-18, so it's swings and roundabouts.

Off the back of a few hits in 2014-15 she could've scored a couple of decent collabs which she could have ridden on the way to a third album; being out of music for a while made it harder to do that. I'm still baffled at how she managed to score an Avicii feature after not putting anything out in music for the previous two years. Must have good management!

Posted by: Botchia 23rd January 2018, 10:31 PM

She certainly wouldn't be as big as she is now. Although all these delays have been very frustrating, it's nice to see it's actually all worked out rather well for her (assuming the rest of the era goes as planned!!)

Posted by: Jordan Lee 15th July 2019, 12:28 AM

I think it would’ve done about as well as ORA did at least.

But if Calvin done the whole album as in every single track maybe it could’ve been criticised for being too same like and perhaps it could have lacked variety? That’s just one niggle I feel could’ve been thrown about had that been the case. I always wonder if we’ve ever heard heard any of the tracks she recorded (like with someone else singing them) and just never knew

It’s crazy to think we had 6 years between her first two so albums as it never really felt we got that big a break of her. If she wasn’t releasing she was always in the spotlight. I hope we get a third album before 2024

Saying that though I think Phoenix was well worth the wait. It’s one of those situations where everyone will have a different opinion we may well never know.

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn 23rd July 2019, 09:24 AM

I'm pretty sure she would have had a big selling top 3 (or #1) album in 2014 with a selection of hits following IWNLYD, but of course it's hard to know how her career would have panned out since then.

2017 seems like a miracle comeback for her considering all that happened, really.

Posted by: tommie 23rd July 2019, 11:01 AM

To be fair, no one knows if any of the songs Calvin produced for her supposed second album would've reached the heights of I Will Never Let You Down - for all we know the rest of the tracks he produced for her just weren't on that level which might explain why they didn't fight harder for those tracks.

But it probably would've sold better than Phoenix if there were some hits among those tracks just because the sales climate was much better for albums.

Posted by: Klaus 27th July 2019, 09:16 AM

I feel like she probably would have done the same/be in a similar position now? She was still releasing multiple singles after IWLYD which is kind of her second era, then she took a natural two year break as most artist do/did with songs perfect for the streaming climate.

Posted by: Jordan Lee 1st August 2019, 11:12 PM

I’d also agree with those who said the album would’ve went top 3 I do think peak wise it may have been higher than Phoenix.