In a slight twist to the other thread, how do we think the Reputation era should have transpired? Could anything have saved the mess it became?
Personally I'd have kept Look as the lead. I know it didn't sell THAT well for a number 1 over here, but the video broke the Vevo record and it did get people talking and build up hype for her return, people wanted to see what would come next. I think Ready For It should have been the proper second single, without all the confusion. Perhaps the video could have come out right away, it could have been pushed on playlists and sent to radio, just little things like that. It did well enough from just being chucked out so if it was just clearly the next single it mght have done that bit better. I'd maybe have Gorgeous third then, I know it's hardly a fan fave but as a different vibe it'd be good and people seemed to be here for it as it spent just as long in the top 100 as LWYMMD
So I don't necessarily think it's the singles chosen wrongly, but just the way they transpired - it was never clear what WAS the single and they didn't seem too bothered.
Any song she released would have broken VEVO records and done big numbers on Spotify. Look What You Made Me Do was a terrible lead, too divisive and people weren't here for it after a few weeks. People just don't seem to be into the more abrasive in your face pop she's releasing right now. Ready for It is enough of a statement and has a chorus for radio, but I don't think it would work as anything other than the lead. The video would need to be more like LWYMMD.
Ready for It (August)
End Game (October - it's Ed Sheeran, you have to be in bad shape for that feature to do nothing)
~Reputation~ (Late October)
Don't Blame Me (February - that chorus)
Delicate (Early summer, pretty on trend and easy to find a feature)
Doesn't matter what is next.
I blame both the lead, the lack of promo and the messy singles for the mess she's in now.
Is it just me who thinks Don't Blame Me sounds like the most obvious hit here though? I mean, she would have been slaughtered for releasing a song with that title as the lead, but the chorus really is massive.
Even Delicate in August as the lead would have been unexpected, references the album and so on trend it would have easily sustained itself. The more I think about the more I realise people just don't want dark aggressive sounding pop in 2017/2018 and especially not from Taylor Swift.
The singles (well except Gorgeous) are spot on... the strategy was/is a mess imo. The whole it is/it isn't for RFI & Gorgeous and then releasing 'End Game' at the same time as Gorgeous? MESS.
I'd have gone:
LWYMMD -> RFI (late Q4 - with promo) -> End Game (Awards time/Feb) -> Don't Blame Me (later Spring/Early Summer) -> Getaway Car (Autumn)
Edit: She's got so many single potentials on this album. It amazes me how they've actually f***ed it up so much to the point that the Ed Sheeran feature can't quite impact (not even a low top 40 entry)! She needs promo. Fast. She can't just throw anything out and hope it sticks long enough anymore.
She released RFI too early and tried to push the promo singles too soon after that. Too much music out at the one time
I kind of think this era was doomed from the start with releasing LWYMMD as the lead. It’s dark & aggressive & samples a song no one thought Taylor could ever sample and is arguably one of the darkest sounding songs on the album. I love it, but there was SUCH a different between the first single of this era & the last of the last era that it didn’t sound very Taylor Swift and this fell from the charts quite quickly despite being a #1.I think Ready For It would’ve been a more suitable lead as it shows her new darker aesthetic whilst still having the 1989-esque chorus, bridging the two eras together and more subtlety introducing us to “New Taylor”. Although with that, I don’t think LWYMMD would’ve been a #1 like it was without all the built-up hype too.
This era has been a complete mess, but it is my favourite Taylor Swift era so far and is by no means a flop really. All the blame goes to her label as otherwise each single would’ve been more successful than it has been
Every single so far has had terrible callout scores on radio in the US (End Game is currently the song most disliked song on radio). The singles were just all wrong, the entire campaign has been handled so poorly. Possibly one of the worst in years?
She should have recorded an album of decent songs for a start.
Releasing the second and third singles as "promo singles" was the ultimate mistake I think.
I feel it's a combination of that and her general reputation/public perception being so sullied. I'd have probably released two random album tracks as "promo singles" before the album (ones that weren't ever intended to be singles), pushed 'Ready For It' around November (with a Hot Hits add) and then 'End Game' in February (and following this, 'Getaway Car' around April/May).
I think that would have made the era run a bit more smoothly.
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