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Posted by: Wall 5th March 2019, 10:49 AM

In all honesty, I do think she can rebound but it's going to take an incredible amount of effort and some incredible promotional campaigns. I know '365' is rather new but it's done next to nothing worldwide and for the two artists involved in the song you would have thought it would have debuted comfortably top 50 in America. '365' is pretty much underperforming on streaming devices and it's iTunes performance despite radio support is showing that there's not much of an appeal for the song itself.

The whole Witness era was drama with Taylor Swift beef and 'Bon Appetit' bombing and 'Swish Swish' underperforming due to the handling of the release. It's insane to think she was untouchable a couple of years ago during the 'Teenage Dream' era and to an extent the 'Prisim' area.

Where did it all go downhill? The Taylor beef? 'Rise'? or 'Chained To The Rhythm'?

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn 5th March 2019, 10:57 AM

All I'm gonna say is she's got her work cut out at this point, although it's not impossible.

As for where she went downhill, I think leaving it 4 years was a big factor. That's a lifetime in this current age of pop music, so much changes. 'Bon Appetit' also definitely did damage I think.

I think the most likely scenario is she'll now follow the performance of Christina's Bionic/Lotus for her next eras. It's a shame though as in a way it does almost feel like she's just let it slip away from her - although I guess nothing lasts forever, it happens to everyone at some point.

Posted by: J▲hq 5th March 2019, 12:35 PM

Sure there's definitely a chance she can rebound, look at how Maroon 5 turned it around or Lady Gaga and the success of "Shallow". She just needs to learn how to make good songs again because "365" is not going to cut it.

I think "Bon Appetit" was a massive mistake, it's total trash. "Chained To The Rhythm" still did decently so I'd find it hard to put the blame there or with anything that came before. I'm also doubtful of how much the Taylor thing comes into play because it's not like everyone is team Taylor, she gets plenty of hate herself.

Posted by: blacksquare 5th March 2019, 01:24 PM

She can do it.

She just needs to come back sooner rather than later with an undeniable bop and long brown hair for the locals.

Posted by: blacksquare 5th March 2019, 01:29 PM

What went wrong?

- People are fickle
- Length between campaigns
- Rise stole some hype from Chained to the Rhythm
- Ed Sheeran stole hype from her and most artists releasing during those few months
- Her new look
- How it became cool not to like her, and how everything she did was seen as embarrassing
- Bon Appetit was the opposite of what she needed at that moment, as was the album

I do think it's reversible, but she can't leave it or she'll be another Nelly Furtado.

Posted by: 365 5th March 2019, 01:34 PM

I think her hair had a bigger negative impact on the public than Bon appetit clearly not being to everyone’s tastes. Her all american pin-up image was a major selling point for her and the short hair isn’t what people want from her.

I also think Rise stupidly stole way too much of her real campaign’s buzz.

Posted by: Scene 5th March 2019, 04:53 PM

I think she can but it will take some effort - she'll need the right songs (shame Dr Luke was responsible for a lot of her classics) and the right image. Her best bet is to look at how things went so wrong and rectify each problem.

The Hair
She literally looked like Miley but 4 years too late while Miley herself came back with a more mature and evolved sound. This made Katy look off trend, not to mention her long black locks were part of her iconic and popular look. It was a reinvention too far. It sounds shallow but she should really think of getting her old hair back.

Bad PR
Britney meltdown joke, working with homophobic artists, being too politically outspoken. None of these did her any favours at the time. She should do some charity work or something selfless/heroic to get the media back on side.

The Music
Her early music was so successful because it was mostly inoffensive, catchy, lighthearted pop. The public don't want anything politically-charged (CTTR), uninspired (BA) or less straight up pop (SS). She should get back in the studio with Max Martin and Benny Blanco. Maybe Calvin Harris too.

Posted by: 365 5th March 2019, 05:30 PM

The working with homophobic artists thing is so overblown. She worked with Quavo who has also worked with Beyoncé, Camila, Halsey, Frank Ocean, Madonna, Liam Payne, Cardi B, Bebe... people only cared when it was Katy.

Posted by: Klaus 5th March 2019, 07:52 PM

what went wrong is that she never released walking on air as a single

Posted by: Codester X 6th March 2019, 06:52 PM

At this point I think it has to be the music. Bon Appetit and Swish Swish (despite the latter being amazing) went against the pop grain at the moment and didn’t catch on to the GP, and the latter especially didn’t have a video that could easily capture hearts. And the only bad PR she’s gotten was due to Swifties and Katycats overblowing their 3-year long fan war. And being politically outspoken isn’t really a factor - Gaga staged a protest right after Trump won the election, Million Reasons still managed top 5 on Billboard. CTTR also went top 5 and was certified platinum in the US.

365 could do it but it’s getting weighed down by the lack of promo, especially with the outpouring of competition.

Posted by: Cqmerqn 7th March 2019, 06:10 PM

The hair is the problem, as stupid as that may sound.

I honestly don’t think she can rebound unfortunately

Posted by: Codester X 7th March 2019, 06:17 PM

I just remember the promo slots for The Middle and how it got the motor running almost immediately. The Grammys performance, the Target commercial, etc. With 365, it’s been radio silence.

Posted by: SamJudd 7th March 2019, 09:55 PM

I think bad single choices have really damaged her brand over the last few years, even during the 'Prism' era, which started off so well with 'Roar' & 'Dark Horse' both of which were absolutely huge, but then flops like 'Birthday' & 'This Is How We Do', the former came too soon (and shouldn't have followed 'DH'), and the latter wasn't strong enough for single status and really put a downer on an era that started off so well. This era could have been another 'TD' type of success, if better choices were made, like for for example 'Walking On Air' & 'Legendary Lovers' , both were great standout moments and if these followed 'DH', they could have easily kept the momentum going and both would have been smash hits and helped the album sell a lot more than it did.

As for the 'Witness' era, there was NO way that was gonna be a smash, but releasing 'Bon Appetit', killed any momentum from the off and 'Swish 'Swish', didnt help matters either, but looking at the album, nothing else really stood out. Although 'Roulette' was one of the few great tracks on there and could have been a better choice than 'BA', at the very least.

Posted by: 365 8th March 2019, 11:42 AM

Wait do people here still think Bon Appetit is bad? It's highly seen among her fans as one of her best (or at least great) these days, it's much more well regarded than Swish Swish. Like on the other forums it always gets an outpouring of love.

(Obviously it was still a bad single choice as it was too out there to connect with the wider GP)

Posted by: RobBob 8th March 2019, 12:09 PM

Bon Appetit is really well received amongst the gays, I don't know about much beyond that. Katy's music has often been quite all audience-friendly, I'd wager a guess that kind of song & Swish Swish lost that... although having said that, I doubt my mum would've liked Dark Horse either.

Posted by: blacksquare 8th March 2019, 01:09 PM

Definitely. It's probably going to be some kind of cult classic in the future.

A tongue in cheek song with food puns and innuendo was probably the worst possible choice at the time. Didn't help that it takes over 2 minutes for the beat to start.

what a bop~

Posted by: Wall 8th March 2019, 02:16 PM

Bon Appetit also has over 100million views than Swish Swish and Chained To The Rhythm.

Posted by: SKOB 9th March 2019, 01:40 PM

Swish Swish has 262m listens on Spotify, that's not bad by any means. And to blame her HAIR about downfall is ridiculous, people listening to streaming services don't think about her hair.

It's just cycles in music, and mediocre album really killed her momentum after CTTR.. And look at Justin Timberlake for example. He is having exactly the same problems right now.

Posted by: Rossco 10th March 2019, 01:55 PM

Well said! The lack of quality in her recent outputs is to blame for the decline in success - that and the Taylor nonsense. The quality of her music back in the teenage dream era speaks for itself and she needs to go back to what people want to hear if she wants success again. That being said, the damage might already be done.

Posted by: danG 10th March 2019, 02:55 PM

I think she needs to come back with mature pop that radio will eat up. Look at how well P!nk is still doing.

Posted by: Jack 10th March 2019, 06:35 PM

I hope she doesn't go down the MOR route, she's one of the very few popstars left that just has fun with their music!

Posted by: Scene 11th March 2019, 07:22 PM

If she can produce another Teenage Dream (album or song) that would be a start. Both are pop perfection.

Posted by: 365 11th March 2019, 07:51 PM

I don’t think it’s difficult to imagine that her image hampered things for her somewhat? Her image was always a massive part of her brand and why people bought into it. Even if it is her worst album, quality has historically never always equated to sales. Loads of pop acts bring out albums with 1/2 good singles and a load of filler and it still sells.

Posted by: Defaze 15th March 2019, 06:45 PM

I really hope so; she lost me with 'Prism' slightly, but I actually enjoyed the 'Witness' era (hell, I even adored 'Swish Swish', video aside). The album was admittedly awful (except the title track and 'Roulette'), but she was never much of an album act anyway.

Posted by: Jordan Lee 15th March 2019, 10:57 PM

Im from the UK so I don’t know about worldwide but Witness was quite low key compared to her other releases promo wise.

I remember a BRITS performance but not much else other than that.

I think a lot of the bad press towards her too was because it was seen as being cool to not like her. Gaga was the big star then the media turned on her and they done the same to Katy.

Witness wasn’t that bad an album but Bon Appetit and Swish Swish were bad single choices if she released Witness (single) and Roulette the campaign may have fared better.

I’m confident she can have another hit again far stranger things have happened.

Best thing she can do is release some singles first before she focuses on a whole album though. Release singles see what catches on then follow that sound and create the album.

I think Witness May have also done better had she been in a better place mentally. I remember an Ellen interview where she seemed very erratic and very unlike herself

Posted by: slowdown73 15th March 2019, 11:57 PM

I just can’t see her being very success again.

Posted by: dannjohn 16th March 2019, 08:37 PM

The image is a big problem.

Posted by: 365 17th March 2019, 05:15 PM

They need to really work on finding a sound for her that matches 2019/20

Posted by: HausofTove 17th March 2019, 05:19 PM

I agree but it CAN'T seem try hard which, as much as I love a lot of her output, she can come across as recently. She can't chase trends, she just needs to do what she does best: pure pop.

Give me an airy, nostalgic beauty like Teenage Dream (song) please

Posted by: 365 17th March 2019, 05:24 PM

I just worry that pure pop is over (((

Posted by: Jay ☆ 17th March 2019, 05:25 PM

Need this!

Agree that she could stand to fare better if she somehow manages to not come across as try hard. Is she capable of that though lamfooo~

Posted by: SKOB 26th March 2019, 03:20 PM

Being a judge on American Idol of all shows doesn't help image wise.

Posted by: Cqmerqn 26th March 2019, 06:56 PM

I definitely think it’s making a comeback.

See: Ava Max

Posted by: Voodoo 26th April 2019, 04:28 PM

In order to make a successful comeback, KT must be mentally stable, first & foremost. Secondly, she has to resurrect Dr. Luke from the dead, as he is the one responsible for much of her beloved smash hits. Thirdly, she needs to get rid of that AWFUL Ellen haircut. The mumsy look isn't doing her any favors whatsoever. It makes her very uncool & ages her dramatically.

That's my two cents.

Posted by: Cqmerqn 26th April 2019, 07:37 PM

Yikes. Yeah, let’s revive Dr Luke, I’m sure the public will love that!

Posted by: Voodoo 26th April 2019, 08:30 PM

I don't care about the public. I want quality pop songs, and if he can still deliver them, then why not?

Posted by: Cqmerqn 26th April 2019, 08:31 PM

Double yikes.

Posted by: T’Seet 26th April 2019, 08:37 PM

Yeah, who cares about lining the pockets of someone who takes advantage of vulnerable women? I mean, it’s not like it’ll affect you right? As long as you can bop along to some decent pop music, the suffering of others will surely be well worth it.

Why not indeed?

Posted by: Liаm 26th April 2019, 08:41 PM

I forgot Dr Luke is the only possible producer who can make good pop....

Posted by: 365 26th April 2019, 09:18 PM

Con Calma remix is doing really well on US radio. She’s back!