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'?

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.

 

Edited March 5, 20196 yr by Tawdry Hepburn

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.

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.

 

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.

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.

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. :thinking:

 

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.

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.

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

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.

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

 

I honestly don’t think she can rebound unfortunately :(

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.

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.

At this point I think it has to be the music. Bon Appetit and Swish Swish (despite the latter being amazing)

 

 

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)

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.

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.

 

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~

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

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.

Edited March 9, 20196 yr by SKOB

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.

 

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.

Edited March 10, 20196 yr by Rossco

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