Hi everyone!

 

Inspired by some debate (that got very off topic) in the chart forum the other day, I thought I’d put the issue in here for discussion. Was Try This a flop era for Pink?

 

I tend to only look at UK stats myself, so I’m not sure how things measure up all round, but I’d say that perhaps I’d consider it an underperformance but I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to call it a flop. The album has sold over half a million copies in the UK and spawned two top 10 singles. It didn’t sell anywhere near what her previous album sold but did sell slightly more than her debut.

 

When I tend to think of flop albums, it tends to be albums that made literally no impact. Albums like Heavy Rotation for Anastacia or Witness for Katy Perry. I really don’t see Try This falling into that category.

 

It was also brought up that it was a flop compared to her ‘contemporaries’ at the time. But does that matter in the long scheme of things? And should we be pitting females against each other and assigning worth on their work in comparison to other females? I even did that in the paragraph above.

 

Thoughts?

Edited March 16, 20214 yr by T Boy

I've always thought of it as undeniably an underperformance but not necessarily a flop, per se.

Interesting question indeed, especially looking back now and seeing what came after this. Try This definitely felt like a massive underperformance, considering how back the previous album was, and I definitely think people were expecting her to never really 'recover' (which I'm Not Dead even proved a bit, in the beginning, as it took so long to really take off). So around the time I can see why it was seen as a flop, although I don't think a flop was the right word. Underperformance for sure but it' s hard to call an album that debuted top 10 basically everywhere a flop.

 

(and yes, it should have been wayyyyy bigger).

I guess it depends on how you see it - worldwide I'd say it was an underperformance and not a "flop" as such and obviously a huge step down from Mizundastood. I'd probably put it more in flop territory in the US though as the singles there completely bombed for her (Feel Good Time #60, Trouble #68) in addition the album selling around 700k compared to Mizundastoods 5.5 million+ copies.

In the US, the 1st single from the album was Trouble.

Feel Good Time was a one-off single released between albums and included in a movie. Then when Try This was released, the song was tagged along in some versions of the album (Europe?) but at the time I was living in the US and the US version of the album does not have Feel Good Time. Moreover, Feel Good Time has nothing to do with the album, in style, in songwriting, in anything. Pink also didn't have anything to do with the making of the song, was a Paul Oakenfield song.

 

So comparing Mizzunderstood vs Try This, just looking at the singles:

in the US:

Get the party started/4

Don't let me get me/8

Just like a pill/8

Family portrait/20

vs:

Trouble/68

God is a DJ/103* (or #3 Bubbling Under)

 

and album sales-wise: 5.6 million vs 700K

 

so personally it's closer to a flop, not a 100% flop, but it's a huge underperformance at all levels

 

 

 

 

People were genuinely worried she was over (especially in the US) before and leading up to ‘I’m Not Dead’ because of it — similar to ‘Witness’ actually. I think the sales are a little misleading due to the era it was released in, so I would put it somewhere between a massive underperformance and a flop.

 

But she pulled through and bounced back, and the rest is history.

I do remember worrying she might be over back then but I just feel like history, UK history at least, makes it look not quite as bad. In the UK she was was shifting similar numbers to Kylie’s Body Language and Madonna’s American Life which were also considered flops at the time. Looking back on Pink’s UK album history, none of it looks too bad in hindsight. 500k sellers weren’t generally seen as flops but off the back of M!ssundaztood, it certainly looked that way.

I'd call this more of an underperformance than a full on flop, even Pink herself doesn't care for this album as she left the label soon after. This was rushed & her heart wasn't in it, which showed during the promo campaign & some of the album's weaker moments, it felt like she wanted to get this era over and done with quickly, especially given the final single 'Last To Know' was only given a concert video & limited release, which sparked the end for this album. Also the songs she wanted to release ''Oh My God' & 'Unwind' were scrapped by the label, as well as 'Catch Me While I'm Sleeping' which was also due for release in the USA, but was scrapped after the previous singles flopped over there.

It certainly depends on how you personally define an underperformance or a flop, that will vary for each of us. I wasn't following the charts at the time, and I barely ever heard 'Trouble' or 'God Is A DJ', so I would've thought the album flopped...but now that I'm more familiar with how it peaked/sold worldwide, and knowing the singles performed much better outside the US, I'm more inclined to call it an underperformance.

I'd call this more of an underperformance than a full on flop, even Pink herself doesn't care for this album as she left the label soon after. This was rushed & her heart wasn't in it, which showed during the promo campaign & some of the album's weaker moments, it felt like she wanted to get this era over and done with quickly, especially given the final single 'Last To Know' was only given a concert video & limited release, which sparked the end for this album. Also the songs she wanted to release ''Oh My God' & 'Unwind' were scrapped by the label, as well as 'Catch Me While I'm Sleeping' which was also due for release in the USA, but was scrapped after the previous singles flopped over there.

 

'Catch Me While I'm Sleeping' was actually listed on the UK release schedule as the 3rd single for weeks until they switched it with 'Last To Know'.

I've always thought of it as undeniably an underperformance but not necessarily a flop, per se.

Fair and adequate way to define the era.

500k for 2003/4 album is like 70k in 2021. It is her least popular album I'd say, calling it flop or underperformance is just semantics.

Edited March 21, 20214 yr by Sour Candy

500k for 2003/4 album is like 70k in 2021 though. It is her least popular album I'd say, calling it flop or underperformance is just semantics.

 

And yet it sold roughly the same in the UK as Britney’s In The Zone and yet that never seems to be considered a flop. I feel these things are relative to an artists’ previous performance. Try This certainly looks like a flop coming off the back of M!ssundaztood, but there were many albums at the time that sold less and weren’t really considered flops.

 

I’d also argue Can’t Take Me Home for her least popular album, especially among her fans.

Edited March 21, 20214 yr by T Boy

And yet it sold roughly the same in the UK as Britney’s In The Zone and yet that never seems to be considered a flop. I feel these things are relative to an artists’ previous performance. Try This certainly looks like a flop coming off the back of M!ssundaztood, but there were many albums at the time that sold less and weren’t really considered flops.

 

I’d also argue Can’t Take Me Home for her least popular album, especially among her fans.

 

If anything I'd compare it to the downfall of Leona between Spirit and Echo. I'd be hard pressed to call Echo a flop, but it obviously didn't do as well as the label expected and certainly invested in it.

 

And yeah, Can't Take Me Home is clearly her least popular album, but a lot of that is because she changed musical direction plus Pink herself rarely references it so she doesn't really keep it alive, so to speak.

It's only seen as a flop because of it's sales compared to it's previous release. If Girls Aloud had released it in their earlier years (or even later years) it wouldn't have been seen as that as their albums sold between 300-600k at that point. Britney In the Zone sold around 500k and wasn't seen as a flop. It's all relative. P!nk has never had a flop album in the UK.

I dont think it flopped it just didn't follow the huge success of its predecessor bit like Kylies body language following Fever performance.

It’s funny because I always sort of thought it did worse than it did but comparing it to other albums released around the same time (like Kylie’s Body Language and Britneys In The Zone) ITZ inpaticular felt like a huge era here but Try This’s sales aren’t that different in the UK.

 

Meh I’d say it was probably a bit of a underperformance by sales at that time and compared to P!nks album power but it did well by most standards. I think it would’ve been bigger if the right singles were selected though. An album ive come to love over time :heart:

Edited February 8, 20223 yr by Jord

Yeah, definitely, I think in context of the time, it was a huge underperformance coming off the back of M!ssundaztood.

 

However, I’m not sure putting out an album that quickly was ever going to end well. I know it was a two year gap in the US but it still see,Ed very quick.

It felt OK in the UK... like I remember 'Trouble' was played a lot on TV ('God Is a DJ' felt everywhere as well).

I remember the singles doing ok in Australia but they all seemed like they just missed the mark. Misunderstood’s singles did pretty well and then with I’m Not Dead she blew up again.

 

So yeah I think I’m some ways it was a flop but compared to others it kind of did ok.