I need Dua and her team to do something because this era is so quiet right now. I'm aware that they're planning to do the long term thing, like they did with Future Nostalgia, which is understandable. However, the difference between both of them are that we got a lot of content, even during the pandemic, in the former while we're not getting too much in this one.

 

Aside of the extended version of the album and her Glastonbury headlining performance, which received critical acclaim and good press as well, her team wasted that opportunity to re-launch the era and they opted to milk / continue supporting "Illusion" even more when it was better to begin promoting a new single instead. I get that, four years ago, Dua mentioned that she envisioned "Hallucinate" as the go-track / key track to perform during the festival (which ended up being cancelled due to COVID-19), so it makes me think that they wanted to replicate that moment with "Illusion", hence the reason of the 'final push' when it's not having a lot of support in the DSPs, especially in the UK, which is her core market.

 

As a side note, it's known for a while that she shot a music video in early June when she was in Budapest and the local media revealed that it was for "Falling Forever". However, it's still unknown whether they're going with it or not (or if it was indeed "Falling Forever", but considering that she performed the track for the first time during Glastonbury, it makes sense that this was the song). At this point, I wouldn't mind a split release because I think that "Falling Forever" is too European for the American market, so "These Walls" or, even, a re-release of "Training Season" might work better there. In case it's the latter, they could push "These Walls" globally in the fall and, then, re-release Radical Optimism early next year. Personally, this will be my favourite scenario, although if it's taken into consideration that there isn't too much promotion, the best option is to go with another single and, then, re-release Radical Optimism in Q4.

Totally agree with this. Although I'm happy we got those remixes of Illusion cause The Blaze remix is my fave of the era. Dua is so busy with festivals, summer shows and brand deals since the album release. Maybe they thought the live shows would be enough to sell the album?

 

I think they may have missed the boat with a successful post-album single and it doesn't help that the tracks left on the album aren't in the same league as Hallucinate, Levitating or Love Again. They should do a remix like Whatcha Doing feat. Charli or something.

I worry if Dua doesn’t react any time soon, this era will go to pot and she’ll probably struggle with the next one if it doesn’t come soon enough. The market is super busy with pop girls atm offering music far more exciting: Sabrina, Chappell, Charli, JADE, Kesha…now is not the time to be bland!

The album has underperformed which is more evident now, initially I thought the album would have remained in the top 10 and build on sales but has fallen short.

I guess it's reasonable enough that the album is still Top 40 in the UK at this point, given that the era feels like it's been on pause since Glastonbury. Apparently Dua's taking a break and won't resume work until September. It's an interesting choice for an album that, at least to my ears, sounds like it was designed for the summer months (saying that from a Western world point of view!)

 

It feels like they should have moved on to another single by now, yet 4 months on from Illusion and they're drip feeding remixes of it. :thinking:

That girl's whole bloody life is a holiday! :lol: Seriously :drama:

To be fair she's played 9 live shows and 4 festivals across Europe this past 2 months. I'd want a holiday after that as well :lol:

If they had pushed a single after the album release/with Glastonbury then her current break wouldn't feel so noticeable. It's all very strange — perhaps the goal was for 'Illusion' to smash and sustain the album over the summer.

 

I don't know how they can pick this album back up from September — I don't think they can?

A single following Glastonbury was what they should have done but either they will move on from the era or re release the album with new songs.

yeah, agreed with all of the above.

 

I'm sure they had plans to execute things differently and now they're back to square 1.

 

I hate to admit it but I actually haven't listen to the album that much either and I am a die hard fan!!!

 

Also the fact that FN is outstreaming this already it shows that people weren't here for it...plus with Charli, Billie, Chappel, Sabrina music occupying everything, I don't think there was any room for RO songs to grow!!!

Also Training Season was the only song charting in Top 200 globally for a while and now that's also dropped out of Top 200!!!

 

I would say it's somewhat concerning but I am hoping she'll bounce back soon again.

 

I said it before that I was not happy when she left her management team (for her dad) who they did such a great job handling her career!!!

It's been a huge mess sadly, but an interesting case to study in the future.

 

Training Season has become my fave so glad it had the best staying power in the end.

Album is still top 40 and Houdini up to 42 in the midweeks so there's that at least. Illusion being used a lot in the Olympics but doesn't seem to be having an impact

I said it before that I was not happy when she left her management team (for her dad) who they did such a great job handling her career!!!

 

I think she'll come to regret that decision.

The signs are there that she made a big mistake.

Dua bought back the publishing rights of her catalog since leaving TaP so she's earning more money now I would assume. And it's given her a bit more creative control and time for herself so I get why she did it.

I think Dua is just a bit out of sync with what people are currently looking for. Houdini and Training Season are as good as any of her older singles imo but this album just didn't hit the right trend at the right moment like Future Nostalgia did. It's probably just not realistic to expect her to always smash, and she has still had some decent peaking singles with a #1 album and a headline slot at Glastonbury so it's not all bad

Here's us worrying about the album campaign, while sis is dropping a new bikini collection :lol:

At what point do we declare this era over... it's been far too quiet for far too long now. Is there any chance of a surprise before Summer is over?

Duas album campaigns prior to this were both long lasting and had re releases and collaborations tagged onto the albums on streaming.

 

I feel this could still get that or we might get a whole new album sooner this time around.

 

DL1 jumped ahead of this in the UK this week. I do still think as far as albums go this has been a success though and I don’t think the era is done just yet. I think we’ll get perhaps one more video / single from the standard version of the album before we get something as of yet unconnected to the campaign.

Dropped out of top 75 on albums chart :/