1 minute ago, JosephStyles said:

I wouldn't say this at all! It's certainly getting mixed reviews online, as you'd expect, but it has a lot of love (the fanbase in particular are very on board with it, and I've seen a lot of non-fans, or at least people who were more ambivalent to him before, enjoying the song!)

Probably looking in different places but on threads, X and my facebook im seeing more negatives than positive 😅

Yeah, I’d put good money on the follow up being the radio hit. In a Lights Up -> Adore You sense (not that the former was wildly uncommercial, but the latter was evidently more hit-ready/radio friendly).

There’s probably better examples of artists leading with a less commercial option and then following it up with the obvious hit but they’re not coming to mind right now x

6 minutes ago, RobBot said:

Yeah, I’d put good money on the follow up being the radio hit. In a Lights Up -> Adore You sense (not that the former was wildly uncommercial, but the latter was evidently more hit-ready/radio friendly).

There’s probably better examples of artists leading with a less commercial option and then following it up with the obvious hit but they’re not coming to mind right now x

Bit of a dated example but Melanie C! She led an album that contained two No.1 singles with the grunge/punky Goin' Down! Or Gwen Stefani with Wind It Up.

Pop artists that want to push boundaries will do it if they think they can get away with it. Sometimes it does misfire and derails a campaign though, like Robbie's Rudebox.

Edited Sunday at 16:072 days by gooddelta

Gwen popped to mind.

Or Doja with Attention -> Paint The Town Red.

How fussed do we think he (not his label!) is about commercial performance? That's twice now in four albums he's chosen to lead with a >5 minute song that's a bit leftfield. I'm all for it - far fewer huge names in music now than there were in the past, so you hope they do something interesting since they're the only ones who could get away with it

Dont love that Stateside is slipping down

It's gonna go number 1 regardless, and tbf id much rather have a few short reigns at the top

7 minutes ago, rio309 said:

I'm all for it - far fewer huge names in music now than there were in the past, so you hope they do something interesting since they're the only ones who could get away with it

Definitely agree - if you're in a position where you can dominate the charts with anything you put out at least make the music interesting/authentic to yourself!

26 minutes ago, RobBot said:

Yeah, I’d put good money on the follow up being the radio hit. In a Lights Up -> Adore You sense (not that the former was wildly uncommercial, but the latter was evidently more hit-ready/radio friendly).

There’s probably better examples of artists leading with a less commercial option and then following it up with the obvious hit but they’re not coming to mind right now x

Christina with Dirrty? Beautiful was definitely the more obvious (and less controversial) hit.

Just now, Scene said:

Christina with Dirrty? Beautiful was definitely the more obvious (and less controversial) hit.

But Dirrty was a grower. Such a banger of a track. It wasn’t until I heard it in a club that I realised how amazing it was. I would never bother playing ‘Beautiful’ these days, but I still get excited when ‘Dirrrty’ comes

(Though I guess I agree with your point.)

8 minutes ago, rio309 said:

How fussed do we think he (not his label!) is about commercial performance? That's twice now in four albums he's chosen to lead with a >5 minute song that's a bit leftfield. I'm all for it - far fewer huge names in music now than there were in the past, so you hope they do something interesting since they're the only ones who could get away with it

Also worth remembering Sign of the Times only had a single week at the top, and a relatively short top 40 run too!

NE (20/04/2017) | 1-4-4-8-10-6-10-19-26-30-43-62-77-86-91-79-84-95-x

RE (31/08/2017) | 88-x

RE (16/11/2017) | 99-x

RE (01/02/2018) | 75-80-87-100-86-76-98-x

It's now sold 2.2 million so the long game really worked for this one (and it was undoubtedly boosted by the Fine Line era and Harry's growing status as a solo artist).

Lights Up also didn't exactly have an enormous run (though the 3 track rule impeded it somewhat):

NE (24/10/2019) | 3-11-17-16-23-16-15-29-33-x

RE (02/01/2020) | 48-18-32-40-58-58-x

Lights Up is only the fifth biggest selling single from Fine Line, despite being the highest peaking.

Aperture of course has a bigger springboard than Lights Up had but definitely wouldn't surprise me if it's this era's Lights Up, with something more commercial around the corner (Lights Up wasn't even sent to US radio if I remember correctly, with the more commercial Adore You always pegged as the first radio single from the album there).

tl;dr - this isn't really new territory for Harry and if he wanted another As It Was style hit then he could easily have made one x

If we wanna draw the comparison, "Sign of the Times" was a risky song for the streaming market at the time, and it showed. Never hit the top 5 on Spotify, only spent a week at #1. Its chart run was buoyed by sales.

In reality, the song has been a massive streaming hit. Just recently crossed 2 billion on Spotify, his 3rd most. It's just that there are two separate streaming demographics. You've got the people who are tuned into the top 40 and those who aren't, and there's a different scope for what they're into, the latter group evidently love it (or it's very algorithm friendly to them), while it doesn't fit the taste of the former as much. At the end of the day, he's gotten his cake and eaten it because the song was a #1 hit, and it's gone triple platinum. The fact that it only spent 13 weeks in the top 75 no longer feels relevant. I don't know if this is the future "Aperture" is primed for (just listening to it now for the first time), but I reckon if he gets the #1 spot*, that's all that matters for now.

(and I took too long to type it up, Joseph's said basically the same thing 😄)

*might have something to say about this when I do my Aus charts post though, potential oof

2 minutes ago, GreyAsh said:

But Dirrty was a grower. Such a banger of a track. It wasn’t until I heard it in a club that I realised how amazing it was. I would never bother playing ‘Beautiful’ these days, but I still get excited when ‘Dirrrty’ comes

(Though I guess I agree with your point.)

Oh absolutely - it’s a classic! 🥰 But it’s also 5 minutes of chaos. 😂

I still think Aperture will be #1 officially. It's already done the equivalent of 4 days at #1 on Spotify for Man I Need.

1 hour ago, Hadji said:

I hope As It Was doesn’t get reset. We endured it enough in 2022 and we don’t want to endure it now

I mean it’s ineligible by the rules but it’s anyone’s guess what the OCC will do

56 minutes ago, rio309 said:

How fussed do we think he (not his label!) is about commercial performance? That's twice now in four albums he's chosen to lead with a >5 minute song that's a bit leftfield. I'm all for it - far fewer huge names in music now than there were in the past, so you hope they do something interesting since they're the only ones who could get away with it

Meanwhile Taylor: drops album full of boring slop

(I suppose she 'experiments' with making lyrics as cringeworthy as possible)

Here just for reading the comments how Harry is flopping while still being #1

Buzzjack never change!!!

I doubt any of Harry's stuff will get reset, they didn't even reset Someone You Loved after Capaldi's comeback

22 minutes ago, Brer said:

Meanwhile Taylor: drops album full of boring slop

(I suppose she 'experiments' with making lyrics as cringeworthy as possible)

Just listening to the Harry track now for the first time on youtube and I'm pleasantly surprised, I love the production and the video seems to really complement the track. I think it's a good return from him and it makes me very intrigued to see what else will be on the album