milly

The Day the World Stopped Turning is soooo beautiful. Meanwhile, Who's Driving This Thing is an absolute banger, full of fun and energy. I'm loving everything I'm hearing so far. Unfortunately, I might have to wait for the album to arrive in order to listen to it fully :(

It was even higher today, at some point - 25

I'm excited too. Loving the sound so far. I don't know if it can beat SISYL, but I will most definitely enjoy this album. Incredible already puts me in a Christmas mood every time I hear it. The acoustic version is gorgeous. I just wish When I Say Goodbye was on this album as well. It's a stunning song, that should have been given more attention.

The single he's performing is Incredible, which is not a feature. Most people will buy or not buy the album based on this song, during the release week. Regarding fans, I doubt they care very much who else is on the album. Most of them pre-ordered the album before they even knew about the features. After listening to Gary's interviews, it's clear to me that this album was, for him, a project close to his heart, that fulfills one of his dreams and that, in no way, is he chasing trends.

Not all people feel the same way about this pandemic, Elisabeth. Many of us still hope that politicians come to their senses, eventually. I would go in an instant, even today,, to Gary's concert. I just need an insurance that the concert goes ahead. I bought the album without the ticket, just as many fans did. Both Gary and TT have always had this way of selling the tour, so why is it only now a ruse on Gary's part? If this is a trick to sell albums, then many artists do it. Every artist has a strategy. Unfortunately, Gary didn't have a wife going into labor to film this time :P https://www.dropbox.com/s/sqzb79zkmluym9u/S...un95Avq86i8Ih2E The Sirius interviews are always the best.

I doubt it was done to sell the album. Gary could have announced the tour for 2022 and people would still have bought the tickets. Anyway, hopefully, by summer, all this madness dies down and things can resume their normal course.

I was sure there was gonna be a ballad on the album and Gary certaily didn"t disappoint on this one. It's a stunning, stunning song. It's Gary at his very core.

I really really wanted to buy a ticket, but there was no insurance policy, as far I as I checked. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to still find tickets in June. Still, I had my album pre-ordered, so that does not impact his record sales.

Rooting for Gary as well. He deserves it more than most other artists.

I like the way he acknowledged the change of direction and how he is well aware of the fact people think of him as a balladeer and that he didn't want to be predictable. I guess it's not easy navigating all these perceptions and expectations.

Ans Elita is 31 (downloads) and 32 (sales). Apparently, Elita has charted on the download and sales charts for 6 weeks now. I hate streaming!

Selling records is a sign of success only in certain countries. I”m not sure people in South America are really record buyers, just like us, Romanians and many other people aren”t. I, personally, haven”t bought/downloaded one single Romanian song/album EVER. However, my buying Gary”s album counts towards UK sales, because I buy it either via Amazon.uk either via the official store and I know that most foreign fans do as well. We will never truly know the measure of the „success” of such artists in most countries, because fans never buy the records through national channels...or at all. However, it”s enough to take a look at the comment section in Elita and then at the comment sections in all the other Gary/TT songs and you”ll see a massive difference in the target audience. I don”t know if that makes Gary successful or not in South America, but he has definitely reached this market to a certain degree. I am, honestly, not that interested in the charts anymore, cause, since streaming happened and even before that, they have become a joke. Of course I would love Gary to be „successful” in that regard too, only because I know how vile media can be and how much people still enjoy to bash on Gary, no matter what the reason, but I am now at the point where I see chart success only as a bonus. For me, being interested, even if not buying, is much more important. You have to understand that, for most countries, buying a music album is a luxury. I am pretty sure countries in South America don”t fall under the „rich” countries category and do not have a reputation of music buyers, so you cannot ask more from them than mere interest. We would know if people there are real fans only if Gary put up concert tickets up for sale - there is no other way of measuring his „success” in such countries. I don”t think you can really compare Elita to Candy. Candy was written with the specific intention of being a solely commercial song and of selling. Even if Gary co-wrote it, most adult fans cannot deny it”s trash. I don”t believe Elita can be labelled as such and it doesn”t mark just a change of style with the purpose of reaching a larger audience. I think Gary was well aware of the fact that he would alienate many of his UK fans with Elita, yet he went ahead with it, because he liked that musical direction, which shows integrity.

Yeah, but she led that whole campain against Gary reaching no 1, so, she got her way in that regard. I still cannot stand her.

But it”s nice cause we have so many options. You enjoy Dare, others enjoy Elita, others Incredible.... We don”t have to choose, cause there are plenty of options for everyone. I would be over the moon with an entire album of Elita-like songs from Gary, although I am madly in love with the ballads he writes. You must admit that Elita is opening a whole new market for Gary. The comment section is 90% South Americans, loving the song. I can understand that the Western Europe is not very used to this sound, but that doesn”t mean it”s not enjoyable. For me, it feels so familiar and nostalgic, in a way, that I can”t hep but perceive it as infectious and I am a bit disappointed to see that others don”t enjoy it as much. I certainly hope it grows on people. Incredible is just....fun and catchy and Christmasy...it just puts a smile on my face. Are there other songs of Gary”s I love more? Certainly. But that does not stop me from liking these ones as well. If they were bad songs, I could understand, but they are good songs, that deserve to be appreciated on their own and not put against others.

And, after that, the horrible Lilly Allen.

But Dare is not swing, is it? I couldn't compare these 2 songs. cause they sound very different to me.

I've seen the video for the Steps' single and I wasn't very impressed. Way too much 90s and the lyrics are weak, for me. But I guess it's down to everyone's taste. I find Elita to be fresh and modern and catchy and vibrant. I really hope Gary is no 1 this time, cause he deserves it, after being robbed last time of the top position.

Could Steps outsell Gary?

I want to see him enjoy making music and performing. If being successful means puting out sex garbage like Ariana Grande, I'd rather he weren't successful. I admire people passionate about something, nut just chasing fame and money. If success comes from what Gary puts out, that's a bonus, if not, at least he has his dignity left.

I am not a big fan of swing either, but I LOVE Incredible. It's already stuck in my head. Personally, I am very excited about this album, cause, so far, I have been loving both singles. I am actually ok now with Gary and TT experimenting a bit more, cause I have been looking at other artists' progression over time and it's really boring to always be offered the same things. Even though we may not like everything Gary puts out, at least he keeps us guessing and he gives us diversity. I'd rather be surprised - positively or negatively - than bored. I have listened to Sam Smith's latest offerings and they certainly are no different from what he's done in the past. I'm sure Gary has some ballads on the album, that will satisfy the hardcore fans, but I believe he's releasing the right songs as singles, so far. From the comments I've seen, people enjoy the more uptempo, happy songs. You can't deny they're incredible :P

The video might reach 1 million views this weekend :cheer:

It had started climbing back on iTunes before the video was released. I just thought the radio stations had started playing it more.

It definitely has staying power on Itunes. It is the 4th week in top 30 - top 10 now. All on its own, with no promotion. I know I love it and lots of people do. If it were performed on a major show, it could chart easily. Is it played on radio in UK?

The video isn"t very exciting, given that it was shot during this period and each artist was filmed separately, but the editing is very well done, under the circumstances. I just wish the video raised to the quality of the song. We could have had a story video, like Havana.