jark

I think she'll be #9 tomorrow as she was just 100 copies ahead today. Amazing result!

I would contest that their absolute refusal to do promotion and to perform on TV might have something to do with it. We can blame anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes but there's no particular evidence for that and the far more likely answer is that Sam, specifically known for their voice, never actually showcases it in a promotional setting. Look at how performance promo pays off for artists like Miley when a song needs a push - Sam is not out there doing that, is not visible at all from the moment a song drops.

Why is this straightforwardly dance record stuck in Indie & Alternative? Amazing album. A total work of art. Picking faves seems almost impossible because it works so well as a continuous mix, like a DJ set at a pool party on the Riviera where everyone is drinking Moet and doing high grade coke. But if I had to, Shellfish Mademoiselle is the slinkiest gorgeousness. Her Graham Norton perf was an immediate classic as well. What a woman.

Heart of Glass is 25 on UK Spotify for yesterday, 20 US, and got over 1m streams globally. That's mad for a live cover. She's the moment!

There's plenty of time for Diamonds to grow into a hit. It's had a solid start. Some promo would be good though - Graham Norton performance slot or something.

OMG her vocal is absolutely spectacular on Heart of Glass. QUEEN!

Performances! @1308489624940089346 @1308486174344962049 @1308496857329471490 The good sis ate!

Honey what is this hot crapola.

It took maybe three listens but Diamonds is absolutely fabulous. I almost wish it went a little harder with some of the sparkly synths that pop up in the chorus, just to bring the imagery of the title to life sonically. Great song though, hoping for a hit - they need one. Quite excited about Another One, the track in the album trailer. Sounds like a smash and it's written by Noonie Bao so you know it's gonna DO THAT.

Back In 84 is SOOOOO GOOOOOD. I like Solid Gold too and hope both make the "album" (if there is one), but I don't understand why Back In 84 is not the single. Instant Delta classic.

Excellent album. Of the new stuff, OMG, Call Me Tonight, Born To the Night (!) and Rumours in particular go hard. Loving the faint echoes of Ace of Base across the record, particularly on the Take You to Hell chorus. Who's Laughing Now is the best of the lot. Swap So Am I (what is this even doing in Hell?) for Freaking Me Out and you have a pretty flawless debut with the boundaries of the kind of popstar she is/aspires to be. GOOD JOB AMANDA!

07 Alice 09 Stupid Love 10 Rain On Me 09 Free Woman 07 Fun Tonight - incredible vocal 07 911 07 Plastic Doll - lovely chorus 04 Sour Candy - I'll stick to Swish Swish 10 Enigma 08 Replay 08 Sine From Above 07 1000 Doves 09 Babylon A strange album. Some of it is just objectively beneath her - it's faceless, cheaply produced (seriously) and lacking weighty hooks in places. It really gets going from Enigma onwards - Act III is the album this whole record should've been. Free Woman is such a great song that I can just about look past that shitty Kygo circa 2015 (or indeed 2020) drop & questionable production choices, but the demo was better. Sine From Above is very close to being great but again the post-chorus drop is an abomination. This album really needed to not be produced by BloodPop and Burns. Probably her worst album since The Fame (Joanne is not for me, but was well made) but I will use it plenty just because I love her dddd. At least we have Enigma.

You Don't Know Me obv. Breathe should've been swapped with Instruction and Ring Ring above the Jess track, but for once Buzzjack got it... basically right. Bravo!

Harmless? He's literally a gross Republican who supports Trump. Try again.

This makes me sad. I'm sad for you.

f***. Slide Away is a huge moment of artistic progression for her. I don't know if it will be big but it sounds like a lost classic from the late 90s. It's divine.

Not Sayin' is such a sublimely good pop song (dying at this thread being in R&B - seriously guys), I can't wrap my head around the fact that it's (i) hidden away on disc 2 behind five old songs and (ii) not going to be a single, and wasn't the big launch single instead of Mad Love. What an epic failure of common sense. It, Bad Behaviour and Selfish Love are literally leagues ahead of everything else here. Properly great, and gives me hope that she's going to be around a good while. But they better Superbass that shit.

It had a 2.3m first day, much bigger than 365 (less than 1.5m from memory). NRO was about 3.1m.

I LOVE THIS. The final chorus is absolutely sensational.

A brilliant song. Properly great. I hope this grows into something big for her.

How Do You Sleep is the better song I think (although I played the shit out of DWAS earlier in the year, to the point that I can hardly listen to it now) - stronger melodies/vocals all round.

Great song and killer visual by the way.

I don't know why I'm entertaining your blatant desperate trolling, but this is absurd on many levels. First and foremost, everyone has their own timeline and embracing your queerness is not something that can or should be rushed to keep up with what anyone else is doing. Not to mention the fact that Sam Smith making a video like this is infinitely more impactful within mainstream culture simply because he's hugely successful and MNEK is not. People will actually, you know, watch this video.

Where have you heard this? I've never heard a thing about him working with Ellie, Rita or Marina and I follow them all pretty closely...

Propaganda is all kinds of woozy sunkissed warmth. What a song. The album doesn't contain a bad song, I'm enjoying getting lost in all its intricacies. Godless is another standout for now...