Why are the weakest songs always chosen as singles!?

digichantdigichant Posts: 3,519
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It appears that with several albums, a terrible song has been selected for the lead single!
Examples:
Beyonce - Run the World
Nicola Roberts - Beat of My Drum
Rebecca Ferguson - Nothing's Real but Love
Cher Lloyd - Swagger Jagger

Three of the above were received negatively by the majority and immediately put many people off the album from the beginning.
All of the people that I know thought that "BOMD" was crap and they therefore just wrote Nicola off. After listening to the album I discovered that it was a collection of fantastic electro-pop type sounds with many songs that could have shot to the top 5 with no trouble.
Similarly, "Run the World" is the worst song on Beyonces album without a shadow of a doubt and it simply does not fit in with the raw, emotional, powerful and classic R&B sound of the majority of the record. The poor charting of the single gave a negative impression immediately.

Swagger Jagger got to number one (how!?) but was ridiculed and mocked by most people almost to the extent of Rebecca Black - Friday. I have heard from many that the album is great, "except for SJ"... if there are stronger songs on the album why was it released. I'd like to add that Cher Lloyd herself kept saying that "it isn't representative of the album", which indicates to me that she wasn't happy with it herself.

Nothing's Real but Love suffered a massive chart drop because, frankly, it is boring. The album has sold very well and is continuing to do so but not as well as it probably could have if one of the 9 tracks that are much better had been released first, e.g. Shoulder to Shoulder or something more fun like Mr. Bright Eyes.

I am aware that Beyonce, Cher and Rebecca have still done well, but that single just ruined Nicola.

Are there any more cases of terrible single choices?

Comments

  • TheChicagoBaronTheChicagoBaron Posts: 1,920
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    I don't know about the others, but it's obvious Beyoncé's team wanted something big and catchy, building on the ''feminism'' of Single Ladies and gunning on that success.

    It didn't work though. Obviously.
  • AdcmAdcm Posts: 1,587
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    Alesha Dixon - Drummer Boy [from The Entertainer]
    Taylor Swift - Mine [from Speak Now]
  • shaunnashinesshaunnashines Posts: 5,698
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    The Wanted - Gold Forever (their weakest single imo)
    Alesha Dixon - Drummer Boy
    JLS - She Makes Me Wanna and The Club Is Alive (awful choices)
    Britney Spears - I Wanna Go (Inside Out would have been better)
    Diana Vickers - My Wicked Heart (she had brilliant songs on her album, why release this?!)
    Ellie Goulding - The Writer (Your Biggest Mistake is much stronger)
    Mini Viva - I Wish
    Jessie J - Who's Laughing Now (Abracadabra is better)
    Parade - Perfume
    Sugababes - No Can Do
  • SonofaBeastSonofaBeast Posts: 334
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    "2 Hearts" by Kylie was a weak choice for a first single.

    "Bad Girl" by Madonna should never have been released as a single.

    Golfrapp chose the weakest songs to release off "Head First". How the hell "Dreaming" wasn't a single is beyond me.
  • digichantdigichant Posts: 3,519
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    I don't know about the others, but it's obvious Beyoncé's team wanted something big and catchy, building on the ''feminism'' of Single Ladies and gunning on that success.

    It didn't work though. Obviously.

    Most probably, but they failed to see that it was a VERY poor song.
  • iseloidiseloid Posts: 9,392
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    digichant wrote: »
    Most probably, but they failed to see that it was a VERY poor song.

    but it isnt. its actually good as critics said. its a club hit and gets people dancing. it works well but it leaked. that was the issue. the web was negative due to the drum sample thing and people were slating it without actually knowing what it was. it works as a lead single. a lead single has to say 'IM BACK!! *scary head turn and grin*' and RTW does that. the video is ace and the choreography is killer. as it was leaked it came out mid week, so its debut was high but there was no video to back it up, B was finishing the album off at the time it came out so her promo for it was messed up. leaks ruin albums. as judas proved (well gaga shouldnt have released edge of glory so soon).
  • BadKid95BadKid95 Posts: 7,137
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    "2 Hearts" by Kylie was a weak choice for a first single.

    "Bad Girl" by Madonna should never have been released as a single.

    Golfrapp chose the weakest songs to release off "Head First". How the hell "Dreaming" wasn't a single is beyond me.

    It should have! It's amazing one of my favorites off Erotica,
  • AdzPowerAdzPower Posts: 4,861
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    Nicola's single was voted 14th best single on billboard in 2011, so its obviously been well received overseas.
    I think The Saturdays are "notorious" (couldnt resist), for releasing the worst lead singles and then coming out with a killer second single.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,396
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    I agree

    Anastacia - I Can Feel You

    Although her previous albums released perfect singles
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,905
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    Don't know about the others the OP mentioned but I can see that Swagger Jagger was Cher Lloyd's first single because of the controversy it would cause and the publicity it would bring as a result, not just in the UK but also in other countries. And actually, viewing SJ in that way, it does make sense that it sounds contrived at times, and almost like it's meant to be polarising with the defensive nature of the song and the shallow lyrics ("Get on the floor!", "get your game up" etc.).

    However I don't think it was wise in the long-run because, as we've seen, it crippled her album sales quite a lot (she's sold about 180k so far). I can understand why that type of song would have been good for her début but Swagger Jagger just wasn't strong enough.
  • Sifter22Sifter22 Posts: 12,057
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    I wish Evenescence had chosen a different song to "My Heart Is Broken" as the next single. It's a good song, but there is much better potential for singles on that album and can't see it getting much airplay.
  • Carlos_dfcCarlos_dfc Posts: 8,262
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    Three words - Lowest Common Denominator

    Sadly, almost everything is goverened by that principle these days - It's why there's so much 'reality' on TV, and why I can rarely get the magazines I want 'off the shelf' (unless I go somewhere like WH Smith), because the shelves are full of Celeb, Fashion, Puzzle, Car, Gaming etc magazines.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 146
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    AdzPower wrote: »
    Nicola's single was voted 14th best single on billboard in 2011, so its obviously been well received overseas.
    I think The Saturdays are "notorious" (couldnt resist), for releasing the worst lead singles and then coming out with a killer second single.

    agree, Notorious should never have been released
  • gers09gers09 Posts: 1,914
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    Ive often thought this about Eminem. His albums are brilliant yet I assume he releases the poppy nonsense because it is more marketable for the 15 year old girls that buy cd's.
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