Because it was the only thing RCA released properly.

Had Answerphone been given the chance to be a proper single release rather than RCA releasing the single and album in the same week, Answerphone may well have sold more than 3k.

So I can't exactly compare the performance of Answerphone with Hole In My Heart, unless RCA had released Luke's album on the same day as the single.

As it were, the focus was clearly on selling the album. Released the week before Mother's Day was a cunning move imo. It meant Nicky's album continued to sell relatively well the following week as people must've been buying the album as mother's day presents.

In the press:

Local business women roll out red carpet for local charities
Wednesday, 17 June 2015 09:16
http://www.aberdeenbusinessnews.co.u...ocal-charities
... They have organised The Red Carpet Event Charity Ball on Saturday 26th September, at Aberdeen Beach Ballroom from 1800hrs ...
... The ladies have also secured Nicholas McDonald to additionally host a personal meet and greet, and live performance of exclusive tracks from his upcoming tour and new album, 1-4pm on Saturday 26th September, for a younger audience! Tickets are £15 each and available at Event Brite: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/nicholas...ts-15866890296....

EDIT: one more link:
http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/xev_E...il.asp?id=8198

Anyone else fall into the 'can't wait for the album' category? It looks like the week in LA has been very productive

https://www.facebook.com/JackEyeJone...type=1&theater

As impatient as you, nothing yet on:
https://soundcloud.com/jackeyejones

To be fair, the last thing Nicky needs is his album getting leaked months before release.

If all the fans just download it illegally, who will be left to actually buy the album?

I'm very intrigued by Jack's comment though. Really hope Nicky's "Answerphone" days are now behind him, and we now get some proper incredible music.

LOL it's funny what you can find on Facebook when you start scrolling down pages.

Jack took Nicky to see Jurassic World 3D. I wonder if Nicky fell asleep during the film.

https://www.facebook.com/JackEyeJone...type=1&theater

I may have missed some tweets, just as far as I see Nicky's tour support is about this:

Tour music team:
https://twitter.com/DavidJ_music - David Johnston - guitar
https://twitter.com/GregorColeman - Gregor - singer (+guitar)
https://twitter.com/HarrisHiscoe - Harris Hiscoe - bass guitar
https://twitter.com/GrahamBdrums - Graham - drums

Supporting acts:
Mon 07-13 Manchester
Tue 07-14 Dublin
Thu 07-16 Southampton
Fri 07-17 Brighton
Sun 07-19 London
Mon 07-20 Birmingham
Tue 07-21 Liverpool
Fri 07-24 Belfast +++ Michael Sutthakorn
*** 07-25 Bluefest Writhlington, Bath ***
Mon 07-27 Newcastle +++ Michael Sutthakorn
Tue 07-28 Aberdeen +++ Emily Middlemas
Wed 07-29 Glasgow +++ Emily Middlemas

https://twitter.com/michaelsutthako
https://twitter.com/emilymiddlemas_

Celeb Mix (yep, never heard of them either ) have posted an interview with Nicky.

http://celebmix.co.uk/exclusive-nich...ks-to-celebmix

I just hope RCA don't balls up the album release and choose the most difficult week when 5 or 6 other artists are all releasing their albums in the same week.

Take a look at this:
https://www.facebook.com/massarin?pnref=story

Don't think this was posted here, but it's from a week ago.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/lo...r-star-5864052

Some clips:
https://instagram.com/p/4LvcwSLn6b/
https://instagram.com/p/4LL5L3rn2X/
https://instagram.com/p/4LMcMfLn29/
But none with "the" song:
Emma Hatchard ‏@EHatchard · 13h13 hours ago  Madeley, England
@SamBaileyREAL @nickymcdonald1 did you both enjoy your little sing song together, you both sounded amazing as ever Xx

You have to wonder about the wheels within wheels at work in the world of xf and bgt

https://twitter.com/nickymcdonald1/s...30410147209216

Calum Scott was a finalist this year on bgt, coming third I think. Should make for a good show, and definitely help ticket sales.

So there will be 3 acts in Newcastle
Michael Sutthakorn was also announced as supporting act for there earlier.

Calum was Simon Cowell's golden buzzer act (I didn't really rate Calum personally but maybe because I didn't get why Simon made Calum out to be outstanding when I thought he was just ok). I still don't understand why Bars & Melody were flown out to America to appear on The Ellen Show but that's a different matter.

Makes me wonder if Simon is somewhere keeping an eye of Nicky's progress.

On the plus side, that is probably going to be a great booking for Nicky's tour.

In the press:

http://www.belfastlive.co.uk/whats-o...donald-9501084

X Factor star Nicholas McDonald "can't wait" to bring his new tour to Belfast next month
12:13, 22 June 2015 By Sheena McStravick

... He said: "This is first time I'm bringing a full live band with me on tour so it is going to be full of energy and different to what people have heard before.
"I'm really looking forward to it. I think having the band it just brings the show to life and you have more people to vibe off."...

... "I did a show at the weekend with Sam Bailey, and it's her daughter's christening next weekend and I'm Godfather so I will be going to that.
"I also keep in touch with Luke and Sam Callahan and Rough Copy. It's hard to get a proper catch up with anyone though as we are all so busy but it's always good to keep in touch with them."...


http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-e...val.1434977913

Neon Jungle, Only the Young and Nicholas McDonald head to Braehead for music festival
Stacey Mullen Content Assistant Editor (Live) Monday 22 June 2015

... The two day event featuring Neon Jungle, X Factor finalists, Only the Young and Nicholas McDonald is set to give a cash boost to the Nordoff-Robbins music charity...

... Hosted by Clyde 1 presenter Cassi, Everyone's Invited kicks off at 1pm on Saturday, June 27, at the intu Braehead Curling Arena and top-of-the-bill during the four-hour music extravaganza is electro pop girl band, Neon Jungle....

See their tour schedule on top of:
https://twitter.com/BarsAndMelody

I think success results from a combination of:
- good singing
- good songs
- good promotion
- good management
- likability etc. etc.

I guess Simon believed in them, and promoted them accordingly.
He can be right, he can be wrong. Somebody once believed in J Bieber, and ...

Illustrating: if all factors are equivalent with max value 10, and do multiply, one could get:
singing x song x promotion x management x likability
artist a: 10 x 5 x 2 x 2 x 10 = 2000
artist b: 7 x 5 x 8 x 8 x 8 = 17920

Joe Woolford ‏@joewoolford · 1h1 hour ago
Excited to announce that I will be supporting @nickymcdonald1 on the 21st of July in Liverpool http://nicholasmcdonald.co.uk/?page_id=62

Compare Nicky at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R7SDW5X3R8
with Joe v/ Ryan Green:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwgxcaQXMaI

I actually never heard a version of this song that can compete with Nicky's

published on YouTube by Alex Belfield

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3N8HN4o1iQ
X Factor Nicholas McDonald 16 - 2015 Interview 18 UK Tour New Album Life Story
Published on Jun 25, 2015
Enjoy an Exclusive life story interview with 2013 X-Factor runner-up Nicholas McDonald on tour through the Summer 2015.
Hear 100's of Exclusive interviews and reviews with Alex Belfield at www.celebrityradio.biz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_HTXVHRWrA
Nicholas McDonald Life Story Interview - X-Factor Arms Of The Angels
Published on Jun 25, 2015
Enjoy an Exclusive life story interview with 2013 X-Factor runner-up Nicholas McDonald on tour through the Summer 2015.
Hear 100's of Exclusive interviews and reviews with Alex Belfield at www.celebrityradio.biz

https://twitter.com/ElldridEmily/sta...18723862642688
Emily ‏@ElldridEmily
Yep that's my idol she's ****ing amazing and so stunning couldn't ask for a better idol @SamBaileyREAL #loveher

Sam Bailey Official retweeted
Emily ‏@ElldridEmily · Jun 24
She's ****ing beautiful @SamBaileyREAL and @nickymcdonald1 ****ing handsome

the pic directly: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CIRnHtUWUAEr55X.jpg:large

That's a really interesting interview spooling. Album coming out early next year?
Great to hear that it's not being rushed, I hope my nerves can stand it but I think it might just be worth waiting for

Just got round to listening to this myself.

So Nicky never sat his GCSE exams? I've posted this before and I'll post it again - Nicky is a lot smarter than people give him credit for. Just listening to what he was saying, you can tell that he's a bright young lad. It's as if people just hear the broad Scottish accent and just think "you're so thick" when they clearly aren't.

The questions being asked were different from the norm so it was also interesting to see how Nicky answered them.

One major plus is the performing side - as tiresome as that must be for any artist, that is where the big money is. Imagine if Nicky really did become an established artist, he could be in LA doing his residence gigs in years from now. Just think how much money Nicky would be getting doing those type of gigs.

Like the DJ said, artists have started to lose money on albums purely because the revenue isn't there anymore. Personally, if I want to buy an album I will do. However, with most young teenagers why spend £8.99 on a new album on iTunes when you can stream it on Spotify and just continue to pay for the service. i don't have Spotify so can't say for sure how it works.

I hope Nicky is given the chance to continue to be an artist for as long as he wants. Nicky might get to 25 years of age and think about settling down and starting a family. So let Nicky embrace everything he's doing now, because it really "once in a lifetime" type opportunities that don't come around that often. I'm glad Nicky has got people who believe in him. I've always said the pure tone in his voice is what sells "Nicky" to me as a singer.

Having brilliant songs on the next album would be a real bonus. I wonder if there will be a single before the album release - I'd rather that, than RCA making another horrendous decision by releasing the album and single at the same time.

[quote=Hitstastic;78683953]Just got round to listening to this myself.

So Nicky never sat his GCSE exams? I've posted this before and I'll post it again - Nicky is a lot smarter than people give him credit for. Just listening to what he was saying, you can tell that he's a bright young lad. It's as if people just hear the broad Scottish accent and just think "you're so thick" when they clearly aren't.

Not wishing to be pedantic, but Nicky did sit his (fourth year) GCSE exams - he said he didn't sit his 'Highers' which are done in fifth year in Scottish schools. I'll ignore the comment about the broad Scottish accent, being in possession of one myself.......

In the press:

X Factor runner-up Nicholas McDonald prepares to show off his new grown-up sound on new album

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/enterta...donald-5949479


X FACTOR star Nicholas McDonald reckons he’s grown up since being on the show – and will prove it with his more mature follow-up album.

Now 18, Nicholas, who was runner-up in 2013 X Factor said: “I think I have changed a lot since X Factor and grown up a lot more. The fans are older and more mature and it’s time to show them I have versatility. It’s important to show them, so the album will be uptempo. There are quite a few ballads too and we still might decide to throw in some other stuff.”

The Wishaw-born lad added: “It’s going to be completely different to the last album and its all original stuff as well, stuff I’ve written and each day new music is sent into me.”

He added: “I’m still with RCA just now but I’m looking at different options.”

...While the music was different in the States, Nicholas still managed to write three new songs with producers.

He said: “It was a different vibe from pop stuff, more dance stuff but you never know what comes out of a session.

“I worked with Jack Eyed Jones who has remixed Calvin Harris.

“We managed to get three songs recorded and the album won’t be out until next year. I am looking forward to the single coming out before the end of the year. “

Nicholas plans to return to the US in August for more meetings. He said: “I think it’s definitely the place to be, with the weather and opportunities. The Americans are really nice.

Goodness, things are going well aren't they? What a lovely, positive article. Nicky's family must be so proud of him