A new day, a new feature. Because we, at Shiny & New are constantly restless and full of ideas, we're always picking up and dropping features, revisiting them and then canning them forever, forgetting them and then realising they were ace so should've stayed. This new one, with a ridiculously uncatchy name ('Doing Things Differently, If S&N Were a Record Label'), is something we've been thinking on/about for a while.Basically, the concept is, there are album campaigns in existence that, despite a lot of potential and a lot of great work, were somehow accidentally (or purposefully) botched by either the artist or their record label. There are many reasons for this, and we'll look at them all individually, but it's sad. Not because it (often but not always) impacts the critical acclaim or commercial sales, but because it can sometimes (but not always) alter an artist's career, making them a laughing stock, hurting their credibility and/or confidence, or making investor's (labels and fans) less likely to endorse their next project.
Well, hindsight and retrospect are wonderful, yet deceitful, twin sisters of desire (?) and using them and our own delusion (we think we know best despite little to no experience or insider knowledge) we're going to attempt to retroactively salvage album campaigns that could've been so much more.
First, rap superstar Nicki Minaj's debut album, Pink Friday. Now, we know what you're thinking: Pink Friday wasn't a disaster. And, no, it wasn't. It's spawned four minor hits in the US, two in the UK, peaked at number 1 on the American album charts and sold in excess of a million copies. But it hasn't been the record-setting, enormo-campaign that everyone had (perhaps) hoped for. First of all, the campaign stalled when Nicki's first major single, "Massive Attack", completely flopped. It was down to a previously rejected demo called "Your Love" to provide her with her biggest hit to date in the US and save her from obscurity. And even then, none of her singles have provided her with the world-conquering, top ten smash she needs to launch her into the diva stratosphere.
Does such a song even exist on her album? Well, we think both the Kanye West and Rihanna collabs have that potential. Are they her best work? Certainly not! But they easily could have been her Two Big Hits. Interestingly enough, neither of them have been given the single treatment and Minaj still lacks that one big smash corker to take her to the next level. That's where we come in.
O'er the jump with thee for our full and well-thought through (not) campaign strategy!
Posts
