Artists That Went Through A Sophomore Slump / Underrated Follow-Up Albums From One-Hit Wonders

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The sophomore slump is something that every new artist in the industry goes through. If not first-hand experience, pretty much all artists experience the fear of going through one. And it's completely understandable - all eyes are on you, and the expectations are high. The public is anticipating something just as good, if not even better than your debut. And, sadly, many artists never manage to live up to the expectations of the public and critics.  However recently, we've seen some excellent sophomore albums that are great not only from a critical acclaim standpoint, but have also managed to propel their respective artists to new heights:

• Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
• Halsey - Hopeless Fountain Kingdom
• Doja Cat - Hot Pink

(just to name a few) 

But today, I wanted to shed light on some sophomore / follow-up albums that flopped commercially, but were actually really good (maybe even better than their predecessors).  The industry is extremely unpredictable. Especially these days - it's become so saturated that new artists come and go on a monthly basis. And it's a shame that so many artists become one-hit wonders despite releasing flawless bodies of work.  Feel free to share your examples. 

[Blackout2006]

Sorry what? Future nostalgia is sophomore slump  sorry but that’s wrong, please edit that 

4 minutes ago, iAlwaysSingLive said:

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

Edit: I just read yr full article and I was confused. Yr title is very misleading. So edit that instead. Srry

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Just now, Blackout2006 said:

Sorry what? Future nostalgia is sophomore slump  sorry but that’s wrong, please edit that 

 

Read the thread, please. 

[Blackout2006]

Just now, iAlwaysSingLive said:

Read the thread, please. 

Yeah I edited my post srry  but yr title is quite misleading

[Blackout2006]

Oh wait u know what? I just understood it don’t edit anything sorry lol

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Rachel Platten burst onto the scene with her smash hit self-empowerment anthem "Fight Song". The song peaked at #6 in the US and #1 in the UK. It's certified 6x Platinum in the US, which is a huge achievement for a random folk singer-songwriter no one had ever heard of before.  Her follow-up single did pretty well too - it peaked at #37 in the US.  "Wildfire", the album both of these singles come from, had a pretty cute run on the charts as well. It debuted at #5 with 45k units, which ain't that bad for someone as basic as her.  In terms of critical acclaim, "Wildfire" didn't do too well - it got a 52 on Metacritic. Personally, I agree with this score, as the album is very bland and very boring.  Her 2nd album "Waves" arrived a year and 7 months later, and it seems like no one even noticed its release. It debuted at #73, and the singles didn't even chart at all.  Honestly, that's such a shame because the album is actually really good. I went into it expecting another bland-azz folk record, but I was wrong. It still has elements of folk, but on the surface it's this glitzy, glossy dance-pop record with a very current sound. Here are some of the highlights:

(very Selena Gomez)

(Ellie Goulding vibes)

(probably the best song on the album)

Is this album genuine? Soundwise, it's really not. You can tell her label was very clearly pushing her towards a pop market. However, the songwriting is, IMO, not only genuine, but also really good. Give it a listen. Even the ballads / more folkier moments are great. 

[IfUSeekRadar]

Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION

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39 minutes ago, gabrielflorin01 said:

Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION

Tea.  Such a shame she isn't bigger, but it seems like she's found her niche and is doing quite well for herself. 

[CarlyRaeJepsenStan]

Just now, iAlwaysSingLive said:

Tea.  Such a shame she isn't bigger, but it seems like she's found her niche and is doing quite well for herself. 

Dedicated Tour was a smash tour. Almost every show was sold out. 

[SpearsSpearsBrit]

 Trying to make her look like a Halsey with such a pop-dance-Latino audience behind her was a serious mistake 

[Isla]

Duffy - Endlessly was a big failure compared to how well her first album did. Then she disappeared from music, although she did explain earlier this year why she went away and I can totally understand after what she had to go through. 

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57 minutes ago, Isla said:

Duffy - Endlessly was a big failure compared to how well her first album did. Then she disappeared from music, although she did explain earlier this year why she went away and I can totally understand after what she had to go through. 

Ugh, I remember how big "Mercy" was... It was crazy huge where I'm from, so I can't imagine how huge it must've been in the UK.  But I never ended up listening to any of her other music. 

[Isla]

4 hours ago, iAlwaysSingLive said:

Ugh, I remember how big "Mercy" was... It was crazy huge where I'm from, so I can't imagine how huge it must've been in the UK.  But I never ended up listening to any of her other music. 

Mercy was number one for like 5 weeks here in the UK!! It was so popular. If you like that song you might like Warwick Avenue and Rain On Your Parade.

[Isla]

12 hours ago, gabrielflorin01 said:

Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION

except it’s her third album ddd

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46 minutes ago, Isla said:

except it’s her third album ddd

True, but that's why I included "follow-up" in the title because some artists become breakout stars with a non-debut album. 

[Romance]

Camila isn’t flop no matter how much Jordan wishes it was lol (sorry not sorry)

[ItsBritneyB*tch]

10 minutes ago, Romance said:

Camila isn’t flop no matter how much Jordan wishes it was lol (sorry not sorry)

For someone of camilla’s level romance flopped. Was it career ending? No, but you would think someone in her position would be debuting at number one with at least over 100k, hell even Brenda Jo outsold first week. It’s not even like she had particularly tough competition either. Also none of the singles except Senorita which she just tacked on for streams, charted within the top 10. This is a big drop from her number one debut album that contained two top tens with one of them being one of the most successful songs of all time. I’m not dragging Camilla or whatever, but romance did flop for her standards and was definitely a sophomore slump. It didn’t even make the top 10 in the UK.  

[Naes614]

34 minutes ago, ItsBritneyB*tch said:

For someone of camilla’s level romance flopped. Was it career ending? No, but you would think someone in her position would be debuting at number one with at least over 100k, hell even Brenda Jo outsold first week. It’s not even like she had particularly tough competition either. Also none of the singles except Senorita which she just tacked on for streams, charted within the top 10. This is a big drop from her number one debut album that contained two top tens with one of them being one of the most successful songs of all time. I’m not dragging Camilla or whatever, but romance did flop for her standards and was definitely a sophomore slump. It didn’t even make the top 10 in the UK.  

I agree and Also don’t think it will be career ending at all. The marketing for Romance was awful in my opinion. The two songs for first single was too much and they kept releasing songs to see if any would stick. They finally got one to stick with my oh my at least. 

[ColdAsFire88]

Megan Trainor kind of had a sophomore slump with Thank You. It didn’t reach any where near the same success as Title. Her third was...eeek. 

[kaledkalil]

It's weird that if the artist "survive" the sophomore curse, they actually stay "relevant" for good. Hardly are the cases I can remember of singers which had a bad received second album, or post peak album, but for the next one they come back to mainstream. Now with how fast paced the music industry became, it's easier to drop the artist, or the resource for the artist, and move on to the next one. 

There is the case of Tori Kelly's second major album, Hiding Place. It sold less that her first album (it was a gospel record tho), and got a Grammy for best gospel album and best gospel song. Not a commercial success, no impact, but somehow got good critics.