Ariana Grande's new album "Positions" To Fall to #4 In Its Third Week In The US Selling 65k units...

[PokemonSpears]

I don't think she needs to take breaks, but musically and visually she needed to offer something different. I mean, I didn't even listen to her albums, but that's what I've read on the comments lol

Which is more, even after this album, instead of waiting for a million years to release another, she should hurry up with the next one to have it ready for next year

[kfitz421]

For me I don't think everything has to be about numbers / being a game changer - and I don't think this album is trying to be. She's just releasing music and I welcome the new tunes. This album is way better than thank u next - for me. I like easy listening and feel good times. Thank u next was too much drama, it was rushed & underproduced

[kfitz421]

6 hours ago, bitbitboi said:

This thread is such a downer, and full of past comparisons, it's exhausting to be in that state of mind. I think "Positions" is a good album, super vibey, she sounds confident and ****. Forget bangers and give it a try. There are some seriously good songs in it. If you guys can't see that then maybe YOU are over-exposed to music and information. Take a step back, dedicate this record a few spins with your full attention, and there's no way you won't feel inspired... As long as you like Ariana, of course. If you don't, then what are we even discussing? And trust me, she'll still be bathing in champagne, she recorded whatever the eff she wanted artistically, now she can move on to the next album, life goes on.

... & That's on period. Also - I think she is going to start a new trend with this album. A new era of non bangers and low-key / vibey tunes.

[PuertoRicosFinest]

Thank u next was definitely her peak.  People were interested in her breakup with Pete, and had sympathy for her because of Mac’s death.  She doesn’t have a storyline anymore, and to be a main pop girl you always have to have a storyline.  Not to mention it was a VERY weak lead single and it was more of the same.  She needs a reinvention because this is just paint by numbers now. Totally expected and indistinguishable from any of her past albums.  And her overuse of cursing is childish, irritating, and distracting.

[PuertoRicosFinest]

@Jordan it was a little glitchy for me, dog.

[bitbitboi]

1 hour ago, PuertoRicosFinest said:

And her overuse of cursing is childish, irritating, and distracting.

ugh that IS true, I hate that, it makes her go from talented and elegant to immature and tasteless.

[SS91]

Considering (according to the cute graph) that it will sell about the same as sweetener did I’m impressed. Sweetener had some good lead singles and a lot more promo. So I don’t really consider this bad. Surprised it did those numbers as I find the album a snore. But good for her 

[Blackout2006]

3 hours ago, Urbanney said:

These threads are tiresome.

• Artists don’t make get 250k in first week sales easily nowadays. I mean, there have been #1 albums that only sold around 100k copies. It seems really ignorant to claim 250k in sales to be disappointing, especially when the album was only announced like 2 weeks ago.
• According to that chart, it still looks like this is her second highest album in first week sales ever.
• Like others have said, thank u, next was her peak. I’m so tired of artists doing so well that anything less than what they did before is considered flopping and that they’re done for. Ariana had a sh!!!!t personal life in 2019, and the combination of her addressing all of those personal issues with solid pop music really set her up to be more successful than she ever has before. She even said it’s weird how the worst time in her life is when she’s been the most successful. There’s not that personal life drama in positions to get people interested, and she already released 2 albums in one year just last year.
• A 71 rating on Metacritic is considered favorable by critics

I’m not even a big Ariana fan and I literally said in the streaming party thread that positions is well done, but it’s not for me. I’m just so tired of these threads practically rooting for artists to fail and be declared flops. 

Sorry that my thread has given you this vibe. I have changed its post to make it better. Hope its fine now

[It's Mili Bitch!]

2 hours ago, kfitz421 said:

... & That's on period. Also - I think she is going to start a new trend with this album. A new era of non bangers and low-key / vibey tunes.

Thats folklore tho folk doesnt have bangers, Positions kinda does. There is potential in some songs, is right in the middle, I really liked the album

[Benji Brown]

3 hours ago, Urbanney said:

These threads are tiresome.

• Artists don’t make get 250k in first week sales easily nowadays. I mean, there have been #1 albums that only sold around 100k copies. It seems really ignorant to claim 250k in sales to be disappointing, especially when the album was only announced like 2 weeks ago.
• According to that chart, it still looks like this is her second highest album in first week sales ever.
• Like others have said, thank u, next was her peak. I’m so tired of artists doing so well that anything less than what they did before is considered flopping and that they’re done for. Ariana had a sh!!!!t personal life in 2019, and the combination of her addressing all of those personal issues with solid pop music really set her up to be more successful than she ever has before. She even said it’s weird how the worst time in her life is when she’s been the most successful. There’s not that personal life drama in positions to get people interested, and she already released 2 albums in one year just last year.
• A 71 rating on Metacritic is considered favorable by critics

I’m not even a big Ariana fan and I literally said in the streaming party thread that positions is well done, but it’s not for me. I’m just so tired of these threads practically rooting for artists to fail and be declared flops. 

 

Second or third week tells in this day and age I think when it comes to less successful albums, I'm sure she's got the GP down for 3 more albums before people move on.

We also must's forget it's a much slower R&B album many not care for too. Not much up-tempo stuff or hooks like Nasty for example.  

[Blackout2006]

14 minutes ago, Benji Brown said:

 

Second or third week tells in this day and age I think when it comes to less successful albums, I'm sure she's got the GP down for 3 more albums before people move on.

We also must's forget it's a much slower R&B album many not care for too. Not much up-tempo stuff or hooks like Nasty for example.  

This is very true. The first week sales these days (and actually always) been hyped by streaming parties, fandoms and stans, twitter, promotion by fans and etc and etc. Then comes the second week, when it only depends on a casual listener and the GP will buy the record, which will thus, be a final verdict of whether the album was a hit or miss.

[popprison]

She's not obnoxious so she will be fine but she needs to be careful because she is pushing it lol but I think her next album should all collaborations! That would be cool

[PokemonSpears]

Off topic, are all of her pictures from this era just her looking down / eyes closed (whatever she's doing) ?

I'm starting to get a little bit weirded out by all of her pictures on the main page being like that. It's that her new "all my pictures are three quarter pictures" ? @Roxxy 

[Blackout2006]

33 minutes ago, PokemonSpears said:

Off topic, are all of her pictures from this era just her looking down / eyes closed (whatever she's doing) ?

I'm starting to get a little bit weirded out by all of her pictures on the main page being like that. It's that her new "all my pictures are three quarter pictures" ? @Roxxy 

MTE, that too the CD booklet has the few pictures only and all are the ones Breatheheavy has been spamming Ari threads with

[bliss]

I think her releasing the album only one week after the lead really hurt her first week sales, Thank U, Next had 3 months of hype meanwhile Positions had one week... although it's a decline from Thank U, Next 240-260K is still great and this album is obviously gonna serve longevity 

[Bigno]

I do agree with those mentioning Burnout. Her releases are way too close and her sound on this one is nothing dramatically different from anything that she has done in the previous albums. 

Besides Taylor always pulling big numbers, I also think that the significantly different style of Folklore to Taylor's expected style was part of her success. I am pretty sure if she came out with another Me! Type single and shtick, it wouldn't have been so big. Maybe if Ariana did something radically different, it could have worked, but this album I think could have been delayed. 

[PokemonSpears]

1 minute ago, Bigno said:

I do agree with those mentioning Burnout. Her releases are way too close and her sound on this one is nothing dramatically different from anything that she has done in the previous albums. 

Besides Taylor always pulling big numbers, I also think that the significantly different style of Folklore to Taylor's expected style was part of her success. Maybe if Ariana did something radically different, it could have worked, but this album I think could have been delayed. 

But at the same time, if she delayed this and the sound was still not so drastically different, then it would be even worse.

I kinda like the back to back releases that ride on the success of the previous work, like Britney's first three records, because it brings everything together in like one huge era. But if this album is supposed to be tied to the next one she's releasing before her next tour, then it should've shown a different everything, from the previous albums.

 

[Doja Kitten]

Looks like a good number and a typical Ariana number. I don’t understand why people are disappointed. Never had she sold millions in the first week. 

[Bigno]

11 minutes ago, PokemonSpears said:

But at the same time, if she delayed this and the sound was still not so drastically different, then it would be even worse.

I kinda like the back to back releases that ride on the success of the previous work, like Britney's first three records, because it brings everything together in like one huge era. But if this album is supposed to be tied to the next one she's releasing before her next tour, then it should've shown a different everything, from the previous albums.

 

Totally. Yes, I think it is more a burned out style than a sudden release. I agree and that is what I sensed since she dropped Positions, the song. 

[Pinky98]

23 hours ago, Blackout2006 said:

See queen, here is the issue though 

I will just try dissect each of your lines and explain with detail

Was Thank U, Next Ariana's peak? Yes, very much. However, before Thank U, Next everybody thought Sweetener's success was the highest she could go, then she proved them wrong by releasing the title track which thus, became a hit  However, the issue here isn't about what was her peak but how long she could have extended it  If Ariana decided to atleast release the album around mid-late of 2021 while being inactive in the music scene, not only could Positions have been a much more better album but morree successful and even sell around 450k SPS in its first week, thus, outdoing Thank U, Next  Its just like how Britney released Self-titled in 2001 after 2 mega-monstrous era's, and even though people saw it as a dip in sales, the album was and is still recognized highly successful because very few artist can have their 3rd album still sell over 10 million copies WW   And we can see Positions as her 3rd album since we are talking of peak which started with the release of Sweetener  The thing is that HOW it could have been managed much better so that way Ari could have still had successful-follow ups which would have made her extend her peak till the mid-2020s

Pops biggest icon right now just released an album, are we surprised its trending and her younger fans are losing their crap?

Even Myah Marie Jean was trending on Twitter for sometime and...we all know what happened next

Any star of her status can have their album trend on Twitter but in the end "Twitter Trends =/= Success"

Unlike Sweetener and Thank U, Next which both simultaneously welcomed critical acclaim in their debut but if we were not to compare, i genuinely dont see how a 65% metacritic and 62% albumoftheyear.com score debut is "good"  Usually albums welcome a 75-100 score on their debut but this flew below the radar but i mean anyways a 65% is better than 55% so i see where you are coming from though basically

Except prediction for Positions having higher FW than Sweetener, i dont really see how Positions can come to be more successful than the album that catapulted her but yeah obviously it would be more successful than Sweetener's predecessors because duh, she released this album after two huge eras AKA her prime  In the Yours Truly- Dangerous woman era she was seen as a popular popstar but now she is seen as the main-pop girl so

Yeah, i will give you that...thats very true

Also, not "boring" folklore

  Reveal hidden contents

I also think it is, so go off

 

Awww, thank you!

I am working on actually updating it with more theory

I disagree. Dangerous Woman Catapulted her to main pop-girl status.

Side to Side was top 5, Dangerous Woman was top 10 and Into You was top 20.

Not to mention she had some great performances, lots of promo, and it is a truly great album with great bops like Be Alright, Greedy and Touch It.

Sweetener seems like a dip for her sonically in my opinion, Sweetener was her Britney Jean where she didn’t really know where she wanted to go or what sound she wanted to encapsulate along with her image. She was trying to be more slow R&B but still released upbeat tracks. It was weird for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love the album and listen to it now and then, but it seems like she’s fighting her artistic desires.

Thank U Next was her best album. Period. It’s not my personal favourite, but it’s definitely her best album.