Somehow I had an almost complete post and it vaporized into thin air, so frustrating.
Here is what I remember, now:
There was nothing wrong with Trespassing as an album (probably the best dance, electronic, funk, dance cross-over album of 2012), but lots wrong with the roll-out.
Some were mentioned:
- Two lame duck singles that do not demonstrate either the artist or the music style of the overall album
- Christmas shutdown roll-out of single 1
- Focus on AC radio promotion (wasted time)
- Neglect of TV and other media oriented introduction of his music
Other media could be play in clubs, ring-tones, use in special events, use in shows like PPL, live publicity stunts to premiere new music, video, cinema....anything to let the media cycle churn on behalf of the album and himself.
RCA needs to pretty much reverse every roll-out decision they made for this album. I have no idea whether they are up for that.
I think that Adam also needs to think about a few things though:
If you walk through the many styles and genres that Adam has introduced us during idol and then again with FYE, he definitely did not go with the most popular ones.
The song from idol closest to TSPs overall musical style is PTFM, that was not his most popular performance by any stretch.
People loved him either
a) for Rock (BTBW, WLL, SR, Cryin, Satisfaction)
b) for the slower songs ballads (MW, TOMT, IICHY, FG, ACIGC)
c) for the crazy/out there performances (ROF, BTBW, Satisfaction, B&W)
Obviously, many who loved him on idol fall into just one or two of these camps, some (like most of us) love all three...but hardly anybody was mostly a fan of the disco, dance funk oriented music.
Adam is doing what he wants, and he needs to, but there is a understanding the market aspect to this. I think he underestimates how many people held back on buying TSP, but are waiting for something to their liking from him.
Of course, he can continue to ignore those wishes, he is the artist, but I don't think another dance, funk album is going to sell much more than this album did. His market potential is then mostly defined by where he is now + plus a bit more reach if the roll-out is better.
Yes, he needs two or three songs catered to the pop world of radio, but he can put these on an album where the rest of the album is more something else, be it rock or more ballad or even further out in left field and in each of the three groups he is going to find a certain other market. My perception is that some of these markets would be more rewarding for him than he seems to assume.
He needs to work out with himself whether he can and wants to go there and where he sees his own artistic direction with respect to these observations. But ignoring the question would be a mistake. I also think he could combine any one of these styles with his preference for electronic music, his unique style could and should of course shine brightly.
Btw, on FYE-album, Strut was also not generally the most popular track, neither was IIHY. Fever was more popular with fans, myself included. But in the two countries that actually rolled it out, NZ and Finland, both very Adam friendly countries, it did not chart as high as most of us had expected.
Lots to think over for him....
He said he wants to change course a bit, perhaps some of this is also on his mind. We shall all find out in due time what he is thinking about when he says that.
+ I'm going to see him in SF tomorrow night on my birthday - yay!
