Britney Spears and Katy Perry have just released comeback songs, but it looks like both of them have flopped. “Make Me” and “Rise” were well received when released, and both songs hit No. 1 on iTunes. This week, Spears drops from No. 17 to No. 52 and Perry drops from No. 11 to No. 43 on Billboard’s Hot 100 .
Britney Spears’ “Make Me” had the most hype attached to it. The Guardian said Britney’s latest single is a positive part of the new “Slow Pop” movement.
“So it’s with slight caution that we approach Make Me, the lead single from Spears’ as-yet-unannounced ninth album, just released. Once again it takes aim at a current pop zeitgeist – that of the mood-drenched, slowed down sex jam – but this time walks away a clear victor.”
Music News claimed “Make Me” confirms Britney Spears is back to her “breathy best.”
“Britney is back to her breathy best on the single, which features lyrics such as: ‘No rules, From the butt of the car, let’s take it back to my room, Igniting the heat of the woman, let the sparks fuse, Blowing up to the ceiling, we’re burning bright, When we cross the line.’”
Some fans believe that Britney’s new single flopped because there wasn’t enough promotion. Others believe that Spears just isn’t a hot commodity in the pop music world anymore. Unlike Katy Perry, Britney Spears isn’t coming off of any major successes. Last year, her duet with Iggy Azalea, “ Pretty Girls ,” was a huge flop. In 2013, Spears’ album Britney Jean became the lowest-selling album of her career. “Make Me” was supposed to kick off Spears’ new album campaign, but she may want to change things up a little bit.
Unlike Britney Spears, Katy Perry doesn’t have an excuse for a poorly-performing first single. While Perry’s 2013 album, Prism , wasn’t as huge as her previous album, Teenage Dream , it produced two number one singles: “Roar” and “Dark Horse.” One would easily expect a new Katy Perry single to rise up to the top, but that’s not the case with her 2016 Summer Olympics song, “Rise.” Perry’s latest single did stay at No. 1 on iTunes for several days but has since dropped. A poorly-received performance of “Rise” at the Democratic National Convention certainly didn’t help with the single, as Katy Perry was skewered for her performance on the internet.
Comments after an article about Katy Perry’s DNC appearance on People were almost universally negative.
“That was awful!” exclaimed Duchess.
“Wow, I’m a Katy Perry fan. But let’s face it, she can’t sing. My family and I had to put our hands over our ears while she sang. What was she thinking?” asked Allison Ornela.
While Twitter is usually mean to performers, many were especially cruel to Katy Perry after her DNC appearance.
Nothing says politics like a god awful live Katy Perry performance!
— Sean (@DreamingTweet41) July 29, 2016
I thought there were cats being murdered in the living room but then I realized Katy Perry was singing
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) July 29, 2016
Although most sources praised Katy Perry’s new song, there was at least one who didn’t. Brandon Caldwell of the Houston Press said that the song “sucks.”
“I don’t know what happened between Katy Perry circa ‘Roar,’ with all of its man-eating, Daniel-in-the-Lion’s-Den allegories (and subtle nods to Sara Bareilles’s ‘Brave’), and now. I don’t know if she got off that mechanical lion at the Super Bowl two years ago and turned back into Katy Hudson.”
Caldwell adds that song just isn’t inspirational like some of Katy Perry’s other efforts. Perhaps the poor performance of the single will force Katy Perry to make changes to her next album so she doesn’t make the same mistake again.
[Photo by Kevin Winter and David Becker/Getty Images]