UPDATE SATURDAY MORNING: “Applause” is now number 4 on iTunes, 8 on amazon. I’m surprised. Where are all the Little Monsters?
EARLIER: Not much applause for Lady Gaga‘s comeback single “Applause.” Rushed into release this week, “Applause” didn’t make number 1 or number 2 on the iTunes chart. It finished 3rd, with only about 225,000 downloads so far.
Number 1 is Katy Perry’s “Roar,” an anthemic, sort of banal offering. But its success is fueled by her romance with John Mayer, and their constant tabloid publicity. Mayer also has a new album coming, and there’s a duet from the two popstars.
Perry is also ahead of Gaga at amazon.com, with “Roar” at number 2 and “Applause” at number 4.
read today’s headlines by clicking here
Meantime, Lady Gaga is taking a very different kind of marketing path– going very artsy, edgy, and dark. She’s released an art video of her naked (no one seemed to care). She’s making strange declarations about pop being dead, etc. It’s a downer for teen fans. Is Gaga becoming Yoko?
The other problem is so many Gaga tracks “leaking” all at once including one this week called “The Greatest Thing” with Cher. Gaga seems disorganized. Perry is focused. The charts are the result.
The difference between the two songs? As my old friend Michael Zilkha of Ze Records used to say, a hit single has the sound of triumph. And that’s the Katy Perry. Lady Gaga’s song might be better, but it doesn’t have that feeling to it. Her Cher song does. She re-consider not making it a duet.
