Pop fans are fickle, that’s for sure. One day you’re up, the next day…
Take Nick Jonas. Nicest guy in the world. Happily married to Priyanka Chopra. They read the Oscar nominations.
A few weeks ago, Nick was the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live.” He debuted two new songs, “Spaceman”– the title track of his new album, and “This is Heaven.” They were solid performances and the second song, I thought, was a hit.
But there was no sales bounce on iTunes. The singles just didn’t resonate. Nothing happened.
Last Monday, Nick released the “Spaceman” album. Strange to release at the beginning of the week, but there you are.
The result? Nothing. It’s very curious. The album is DOA. From Monday to Thursday, “Spaceman” sold 13,500 copies in CDs and downloads. On Friday, it sold 82 copies.
With streaming, the whole project has done 22,300 including singles, but neither of the first two singles has caught on in any way. I really did think “This is Heaven” would sound great on radio. So far, IHeartRadio hasn’t backed my idea.
A year ago, Nick was red hot with the Jonas Brothers, his family rock star band. Before that he was doing fine solo. And he has his acting career. Sometimes albums go cold. The last Coldplay album was like that, also DOA. The fans yawned and moved on. Other artists have had this happen. But for Universal Music’s Republic and Lost Highway labels, they rarely have duds.
Can this album be saved? “This is Heaven” needs a big push, so far it’s sold just 4,800 copies since March 4th, 29,000 including streaming.
