Mike the Executioner
What went on up there? Poppers and weird sex!
I just saw this comment on Reddit about how Beyonce was able to avoid this. She didn't really try to chase trends or go for the obvious hit. 4 was an R&B album, made at a time where the market for R&B music was dying out and EDM bangers were being made by everyone. A lot of Beyonce fans consider 4 her best album and one that aged well, because it doesn't really cater to the sounds of the time (outside of "Run the World"). But in 2011, it was seen as boring and it didn't sell like other big artists.
Because Beyonce kept her core fan base, the R&B fan base, she was able to play the long game and adjust her style later. That's why her surprise album and Lemonade made such an impact and helped rebrand her as this godlike figure in music.
Interestingly enough, the commenter mentioned that Usher fell off for the opposite reason. He alienated his R&B fan base for the EDM sound. Even though those songs were huge hits, the sound faded out, the pop audience moved on and Usher had nothing to come back to because his core audience also moved on.
on Beyonce and then prop Taylor Swift because she sells more. Then the same people will go on about how Adele sells 10 million records and complain that Black artists don't sell like Adele yet the same people will diss and dismiss Beyonce. There's your answer. No Beyonce isn't Michael Jackson or the next MJ or any other iconic artist. Beyonce is an icon in her own right. I don't like a lot of her music, but I respect what she does and what she's done. Her album run of 4, Beyonce, and Lemonade was crazy. When she dropped the surprise album, she really did shut down all those other Pop acts who dropped that year and 2013 was stacked in terms of Pop artists dropping albums. Justin, Katy, Miley, Gaga all dropped that year.
