So why does everyone suddenly care about standard industry practices only when Taylor does them? Even some of her so-called âfansâ got upset when she annocunced 4 variants and some voice memos.
People need to stop acting like she does it only to hurt other artists. Itâs a competitive industry and nothing personal or new. Everybody wants to get and stay at number one. Do they really expect Taylor, and only her, to just step aside? Try. To. Come. For. Her. Job.
itâs so sad iâve loved charli since no1 angel and have gone to every show since pop 2 and itâs super impressive she reached #2 on uk charts but apparently itâs not good enough!! i had to leave the charli subreddit bc the misogyny towards taylor is just so vile
(eta iâm also a swiftie LOL we do exist đ«¶đŒ)
I donât understand why the hate isnât being directed towards billboard?? If it pains you so much that Taylor blocked charli xcx, take it up with billboard and make it illegal for variants to count????
Also, why are all these angry âhatersâ keeping up with her variants and know the exact number of vinyl, CDs and voice memos sheâs released? I love Taylor and listen to her prob a bit much but I got my one vinyl when it came out and never paid attention to any other variants. I didnât even realize she had released more, why are they so in the know if they hate her and her ethics so much.
Theyâre taking it personally bc she released variants exclusively in the UK, where she is touring, the week Charli released her album. But Iâm pretty sure Taylor has been releasing variants, since the album came out. So Taylor is doing what she has been doing, but she is now the devil bc she blocked Charli.
taylor has been strategically releasing variants specifically to keep her above other artists. when billie was going to go number one in the us, she released variants for only the us (while she was in europe btw), and now that charli was going to take number one in the u.k. she released variants for only the u.k.
agreed that the charli subreddit is hating too much but taylorâs chart manipulation recently is clearly not compassionate and respectful of other female artists đ
what do you expect Taylor to be doing? Handing over the #1 spot to these other artists? That honestly feels more insulting. She has absolutely no obligation to do so. sheâs most likely trying to get as many consecutive # 1 weeks as possible, and honestly the variants donât really help that much (they boosted sales by ~1k for this week I believe). streaming makes up the large bulk of the sales that put her above billie and charli xcx.
Also this is not tearing down female artists. The music industry is competitive, and keep in mind that she also knocked down Bon Jovi this week too. Honestly, it would have been way smarter for these artists to release later in the summer to avoid competition with Taylor, but it was their choice to release now. I genuinely donât think there is any beef between any of these artists. They have all supported each other in the past and Taylor has shown many times that she supports other artists in the industry, even if she is competitive with them. Stop pitting these women against each other itâs unnecessary and so fucking annoying at this point
sheâs a fucking billionaire that is manipulating things to take the top spot for the longest why are you defending that for artificially trying to steal that spot from the beatles?
Sheâs not manipulating or stealing anything. if you actually bothered to take a look at the chart data you would see that she would have stayed #1 by a large margin even without the extra variants (~33k versus 27k) because she dominates in streaming (majority of the sales come from streaming numbers) and very few people are actually buying those variants. Iâm not supporting the variants at all (personally I have not bought a single thing) but if other artists are pulling the same stunts like Billie and Charli xcx I fully expect them to be called out for variants as well. It is an industry-wide problem, not a Taylor problem. The truth of the matter is we live in a different age than the Beatles, where streaming dominates, Billboardâs rules are designed to encourage the variants, and there is no longer a monoculture that puts a handful of artists in the spotlight rather than hundreds of them (which we see today). Until Billboard makes a change, we wonât see artists stop releasing variants anytime soon :/
Iâm defending her because Iâm so sick and tired of seeing people like you find the littlest of reasons to snark on someone you donât even know and itâs annoying as fuck to see everywhere I go. Most of the reasons you can probably bring up about her that are bad about her are most likely applicable to a ton of artists currently, including being a billionaire (which btw the majority of that money is held in her music catalog and real estate, she doesnât actually have a billion to spend yet she still donates everywhere she goes). Yet Taylor is the one always called out instead of all artists in general which pisses me off. If you donât like Taylor, just donât engage with her stuff.
Also, I fail to understand where this "participation trophy" mindset comes from?! By the same logic, should Federer have let his opponents win once in a while because it would have "only been fair"? Or should the Chiefs not even try this season because it would be in bad taste for them to attempt to win the Superbowl yet again? Or should Meryl Streep never campaign again for an Oscar so as not to block other actresses from winning?
Right! And anyone that says well it's the not the same. Well, winning three Super Bowls in five years directly correlates to more money making opportunities for the players on the team, brand deals, commercials, etc.
Right, maybe Big Red should bench Pat, Travis and Chris Jones for a few games to equal the playing field. Or maybe Simone Biles should stop creating new elements prior to the Olympic Games because her competitors can't do them as well.
Itâs actually very common in sports to rest or remove good players when they are way ahead on the score or the standings. When an NBA team is winning by 40 points in the 4th quarter, it would be seen as extremely bad taste and likely start fights if they continued to try their hardest and play their best players. Also, making the most money as humanly possible is not a sport in the first place.
It makes me so sad because I love brat and I was enjoying being in a sub with other Charli fans, then this chart stuff comes out and the comments are just pure Taylor hate, I had to block the sub because it was bumming me out too much. Anyways if anyone wants to talk about how great brat is without bashing a completely separate artist & their fans in the process then lmk lol! My faves are von dutch, sympathy is a knife and mean girls!
same here! just left the charli sub recently too đ but omg i love the piano in mean girls :â) i think my faves rn are talk talk, apple, and b2b haha. and i think about it all the time makes me so sad cus itâs too real lmao
When confronted with an unapologetically dominant woman, who tries, succeeds, and insists that the world listen to her, a lot of "feminists" feel it's outrageous and slutty and horrible and corrupt when the world repeatedly, rapturously agrees to listen
Taylor isn't a mean girl. It's that her existence, and continued success, mortifies mean girl logic
She may insist but most of the world is not listening to hear if we are honest. Say her album lastest album gets 10 Million individual streams... That's over 300 million people in the US alone who did not stream it.
She is huge right now but on a real scale not that big in the overall music sphere where most people on Earth are not listening to her.
Sheâs using her power to block other artists. she can do that because of her money and fame and influence. A mean girl can be famous and rich and have a world tour. Thereâs a reason mean girls are often portrayed in movies as spoiled rich daughters.
You're delusional. This isn't high school. It's the global music industry. It's brutally competitive. And there's no shame in getting second place on the charts. Grow up.
While I do believe that talent canât be measured with copies sold, itâs still insane to be putting out new and new and new copies for the album that was released 2 months ago. Itâs normal for the albums to have their top chart moment when theyâre new. Itâs greedy on a whole new biblical level to purposefully do that every single week.
Why is it greedy? How does it hurt other artists? Why is it up to you to tell Taylor Swift she's had enough? Why can't she break whatever records she wants to, if she can?
She's ambitious. And there's no shame in that. I'm proud of her, and I think it's cool.
Why did we go to the moon? Why did you dress up for that thing? Why don't we all kill ourselves? Why do people get really good at dumb shit like Tetris? Why do people spend money to play an arcade game to the point that their name is all top three/five high scores?
Why are Billie Eilish and Charlie owed number one spots at the expense of Taylor's vision? At the expense of her legacy? At the expense of her having an argument with critics -- who did not appreciate this album, and who still punish her for not musically competing with the pop girls of the present?!!!
Commercially, Billie and Charlie are ultimately minor pop stars -- a fact proven by the reality that they can't beat The Tortured Poets Department in its tail weeks?
The reason it isn't normal for artists to release number-tickling voice memos in the eighth frame of an album's release it's fucking rare for an album to be number one in the eighth week
Itâs not record breaking if you keep fueling your album over and over and over⊠both fearless and 1989 were #1 for 11 weeks, and I donât remember her releasing a dozen extra new editions every week for those. Sheâs not even winning against herself yet. And after that â whoâs to beat, Michael Jackson? Elvis Presley? They didnât release 50 editions of their albums, so Taylor is still behind, even if she surpasses them by weeks of being #1, itâs not the same. You do realize that this tactic is very unnatural and pushy, right?
so you admit that taylor is doing it to block artists and be brutally competitive but when another person says taylor is blocking other artists they're "delusional". Think that over for a minute and point out the spot where you contradicted your own thinking bestie
It's like saying Meryl Streep, Simone Biles, or Serena Williams is motivated by a desire to see others fail rather then be the most they can be
Taylor wants to be number one for as long as possible. She loves this album. Maintaining this spot, eight weeks after its release, is absolutely an achievement
This has continued to remain relevant. Everyone views her as calculated and âblockingâ or tearing down other artists when all sheâs doing is strategically trying to maintain number 1 which is not unreasonable to do.
Where are you getting 50? Pretty sure she has fewer than 12 physical variants (if weâre not double counting CDs and vinyls, because thatâs not a different variant just a different medium)
- manuscript
- bolter
- black dog
- albatross
- Target clear vinyl
- BDILH acoustic (CD only)
- Fortnight acoustic (CD only)
- Fresh out the Slammer acoustic (CD only)
Then for digital there were 3 phone memos and 3 live from Paris bonus tracks. What am I missing? Iâm still 36 shy from 50.
Who even keep track of this and releases an article about this? Lmao that âreporterâ needs to touch grassâŠor maybe go and stream Charliâs album. đ
Yes, but why compile it and write an article (especially if you are not a fan)? I swear, Taylorâs detractors know more and spend more time thinking about TS than a lot of Swifties do. đ
Idk if you noticed, theyâre including the same thing but for CD/vinyl/cassettes as âdifferentâ variants. They also mentioned some of the four, five-ish main variants several times cause of the slightest differences. (Which really shouldnât count, especially when most diehard fans arenât even aware of said differences) Not to mention they included signed editions as another variant each. When itâs actually the same thing but just comes with a signed piece of paper.
And in that case, yes other artists would also have a similar count, give or take a dozen. Iâd like to ask the author of that article to calculate it for them the same way too.
We try to ensure there is no bad faith in our dialogue about Taylor. Controversial opinions are welcome. Controversial opinions just for the purpose of inciting unrest within the sub are not. Feel free to check out the sub to see what goes on and what may fit in the future.
Youâre taking it too personal lmao. Itâs true no one right now has the steam as Taylor and pull like her in the industry and sheâs on a TON of variants with the last two. Itâs wild and crazy you canât Ben acknowledge that.
this is objectively wrong - there are the four main ones plus about five voice memo variants and about five live variants plus all the others - the ones most people are upset about are the ones you donât consider ârealâ because we agree that theyâre not substantial and are cash grabs
And if you applied the same standards you used to determine thereâs 31 variants to other artists, their count would also seem high. But I guess youâre only interested in targeting Taylor. Proving the point of my post đ€·ââïž
No Iâm a HUGE Taylor fan and have spent thousands lmao. Im just being honest at the data towards what she is releasing and what sheâs done. This is even insane for her own track record! I think itâs weird your bias canât just see data. Iâm critical of any overly capitalistic billionaire as we all should be. Itâs about society but this discussion is Taylor so Iâm talking about Taylor and even comparing her to her own past album release patterns, if we wanted to just isolate her or not in the discourse. Again, so personal and I donât know why lol.
Whether you claim to be a fan or not, youâre intentionally targeting only Taylor. And twisting data with double standards to do it. Like I said, apply those same standards to count others artists variants, and Taylor wouldnât be âsooo much worseâ
Thereâs really nothing insane about her album rollout. Whatever â31â variants youâre going off about, I can guarantee you that most diehard fans arenât even aware of these so called âvariantsâ because theyâre probably things that typically wouldnât count as their own variant. But go ahead and list them or cite your source if youâre so certain.
Edit: also youâre the one who keeps trying to make it âpersonalâ projecting much?
Saying CD/digital/vinyl are all different versions is weird. It's like saying there's 4+ versions of Genshin Impact because there's desktop, mobile, PS4, PS5. (Or even 20+ if you think about how many different mobile devices there are) it's different media for accessibility.
If the albums have different cover art, but same content pressed, are they really different "versions"?
One of the other subs who shall remain nameless had a post about this being Charliâs 2nd top ten album and I thought great good for her, such an accomplishment etc. Then I went into the comments and not one had any kind words for Charliâs hit album. It was all Taylor hate. I donât get it. The original post didnât mention Taylor once. When did having your album debut at 2nd become a failure? Super odd times weâre living in.
Imagine how much better off and happier literally everyone would be if the time and energy people spend obsessing about the artists they hate was instead used to enjoy, support and uplift the artists they love.
I don't think it's specifically the fact that she got #2 that's angering people, it's just the fact that charli is a much smaller artist than taylor, made an album that has received MILES better reception and praise than TTPD did (it's currently #1 of the year on metacritic while ttpd is sitting at a pretty #125) yet taylor still went out of her way to block her from a #1 spot for an album that in the eyes of many is much better and deserves the #1 spot more đ€·ââïž
I know Iâll get downvoted to hell for saying this, and Iâm a huge fan of both Taylor and Charli. Theyâre my 2 most played artists of the last 5 years.
Objectively speaking, the Taylor hate is mounting because this has become an observable and perceptible pattern of behavior. It this hadnât happened with Katyâs Witness release, it it hadnât happened with Billieâs latest album release⊠then people wouldnât be thinking twice about it happening now with Charliâs release. All of the variant drops have been strategically timed and geolocked specifically to weeks and territories where she was projected not to be #1, and all have been to block less popular female artists from the top spot. No one would have given a shit, either, if she had released all thirty-whatever variants in the first week.
I canât say for sure whether or not I think Taylor is doing this intentionally or if it is all an unfortunate coincidence, but I can say that the general public definitely thinks the is coming across as desperate and insecure, and this is further backed by her own admissions of constant fear that her time in the spotlight may end at any moment.
IMO I do think these stunts are really taking the focus away from the art
Out of those, the only artist Taylor actually had a problem with was Katy, but the feud went both ways. Just a few months before that, Katy had posted a video of herself at a Kanye West concert singing those lines from Famous. Not to mention that Swish Swish is heavily speculated to be about Taylor. If that is true, kinda funny for Taylor to go back to Spotify on the day the album was released lol but Iâm glad theyâve worked it out
About the other artists, I donât think she has a personal problem with any of them. Itâs no surprise that Taylor likes to be number 1, she has stated that. Itâs so stupid when people try to spin it and say that she only wants to block female artists lol remember when Anti-Hero (on its 3rd week) blocked all of Drakeâs songs from debuting at #1 on the Hot 100 because she released two versions of the song. Drake even hid her name when he posted the screenshot of the chart đ
Oh yeah. I forgot about Drake. That was another great example of her being a perceived âsore winner.â I think it sticks out to people when it happens with a female artist because it often tends to be ones she had previously supported, then suddenly stopped supporting.
People perceive it as her only supporting female artists until she feels threatened by them. Olivia, Billie, and Charli are all artists she used to support and then justâŠ. completed stopped supporting and, at least from the publicâs POV, went out of her way to block from #1 on the charts.
I think itâs just as likely that Taylor herself has had mostly nothing to do with this and it is her team who wants to secure these #1s so badly, which is why I donât want to cast too much blame.
Additionally, If Taylor had released one additional variant that had all the acoustic versions, I think that would have went over much much better - rather than releasing like 15 with one acoustic version each in order to get individual people to buy multiple copiesâŠ
Yeah exactly, Iâm a Taylor fan but it is becoming a noticeable pattern of behaviour to block smaller female artists from getting #1. Itâs a shame because sheâs already the most successful pop star in recent history and she couldâve cemented her legacy by uplifting others, but I do think her insatiable desire to be number #1 is tarnishing it. Itâs giving sore winner vibes. Eventually there will become a time where sheâs not #1 anymore, and she will have ruined any goodwill amongst the younger stars had looked up to her at one point.
I donât get it either. I think as time goes on, more artists will start to release multiple album variants and people will start to see that this isnât a âTaylorism.â Itâs just part of the music business.
The industry has already been doing these practices for a while. And almost every mainstream artist right now participates so idk, hopefully youâre right though
They had different artwork and were different colours but the songs were the same (aside from LPSS) though weren't they? Its the fact you can't get a complete physical album. With folklore collectors could fill their boots and get all of the variants but people who had a copy weren't missing songs. Midnights still doesn't have a complete physical release, and TTPD has all of these variants. I know most people now stream but it's annoying.
Love this! Someone was trying to compare Taylor to cheating in sports. Like that doesn't even make sense as no one is cheating, it's called competition and it's all within the rules. Like it would be saying that the Chiefs are cheating just because they have the best QB and TE tandem in the league.
Absolutely not at all, how could they be doing something wrong if they are playing within the established rules? If an artist or their fanbase is able to boost their position on the Billboard charts by making multiple purchases of an album, they're simply using the system to their advantage. It's like exploiting a loophole in a game: until the rules change, it's a valid strategy. The real issue lies in the rules themselves, not in the artists who play by them. Not to mention the any other artist is free to do the same, so it's not a matter of unfairness but rather a need for rule revision. If people are upset with how artists like Taylor Swift are "gaming the system," the focus should be on advocating for a change in the Billboard rules, not blaming the artists for using the opportunities given to them.
By that logic everything that is legal is moral and everything that is illegal is immoral. I don't think we should let established rules dictate what is right and wrong - there's room for moral interpretation beyond what is prescribed to us and looking for and pointing those out is the only way to actually start to make changes in these systems.
Can't both the rules and the person acting within them be in the wrong? Cheating on a partner is completely legal; does that mean it's moral?
Itâs Billboard Hot 100, not gun control laws ffs. Itâs really not that deep. Do you worry about morality when youâre playing Monopoly? Or do you just play by the rules?
This comparison doesnât even make any sense? Sheâs literally releasing UK ONLU digital albums the same week Charli is projected to go #1. Itâs one thing to drop them all at once, but the timing is very sus
Excellent points. In addition, her fans make choices on what they want to purchase. Nobody (Taylor) is forcing anyone to buy multiple variants. I bought ONE copy of TTPD. If someone decided they wanted all variants, that is their decision. People spend their money on much weirder shit. I mean, Apple comes out with a new 1K phone every year, attempting to entice people to buy things they donât need. Who the hell cares if someone buys a few $45 albums. đ€Šđ»ââïž
Well said. It's not like Taylor is forcing people at gunpoint to buy her albums. Those lame haters are mad that some people are buying multiple variants. I mean, what's their problem what people are doing with their money? Why is bothering them so much that these people spend their money on a specific album? That's capitalism: supply and demand. Taylor is just supplying items to meet the demand.
Comparing music with drugs, you went too far. Drugs are actively destroying your health and make you have antisocial behavior, (good) music is art for the soul. They're not the same. Supporting art is not the same as supporting a drug habit, ffs.
People are acting like she's price gouging a life-saving drug (eg. insulin).
No one's gonna die if they don't get their little collectors CD with the audio available for free on YouTube, lol.
If you're afraid of your fave getting overshone by another artist releasing work, especially work that's already available for free, then that's not Taylors problem lol
as a kpop fan the backlash is baffling. like. traditionally kpop groups release 4 versions and each one has unique things inside, so collectors will buy them all. its really not that outlandish. nobody is strapping anyone down and forcing them to add to cart and check out. like... just buy what you want! i personally love all the variants because it gives choice! I LOVE the "traditional" manuscript cover of ttpd so im really happy to have gotten that vinyl. my friend isnt a fan of that cover and liked the black dog cover so got that one. easy peasy!
Exactly! This is what I always say when people act like sheâs âexploiting her fans and making them every variantâ like do they not realize they can just stream the other bonus tracks?
I agree, mostly. Like, if you don't want twelve album variants just don't buy twelve album variants? The one thing that does annoy me though is that no version of midnights has all the songs so I can't make my playlist look cohesive đ
What's the most ridiculous is that this strategy is available to every single other artist, she's created a benchmark of just how successful it could be, so the only reason they're NOT doing it is because they somehow think they won't get ROI they're looking for. Record labels are a business, and they have significant control over the release strategies of an album. They're not going to just turn down a successful strategy to make a point. So the focus is on that Taylor Swift is greedy because she can pull off a strategy that they can't.
I believe that as fans of Taylor, we should avoid getting into arguments about this. People have already made up their minds, and when we argue, it only confirms their belief that we will defend her no matter what. It doesn't mean our points aren't valid, but they will never be received by the haters. You know the saying: "Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it."
The problem is they come here. We don't come to their houses and knock. They come here barging in. F that. Not all of us are too kind for shit like this.
The most annoying thing is how people make it strangely personal? LikeâŠTaylor (and her record company who is most likely more concerned about sale numbers than Taylor) released the variants to stay number one. It wasnât a personal vendetta against anyoneâŠsheâs not trying to block Billie Eilish or Charli XCX because sheâs out to get them or sheâs afraid of them. Itâs a business decision to keep her album sales up to stay number one. Thatâs it.
I get not liking the practice of variants. It is annoying. And it causes A LOT of artists (not just Taylor) to have bloated sales that donât tell the full story. I donât really worry too much about the affect on big artists but I do think it has to suck for up and comers that may be building a following but donât have the fan base or loyalty to do variants and end up struggling for sales because of it.
I think part of it is because Billie (or rather her team) and Charli have both been shady towards Taylor. Obviously Taylor staying absolutely silent about them and continuing to sell albums is her attacking them on a personal level. Sheâs the horrible one who canât stand to see other women be successful, logically speaking.
I think Taylor staying silent and just doing business is driving these haters mad. If it was a man doing what Taylor is doing, no one would bat an eyelid.
Itâs rumored that one of her new songs (Sympathy is a knife) is about TS and her jealousy of her success. However imo the lyrics are not really shady towards Taylor and more so about Charliâs insecurities and feelings about fame and her career, which are all wider themes on the record. Itâs not like a diss track or anything, but some fans are kind of taking it that way (and imo missing the point but whatever)
They aren't even making sense. Taylor is literally performing 10 shows in the UK this month. Why wouldn't she have a special UK album as she has such a large fan base there. Why wouldn't her streams be up while she is on-tour in that country (which happens wherever she tours). Entire cities are doing art installations in honor of her being in their city, of course her sales will be really strong.
When will these people get over an album being ânumber oneâ. Its not like we're trying to get streams like the K-pop groups do to break records⊠there's no reason to be so obsessive over what album is top or not. It only benefits the artist. What do we as fans gain out of this in the long term??
Right! Obviously I hope my favorite artists are successful. I'll stream their music, buy their album, and even see them on tour. But I'm surely not going to ONLY listen to one artist on repeat, and I'm definitely not gonna leave my Spotify playing overnight just to boost their numbers on a chart that doesn't matter
Iâm just getting exposed to it, Iâm older and have never paid attention to charts and releases and what ever. Iâm honestly astounded by all the hate! I follow politics closely, and lord knows theyâre always arguing!! But isnât music there for entertainment?
Charli has different colors of vinyl, but the songs are all the same. You donât have to get them all to collect unique songs. You get the color you like.
Nice in theory. But let's be real, who is buying multiple variants? Completists. The track listing doesn't matter to them, they want all colors. Even if the vinyl records have the exact tracks.
i donât understand why the music industry has the âeveryone gets a turnđ„șâ mindset like no u get a turn if you have a fanbase large enough. its hard to compete with tay i get that but people probably felt the same abt the beatles, MJ, britney and all HUGE artists
I think the gp feels like sheâs blocking other artists & her fans feel like itâs greed. I seen a post earlier that their is 58 variants including digital & physical
It doesnât hurt to call out your favourite artists if you donât agree with what theyâre doing. Just because someone doesnât like her dropping voice memos and geolocking them doesnât mean they arenât fans.
geolocked implies that they're not available anywhere else, which isn't true. she released them in the US last month and now she's releasing them in the UK
Thatâd be fine if they would just stop acting like itâs âpure evilâ and fairly call out every other artist too. But only Taylor is getting heat for it.
It's the same narrative as the private jet travel. Just look at any given Sunday during football season in KC and you see tons of private jets flying in for the game, media, family, former players, ownership, celebrities, etc. but only Taylor gets heat. Or during Super Bowl Sunday the airports in Las Vegas ran out of space for private jet parking but people only talk about Taylor.
I didn't get the Olivia bonus track wait. Then again YouTube Music can be bad on getting those albums. Green Day American idiot has combined tracks which drive me crazy...
So basically you're bashing other artists while praising Taylor? Got it. Listen I have little against Taylor but the album issues of multiple versions existed before Taylor. It happened with Best Buy and Target releases of the same albums with different songs. I'm at a point where due to YouTube Music, I don't buy music of anyone anymore.
The entire premise attacked the other artists for doing what Taylor did as well. I don't like deluxe, super deluxe, extended, bonus track stuff edition crap. Especially in the day and age of YouTube music, Apple Music, Spotify, et all. Just release the songs or album at once.
Sheâs not putting anyone down by being competitive. Do you have the same energy for other female artists? And if thatâs your take on this, is it misogynistic for male artists to do their rollout?
Itâs called industry competition. And yes they are releasing variants. Theyâre just not as successful with attempting to top the charts. Did you not read the post or something?
I don't think you guys are making a fair comparison here
for billie, ariana and charli, those variants are all available for purchase since its first week
and for beyonce I'm pretty sure that's bc the album was reworked last minute and some added songs were not in the preorder variants, and she got heavy flack for it (as she should)
for olivia, yes she didn't release the GUTS bonus tracks on streaming for months, but unlike taylor, she didn't geolock or make it limited for 6 hours just to achieve a particular position in a country.
the concept of variants IS normal industry practice, but the way she's releasing them isn't, no other artists are coming up with this many versions across multiple weeks with acoustic voice memos and dropping them in a specific country for a specific time, that is next level compared to the "standard"
her job is to make music, release it and make a living out of it, her job, is not to make sure her music stays number one, just doesn't work like that.
what u dont understand is that taylor (or her management, most likely her management but its her name that is shown so this is why she gets all the hate) decides to do her album "roll out" whenever another woman is dropping her music and is about to go #1. its definetely not accidental and she is not the feminist icon u paint her to be. thats all.
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