How can topping the UK singles chart be regarded as a failure? Yet this is the general reaction to the pole position taken by One Direction star Harry Styles with his debut solo single, Sign of the Times.
It was a different story when Harry’s record was released. Critics were falling over themselves to heap praise on the 23-year-old singer/ songwriter. One even said Harry had created the most daring and well-delivered single of the decade.
However, there was a degree of dissent. Some critics questioned the length of the song. Lasting five minutes and 41 seconds, it was described as commercial suicide for almost any other artiste.
Others questioned Harry’s unconventional promotion of his first release. There is an adage that any publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right. But this no longer seems to be true. Harry found himself condemned in some quarters for going down a very different promotional route from that which worked so well for One Direction.
The song title is an acknowledgement and tribute to Prince who issued an album of virtually the same name, Sign o’ the Times, in 1987. Harry’s sparse, arty and enigmatic promotion of the single also echoes the lack of conventional publicity which accompanied most of Prince’s releases.
One Direction’s singles and albums were heralded with an avalanche of publicity through press releases, interviews, videos and social media postings. But Harry’s promotion of Sign of the Times was so low-key that there were probably a fair number of his fans who didn’t even know he had released a record.
Why he should have chosen to follow this route is anyone’s guess and Harry isn’t saying. Indeed, he seems to be making no comments at all. Apart from a one-line posting on his Twitter account which reads ‘Sign of the Times is out now,’ no mention has been made of the single or of achieving his first solo number one.
The only acknowledgement of Harry ending Ed Sheeran’s 13-week tenure atop the UK singles chart with Shape of You came from Ed himself. He offered hearty congratulations to Harry.
It isn’t as though Harry has deliberately remained out of the spotlight. He could hardly have made a much more high-profile appearance in America as a guest on the NBC comedy show, Saturday Night Live. But while Harry performed Sign of the Times and participated in a number of the comedy sketches, he said nothing about his song.
Sign of the Times does not even have an accompanying video. There is simply an audio posting at www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0GKGpObgPY.
This is not as unusual as it may seem. For some promotions, people seem to believe, it is better to delay song videos for some time. The idea is that the video release will boost dwindling sales figures.
This is precisely what happened to Taylor Swift and Zayn Malik’s duet, I Don’t Wanna Live Forever. But the song peaked inside the top five in so many countries yet reached number one in so few. How many top spots might it have achieved had the track been accompanied by an official video from day one.
Sign of the Times has reached No.1 in Britain but by nothing remotely like the expected margin. The song was confidently expected to sail way beyond the sales and streaming figures of Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You.
As it turned out, Harry just edged a close-fought battle. It is this lack of domination, coupled with hugely disappointing first week sales figures in comparison to those of One Direction and Zayn Malik’s debut singles, which has seen Sign of the Times labelled as a failure.
Harry’s track sold 62,900 copies, little more than half the 112,000 first week sales of Zayn’s Pillowtalk. These numbers were totally eclipsed by the 154,061 first week sales of One Direction’s debut single, What Makes You Beautiful.
So, will Harry’s marketing strategy be changed for the release of his self-titled debut album on May 12?
“The video for Sign of the Times should certainly be released by then and Harry’s latest one-line posting on Twitter says his album is now available to pre-order. It will be interesting to see how many of Harry’s fans from One Direction will respond in the manner he would like.
IN BRIEF
Steps
Steps are another act to have perhaps fallen foul to not having a video accompanying their latest single.
After five years without issuing any new material, the British vocal quintet used numerous television appearances to launch their 20th anniversary comeback single, Scared of the Dark. But these were all interviews. They did not actually perform the song. While there was an online audio posting, there was no video which could obviously have been shown during the interviews.
The video shoot was not even scheduled until March 14, more than a month after the song was released. The finished product did not appear on YouTube until April 7.
Scared of the Dark is as strong a song as any of the group’s big hits during the late 1990s to early 2000s. It even followed the same musical formula which has been so successful in times past.
Critics were also kind. Some gave the song rave reviews and praised Steps for adhering to their original sound but updating it with a more modern feel. Others suggested it was a track which would have won the Eurovision Song Contest for Britain.
Despite all the acclaim and publicity, Scared of the Dark could only debut at number 37 on the UK singles chart. This was the sole week it spent in the top 100.
How could the song have fared so badly? Ticket sales for their UK concert tour later this year have been so good that the group have had to schedule more shows to meet demand. This does not suggest Steps have lost many of their fans.
Does the lack of an accompanying video really have such a detrimental effect on sales figures? It certainly seems to have done so in this case. The all too late video can be seen now at www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRb4xqFpOvY
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga used her headline appearance at the Coachella Music Festival to debut a brand new song. After performing The Cure to a hugely appreciative audience, the track was made available to streaming services and for digital download.
A feel-good anthem about unconditional love for another person, Gaga likened the emotion to the response she receives from her fans. During her Coachella performance, she told the crowd; “I love you guys so much. I have been through so much in my life and I’ve seen so much. And you cure me every time with your love.”
There is no official video as yet but an audio posting of The Cure is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp8VZe5kqEM
In other news, Gaga was asked to relate her own mental health issues by Britain’s Prince William after he read her open letter about living with post-traumatic stress disorder. William and Gaga’s conversation appears in a video for Heads Together, a campaign established by the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Prince Harry.
The hope is to encourage people to talk about any issues they may have rather than keeping them bottled up inside. The message is that everyone suffers problems at some time and the stigma attached to mental health has to be removed. The condition can then be normalised and people will lose the fear of coming forward to get whatever help they may need.
It is an issue which is particularly close to the heart of Britain’s Royal Family. William’s younger brother, Prince Harry, recently revealed he sought counselling after spending nearly 20 years trying not to think about the tragic death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
J. Geils
Guitarist John “J” Geils, leader of American rockers The J. Geils Band, has died at the age of 71.
The band was formed in 1968 when J was a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Initially a blues outfit, they found success after switching to R&B-influenced rock.
The band released 11 studio albums. The most popular of these was 1981s Freeze-Frame which topped the Billboard 200. This album also spawned their two biggest singles, the title-track and Centerfold. The latter hit top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three in Britain.
The official videos for these singles can be found online. Freeze-Frame is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHo43B6nu60 while Centerfold is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqDjMZKf-wg THE LONG SONG: Sign of the Times lasts 5 minutes 41 seconds.
ENTER
