As Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke have found, you can't hang around for too long between singles. But is this the end of the 'era'?
Last November, stilted male mannequins the Wanted "composed" a "news story" for the Daily Star in which they discussed their just-released second album, Battleground. "Our album came out four days ago but don't worry, a repackaged version will be along soon," appeared to be the gist of it. While the promise of "some extra-special new tracks" (one of the potential songs is described by the band themselves as "shit") probably thrilled the band's many back-catalogue completists, it also poses an interesting question about the rate at which pop now moves. Is our collective musical attention deficit disorder so extreme that we need details of an album repackage in the same week as the original is released? Is it time to say goodbye to the notion of pop star "eras", if each era now overlaps with barely a breath? Or – and let's try to consider some positives here – does this mean the length of time we have to endure, say, Stooshe, is now limited to about six months maximum?
It's worth noting that when Madonna's last album, Hard Candy, was released in April 2008, Lady Gaga's debut album was still four months away. Since then, Gaga has released 12 singles, two more albums (well, one and a bit), and has already started work on the next one. In that same time period, Madonna's directed a film so bad she had to go on Graham Norton to flog it, and launched a fashion label with her 15-year-old daughter. Sure, she went on tour for a year or so but then so did Rihanna and that didn't stop her churning out Talk That Talk two-thirds of the way through a worldwide jaunt to promote her previous album, Loud. Pop stars can't take four years to make an album any more. In fact, they can't even take two (ask Leona Lewis or Alexandra Burke). The internet won't let them. And their pop rivals certainly won't.
Nicki Minaj knows this well. In the same week that her I'm The Best single – the tenth to be released from her debut album - was added to the Radio 1 playlist, she released two teaser tracks from her forthcoming second album, due in April. What would usually be divided into two very distinct "eras", with some kind of gap inbetween, is now just one long series of songs.
The idea of being able to differentiate between albums and eras is fading faster than you can say "the Saturdays - All Fired Up: Platinum Edition featuring five new tracks and a Pitbull guest verse". JLS, for example, announced that work had started on their fourth album six weeks after the third was released. Obviously part of this is to strike while the proverbial iron's still hot, but what if that iron is already cooling on the sideboard, facing away from any plastic objects? Is throwing more at the problem really going to help? Given that JLS's last single was their first to miss the UK Top 10, shouldn't they maybe enjoy their forthcoming tour, have a bit of a holiday, launch a line of pastel cowl-neck T-shirts, then come back when they've got at least three amazing singles?
Still, if we assume that this new strategy – "more is more but actually less" – will speed up the lifespan of any given pop act, it could mean that by 2013, Little Mix will be on their Greatest Hits and Perrie Edwards can start her inevitable solo career. This, by the way, is a good thing.
Source: Guardian