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Post by SharksFan99 on Mar 2, 2018 10:07:19 GMT 10
There are cases in which some songs are only released in a certain market or country. More often than not, the decision to release a single in one market/country is based off the music trends in that particular market. Can you think of any songs which were only released as singles in particular countries?
Here are a few examples I can think of:
* "Check Yes Juliet" by We The Kings was released as a single in Australia in 2011, three years after the original release of the single. I don't understand the reasoning behind re-releasing the single just for one country, especially after that amount of time. Ultimately, the decision payed off in the end, because the song peaked at #26 on the ARIA Chart, whereas it only peaked at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 2008 and it didn't chart in any other country.
* The Foo Fighters songs, "Stacked Actors", "Generator" and "The One", were only released as singles in Australia.
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Post by #Infinity on Mar 2, 2018 12:21:57 GMT 10
Both Louise and Rachel Stevens, my two favourite pop singers, scored several big hits in their native UK, but were never famous outside the British Isles, not even mainland Europe. Rachel Stevens' "Sweet Dream My LA Ex" did well in Scandanavia, but that's it; she was a one-hit wonder in that region, with not even her other UK #2 single, "Some Girls", charting anywhere outside the British Isles except Belgium, which is by far the easiest country for imported music to do well in, especially since it has two different primary hits charts.
What I'm getting at is that most of Louise and Rachel's songs were only released as singles in their native UK. Some got a few exported releases, but aside from "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex" succeeding in Scandinavia, it didn't result in either of them breaking a foreign market. Louise's "Naked" was a top 5 hit in the UK, but it flopped hard in Australia, peaking only at #70, resulting in really nothing else being sold to Oceania except a brief second attempt with "Undivided Love" (also a UK top 5 hit). "2 Faced" was Louise's best-performing song in her native Britain, but since she didn't have the home base advantage, nor the same level of media publicity for her role in the girl group Eternal, the song never got released anywhere else.
Rachel's hit songs were marketed abroad in a different way. Instead of releasing them to specific countries like EMI did with Louise's singles, they were instead given simple "Europe" releases, obviously not as aggressive or expensive a strategy, I guess since Polydor had little faith in Rachel's ability to keep up abroad the way she had at home. S Club 7 was by far most popular in its native UK, despite achieving some decent success everywhere else, so the label probably figured Rachel couldn't sustain much of an international career whatsoever for the same reasons Louise struggled abroad, too. "More More More", "So Good", and "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" were UK-only releases. Also, in case you're wondering, no, none of Rachel Stevens' solo hits were released as singles whatsoever in Oceania, nor North America, not even "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex". Her label probably decided not to promote her music whatsoever in those continents after "LA Ex" did well only in a few countries while flopping in most others, as well as "Funky Dory" not even doing so well in the British Isles.
Interestingly, though, Rachel's sophomore album, Come and Get It, got a US-specific iTunes release by Geffen Records in June 2007, even though its lukewarm commercial performance in the UK back in 2005 had ended her career there. It never sold well, but it got such rave reviews from music critics, as well as a small, devoted fanbase, mostly from the gay community, it has become a rare example of a cult album in the manufactured pop genre (Rachel's incredible singing charisma definitely drive the album, but the only song she co-wrote that made it onto the album was "Funny How"), making the 2007 Geffen American release possible. As much as I feel Rachel was far more deserving of widespread success in the 2000s than most (well, pretty much all...) pop singers at the time, I'm glad there are at least other people besides myself who remember her.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Mar 2, 2018 13:29:32 GMT 10
Both Louise and Rachel Stevens, my two favourite pop singers, scored several big hits in their native UK, but were never famous outside the British Isles, not even mainland Europe. Rachel Stevens' "Sweet Dream My LA Ex" did well in Scandanavia, but that's it; she was a one-hit wonder in that region, with not even her other UK #2 single, "Some Girls", charting anywhere outside the British Isles except Belgium, which is by far the easiest country for imported music to do well in, especially since it has two different primary hits charts. What I'm getting at is that most of Louise and Rachel's songs were only released as singles in their native UK. Some got a few exported releases, but aside from "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex" succeeding in Scandinavia, it didn't result in either of them breaking a foreign market. Louise's "Naked" was a top 5 hit in the UK, but it flopped hard in Australia, peaking only at #70, resulting in really nothing else being sold to Oceania except a brief second attempt with "Undivided Love" (also a UK top 5 hit). "2 Faced" was Louise's best-performing song in her native Britain, but since she didn't have the home base advantage, nor the same level of media publicity for her role in the girl group Eternal, the song never got released anywhere else. Rachel's hit songs were marketed abroad in a different way. Instead of releasing them to specific countries like EMI did with Louise's singles, they were instead given simple "Europe" releases, obviously not as aggressive or expensive a strategy, I guess since Polydor had little faith in Rachel's ability to keep up abroad the way she had at home. S Club 7 was by far most popular in its native UK, despite achieving some decent success everywhere else, so the label probably figured Rachel couldn't sustain much of an international career whatsoever for the same reasons Louise struggled abroad, too. "More More More", "So Good", and "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" were UK-only releases. Also, in case you're wondering, no, none of Rachel Stevens' solo hits were released as singles whatsoever in Oceania, nor North America, not even "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex". Her label probably decided not to promote her music whatsoever in those continents after "LA Ex" did well only in a few countries while flopping in most others, as well as "Funky Dory" not even doing so well in the British Isles. Interestingly, though, Rachel's sophomore album, Come and Get It, got a US-specific iTunes release by Geffen Records in June 2007, even though its lukewarm commercial performance in the UK back in 2005 had ended her career there. It never sold well, but it got such rave reviews from music critics, as well as a small, devoted fanbase, mostly from the gay community, it has become a rare example of a cult album in the manufactured pop genre (Rachel's incredible singing charisma definitely drive the album, but the only song she co-wrote that made it onto the album was "Funny How"), making the 2007 Geffen American release possible. As much as I feel Rachel was far more deserving of widespread success in the 2000s than most (well, pretty much all...) pop singers at the time, I'm glad there are at least other people besides myself who remember her. Given the circumstances, "Naked" peaking at #70 in Australia isn't actually a bad achievement. The Australian public wouldn't have even known who Louise is and honestly, I wasn't even aware of her or her music, until you introduced me to her in one of your posts. Perhaps if the record label had persisted in marketing her abroad, Louise could have been much more successful internationally in the years to come. From what I understand, "Naked" was only the third single from her debut album, so it's quite possible that she would have been more successful later on in her career. While I can somewhat understand the record label's reluctance in marketing Louise's singles abroad, I am a bit surprised that Rachel Stevens' singles weren't marketed more aggressively, especially considering how successful S Club 7 were in many countries around the world. I understand that S Club 7 were most successful in the UK, but they had several chart-topping and Top-5 hits in other parts of the world. It seems like a strange decision to not release any of her singles in Oceania or North America at all.
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Post by #Infinity on Mar 2, 2018 14:17:48 GMT 10
Given the circumstances, "Naked" peaking at #70 in Australia isn't actually a bad achievement. The Australian public wouldn't have even known who Louise is and honestly, I wasn't even aware of her or her music, until you introduced me to her in one of your posts. Perhaps if the record label had persisted in marketing her abroad, Louise could have been much more successful internationally in the years to come. From what I understand, "Naked" was only the third single from her debut album, so it's quite possible that she would have been more successful later on in her career. The thing is, Eternal were already kind of popular in Australia before she left the group. "Stay" actually charted higher in Australia than it did anywhere else, even the UK. Louise didn't sing lead on the song, but she was in the video. You are right, though, that she didn't have enough of a resumé by 1996 in Australia to make it big there, and my guess is that Australian magazines and interview shows would not have promoted her nearly as much as she had been in the UK, where Eternal's debut album alone scored five major hit singles, including one that briefly opens with Louise singing lead. Whatever the case, "Naked's" Australian peak of #70 is still dismal compared to its domestic mega-success and is also especially unimpressive compared to the Spice Girls' "Wannabe", which came out at roughly the same time, was also a female-led dance-pop song from the UK, and was by an act that hadn't released anything anywhere prior to that song and thus arrived in Australia with the same blank expectations as Louise. Part of the problem could be that Rachel was not exactly the lead singer of the group; that title belonged more to Jo O'Meara. Rachel did sing lead on "Natural", but that song did not chart well outside of the UK and Ireland. While she was a prominent sex symbol in the UK since her days in S Club 7, she didn't have enough fame leverage overseas to compete against local pop starlets in other territories, much like Louise in the '90s. If Polydor had attempted to market Rachel Stevens in the US, my guess is that "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex" would have been a minor hit, since it was originally written as a response to "Cry Me a River" for Britney Spears before Spears rejected it, not to mention the title is a pun on Los Angeles International Airport, but otherwise, she would have not found any success and probably wouldn't have seen much in album sales. Her sound was still very poppy on her debut album, albeit not as bubble-gummy as S Club 7, whereas by 2003/2004, American top 40 hits leaned either towards urban music or Avril Lavigne-style pop rock. If you weren't from the US in the first place, competing against Britney, Christina, Beyoncé, Ashanti, and even Jessica Simpson would not have been feasible by then. Rachel's follow-up wouldn't have stood a ghost of a chance here in the mid-2000s, since it was primarily electronic, and I've already explained how unpopular dance/electronic pop was in the US during the 2000s except with gay men and in the year 2002. The extent of Rachel's crossover presence in the US was that one of the songs from her first album was eventually featured on the soundtrack to The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement, although it was needlessly and hilariously censored despite that movie earning a PG rating and the original song not getting any dirtier than only the vaguest references to lust.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Mar 2, 2018 14:58:11 GMT 10
The thing is, Eternal were already kind of popular in Australia before she left the group. "Stay" actually charted higher in Australia than it did anywhere else, even the UK. Louise didn't sing lead on the song, but she was in the video. You are right, though, that she didn't have enough of a resumé by 1996 in Australia to make it big there, and my guess is that Australian magazines and interview shows would not have promoted her nearly as much as she had been in the UK, where Eternal's debut album alone scored five major hit singles, including one that briefly opens with Louise singing lead. Whatever the case, "Naked's" Australian peak of #70 is still dismal compared to its domestic mega-success and is also especially unimpressive compared to the Spice Girls' "Wannabe", which came out at roughly the same time, was also a female-led dance-pop song from the UK, and was by an act that hadn't released anything anywhere prior to that song and thus arrived in Australia with the same blank expectations as Louise. I guess it's hard to really predict how successful Louise would have been overseas, had all of her singles been released internationally. Although, with that said, I do have my doubts that she would have replicated the success that she achieved in the UK, in any case. I also think it's highly unlikely that she would have achieved success on the charts in America; her success most likely would have been confined to the UK, parts of mainland Europe and perhaps Australia and New Zealand, in my opinion.
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Post by aja675 on Sept 25, 2018 1:01:18 GMT 10
2 UK hits that are really forgotten today. The previous song had not been on YouTube for a period of five or six years until I requested the YouTube uploader Blocked in The UK. The latter song was #2 on the UK charts, but you would never have been able to guess, especially with all the obscure last.fm artists that Su Pollard's apparently similar to according to last.fm. 
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Post by aja675 on Oct 10, 2018 18:37:56 GMT 10
Given the circumstances, "Naked" peaking at #70 in Australia isn't actually a bad achievement. The Australian public wouldn't have even known who Louise is and honestly, I wasn't even aware of her or her music, until you introduced me to her in one of your posts. Perhaps if the record label had persisted in marketing her abroad, Louise could have been much more successful internationally in the years to come. From what I understand, "Naked" was only the third single from her debut album, so it's quite possible that she would have been more successful later on in her career. The thing is, Eternal were already kind of popular in Australia before she left the group. "Stay" actually charted higher in Australia than it did anywhere else, even the UK. Louise didn't sing lead on the song, but she was in the video. You are right, though, that she didn't have enough of a resumé by 1996 in Australia to make it big there, and my guess is that Australian magazines and interview shows would not have promoted her nearly as much as she had been in the UK, where Eternal's debut album alone scored five major hit singles, including one that briefly opens with Louise singing lead. Whatever the case, "Naked's" Australian peak of #70 is still dismal compared to its domestic mega-success and is also especially unimpressive compared to the Spice Girls' "Wannabe", which came out at roughly the same time, was also a female-led dance-pop song from the UK, and was by an act that hadn't released anything anywhere prior to that song and thus arrived in Australia with the same blank expectations as Louise. Part of the problem could be that Rachel was not exactly the lead singer of the group; that title belonged more to Jo O'Meara. Rachel did sing lead on "Natural", but that song did not chart well outside of the UK and Ireland. While she was a prominent sex symbol in the UK since her days in S Club 7, she didn't have enough fame leverage overseas to compete against local pop starlets in other territories, much like Louise in the '90s. If Polydor had attempted to market Rachel Stevens in the US, my guess is that "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex" would have been a minor hit, since it was originally written as a response to "Cry Me a River" for Britney Spears before Spears rejected it, not to mention the title is a pun on Los Angeles International Airport, but otherwise, she would have not found any success and probably wouldn't have seen much in album sales. Her sound was still very poppy on her debut album, albeit not as bubble-gummy as S Club 7, whereas by 2003/2004, American top 40 hits leaned either towards urban music or Avril Lavigne-style pop rock. If you weren't from the US in the first place, competing against Britney, Christina, Beyoncé, Ashanti, and even Jessica Simpson would not have been feasible by then. Rachel's follow-up wouldn't have stood a ghost of a chance here in the mid-2000s, since it was primarily electronic, and I've already explained how unpopular dance/electronic pop was in the US during the 2000s except with gay men and in the year 2002. The extent of Rachel's crossover presence in the US was that one of the songs from her first album was eventually featured on the soundtrack to The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement, although it was needlessly and hilariously censored despite that movie earning a PG rating and the original song not getting any dirtier than only the vaguest references to lust. BTW, Louise had some popularity in New Zealand despite not even having any physical singles. From the pop forum Madfruit: "You'd be believing wrong. Louise never had a single on the NZ charts although 2Faced got a lot of airplay on the ZM network, but AFAIK none of her singles were released physically in New Zealand (and I was, and still am, a big Louise stan). Let's Go Round Again was quite well known as we had MTV UK at the time free-to-air when the Woman In Me album came out, and while all three got played on the TV, Let's Go Round Again was on all the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party and TOTP so got a bit of coverage. Then bizarrely, when her greatest hits came out. Too-cool-for-school indie music magazine Rip It Up did a feature on the six most important women of the year in music and Louise got a huge feature, as did Kylie. Yet you couldn't ven get the album here. Eternal were always kinda popular though. They had 10 top 40 hits in NZ which is more than Steps/Girls Aloud/Take That/East 17 etc. "
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Post by SharksFan99 on Oct 11, 2018 15:23:12 GMT 10
BTW, Louise had some popularity in New Zealand despite not even having any physical singles. That can quite often be the case. For instance, Pearl Jam's "Betterman" was never released as a single here in Australia, but it receives very regular airplay on commercial FM radio and I'd argue that it is their most played song. What about this? It flopped in the UK, but was a hit in Australia. It wasn't a flop in the UK at all. In fact, it was actually more successful in the UK than it was in Australia. This is from the Wikipedia page: It reached a peak of #29 here and stayed within the ARIA Top-50 for eight weeks.
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Post by aja675 on Oct 12, 2018 22:57:54 GMT 10
BTW, I have a cover version of Naked.
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Post by aja675 on Jan 4, 2019 16:06:44 GMT 10
BTW, I've read funny anecdotes about how circa 1996-2001, when gay boys in the UK felt needed to look straight in the face of their peers asking each other which celebs they fancied, they would pretend that they found Louise hot. Apparently, she was a good choice because Kylie would have been too camp and Madonna would have been too old.
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Post by .savage on Jan 15, 2019 19:41:47 GMT 10
The last two singles from Christina Aguilera’s “Back To Basics” we’re release exclusively to certain countries. If I remember correctly Taylor Swift’s “Getaway Car” was released to Australia to promote her tour.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Jan 16, 2019 7:56:16 GMT 10
The last two singles from Christina Aguilera’s “Back To Basics” we’re release exclusively to certain countries. If I remember correctly Taylor Swift’s “Getaway Car” was released to Australia to promote her tour. The strange this is, even though "Slow Down Baby" (one of the last two singles off Back To Basics) was only released as a single here in Australia, I actually don't remember it receiving any sort of promotion or airplay on the radio. It was completely overshadowed by "Candyman". Seems like a bit of a waste really that the single was only released in the one country.
.savage likes this
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Post by .savage on Jan 16, 2019 9:49:25 GMT 10
The last two singles from Christina Aguilera’s “Back To Basics” we’re release exclusively to certain countries. If I remember correctly Taylor Swift’s “Getaway Car” was released to Australia to promote her tour. The strange this is, even though "Slow Down Baby" (one of the last two singles off Back To Basics) was only released as a single here in Australia, I actually don't remember it receiving any sort of promotion or airplay on the radio. It was completely overshadowed by "Candyman". Seems like a bit of a waste really that the single was only released in the one country. Indeed. "Candyman" was huge in Australia at the time. "Slow Down Baby" actually peaked at #21 and spent 6 weeks on the charts there.
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