As one of R&B’s brightest stars Tamar Braxton had good reason to have high hopes for her latest studio album ‘Calling All Lovers.’
Alas, those hopes did little to convince the general public to support the album when it was released leaving her with one of the lowest opening week numbers in the genre’s recent history.
Now, she has shared fresh thoughts on the matter.
Unfortunately, we don’t think the music was the problem.
Though he run on television is to thank for the career she has today we’d say Braxton suffered from a severe case of overexposure by the time ‘Lovers’ hit stores.
In short, her audience became so used to “experiencing” her for free on television throughout the year that they became desensitised to any real promotion she employed on the same platform.
It’s a shame because the project is a great body of work (looking at you TC)
However, we also think her now resolved feud with K. Michelle (which saw her mock artists who were unable to sell over 100,000 units in a week) threw her brand into “messy” waters and- believe it or not- made her the villain in the pair’s well publicised story.
It didn’t help that her own sales were also being thrown into question when her more clued-up critics noted how strange it was that her iTunes #1 single ‘Love & War’ failed to crack the Top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Add to this the fact that she is said to be feuding with a number of the people and platforms who pushed her to success it becomes pretty clear-rather unfortunately- that the problem isn’t Tamar’s music…but Tamar herself.
Unfortunately, the music industry’s structure often sees perception outweigh reality. For Tamar, this means that despite outselling (and in some cases “out singing”) the likes of Ciara, Jennifer Lopez, Tinashe, Kelly Rowland and Brandy, the “feuding” and the “shading” places her beneath them in the court of public opinion.
Don’t agree?
Well, how many of you are aware that Tinashe‘s ‘All Hands on Deck‘ didn’t sell enough copies to impact the Billboard Hot 100, or that ‘Love & War‘ moved more units in its first week than Ciara’s last two LPs did when combined in the same amount of time.
Or that Jennifer Lopez‘ ‘Booty’ (which peaked at #18 on the Hot 100) only reached that position because 92% of its “sales” were actually from free streaming points.
You didn’t?
Therein lies the power of perception.