@JasonB95

7 months ago

I find this so interesting. From the stats presented here, you can observe how a particular artist's relevance impacted their career decisions. Taylor Swift and Rihanna's trajectories are especially fascinating: 1. With Taylor, her switch from country music to pop could not have only been a creative decision, but a strategic one. Her internet popularity in 2008/2009, surely from the success of her sophomore effort "Fearless" (spearheaded by the near-ubiquitous hits of Love Story, You Belong With Me etc.), was quickly overtaken at the onset of the 2010s by Lady Gaga and Rihanna whose electropop and dance-oriented music (The Fame/Fame Monster and Loud) dominated the charts. Taylor's popularity waning pretty aggressively during that time (even with the release of 'Speak Now') must have indicated to her and her team that sticking to country music would not ensure her relevance in the industry in the years to come. Her steady return to the upper echelons in 2012/2013 was undoubtedly attributable to her country/pop crossover record 'Red', a successful gamble that proved pop was the way forward. Sure enough, the subsequent blockbuster success of 2014's '1989' further cemented her status as a force in mainstream pop, evidenced by her sheer lapping of everyone else that year. A reign that, as of 2023, remains as strong as ever. 2. Rihanna's prominence throughout this timeline is nothing short of staggering. She remained among the top 3 most Googled popstars for the vast majority of the last 15 years - literally half a generation. Most notably, even without the release of a new body of work for three consecutive years (2013 to 2015), a first since the start of her career in 2005, she never fell off the top tier. What this proved was just how interested people were in her, not just her music. Her viral red carpet moments alone demonstrate that the opportunities for her to monetize that appeal were boundless. Her eventual foray into beauty and fashion should be anything but a surprise. It was a most natural fit and a highly business savvy one. The quintessential example of how to leverage one's own platform.

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