...But a decent arguement for the other side can be made. Unfortunately, it's likely that no one will step up and make that arguement now that the poll is so one-sided.
I'm disappointed, I was interested in hearing strong arguements from both sides. :cry:
I can make that argument if you want... LOL.
Short Version: If Vanessa can sell records, she can revitalize her career. The 2 and a half year layoff between Be not Nobody and Harmonium led a lot of fans away. She didn't keep her name in fans minds, so they forgot about her. For many fans not as close-knit in the Vanessa community as many of the people who post here and on the O-Board, during that layoff they went and found a new artist to fawn over. Many of us even found another artist or group we liked, but when Harmonium came out we came back.
We're going on a year and a few months since Harmonium, and a year and a half since her last single. If people didn't remember her then, hardly anyone outside of our circles remembers her now (Unless you say "The A Thousand Miles girl" in which case people say "Oh, I loved that song!" or "Ew, I hated that Time Warner commercial!" lol). By selling records, even if it wasn't the best material, she could extend her career in the spotlight. Otherwise if she continues at the rate she's going, she'll end up doing the indy thing and probably continue playing for herself and for her true fans while being labeled by others as a One Hit Wonder.
My opinion: Vanessa definitely has some songs in her that could have huge pop appeal and have quality (Who's To Say had it, Private Radio could have had it, we all know ATM and Ordinary Day had it), and if she could tap that side she could definitely sell some albums... and even if she had to change her music completely to the gummy pop, I know she could do it if she wanted to.
Considering all that, again it comes back to having a label to back her music. She can't pound the pavement and promote a single and album all by herself. The label has to ship it to radio, she has to do radio touring, etc. A&M tried to do that for "White Houses", but dropping the single in early August then pushing the CD back to November and not having her tour with the new material until the end of October killed all the hype. The fact the album leaked in early October didn't help, either.
Getting out this past summer with Stevie Nicks was good PR since Nicks has been a steady contributor in the industry, but most of her crowds were older people who aren't going to follow a 25-year old singer songwriter. It's not really the demographic her music is targeted for.
Especially considering how Pretty Baby flopped on radio, White Houses didn't do much, and how overall Harmonium sold very poorly, for radio and TV to even give Vanessa a fair shake would be a long shot unless she did change her music dramatically to what is popular now.
Even if she was able to regain fame from having a successful album, who's to say it wouldn't be a one shot deal? And who is to say she would be happy with changing her music if that is the only way a commercially successful album would come about? Just taking what Vanessa said about Harmonium to heart, she said that she was happy with how it was and didn't seem terribly concerned about whether it would sell records because it was her real music.
The way I see it, for Vanessa to make something that would be a no-doubt smash hit which would have the best sales, she'd have to change who she is musically, and I don't think at the end of the day she'd be willing to sell herself or her music out to do that. There are some people in the industry who are willing to do anything and everything to be on top, I don't see V as one of those people.
(so much for arguing pro-sales, LOL)
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