Ava Max - Heaven & Hell
- Thread starter jamesmax
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She's giving me Fame Monster Gaga vibes with her look in the thumbnail for "Sweet but Psycho." I also really dig the song, so consider me intrigued.
Why be pressed that a new popstar has a great voice and a killer single. Just bop!
Inland Empire
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Why isn’t Salt on streaming platforms??
he/him
So am I. I regularly check Youtube for any performances of this and it looks like she hasn't performed it yet or nobody cared enough to film her.
he/him
I think this take from a different thread about a different artist captures my initial reaction to Ava and trying to reconcile why something just feels... off:
There's something so knowingly artifice about the whole package, while still trying to appeal to 2018's lens for authenticity (her "popping up" out of nowhere, Atlantic trying to make her look like she's indie like with Bazzi, scrubbing her previous personas from the internet) that it feels directly at odds with another.
Someone like Allie X feels more natural since the package never felt cynical and over-rehearsed.
It's like.... who is the audience this is meant for? Melanie Martinez/That's Poppy fans?
There's something so knowingly artifice about the whole package, while still trying to appeal to 2018's lens for authenticity (her "popping up" out of nowhere, Atlantic trying to make her look like she's indie like with Bazzi, scrubbing her previous personas from the internet) that it feels directly at odds with another.
Someone like Allie X feels more natural since the package never felt cynical and over-rehearsed.
It's like.... who is the audience this is meant for? Melanie Martinez/That's Poppy fans?
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100% yes. It seems like major labels saw Halsey & Melanie Martinez's success and are trying to forcibly mold new artists into that category.
It's very much the Roman Reloaded version of all those flop pop acts they tried to launch off of Gaga back in 2009. Jaira can be Natalia Kills & Ava can be Porcelain Black.
he/him
And I don't even mean it in a harsh way. Sweet But Psycho is even kinda a basic bop, but I'm just more... puzzled? Confused? I want to unravel the story of Amanda Koci and how she and some team exactly came about thinking Ava Max was.... fit for 2018.
If it was just some indie pop girl who was like "I love POP and Lady Gaga" it'd be like oh wow how cool (this y'know essentially being what Allie X is dddd), but to see this type of project so heavy-handedly thought of, put together, and pushed by a major label with Today's Top Hits playlisting and award show invitations in 2018 is just confusing.
As pop fans we know artifice isn't essentially bad and all image and music are constructed. It takes a conscious choice to transform Stefani Germanotta into Lady Gaga, Alaina Beaton into Porcelain Black, Ashley Frangipane into Halsey, etc. But even back in 2008, Gaga had to sell such construction as high-brow. It's a creation, but defended as her being the creator, not a boardroom of men like in decades prior.
Melanie Martinez had to come up via a singing show. Halsey had to be pushed as a singer-songwriter writing lyrics from her diary. Dua & Anne-Marie had to have slightly left-of-center cool debut images or music before straying into mainstream pop.
Kim Petras & Poppy's images feel maybe most similar in terms of pop sheen, but they're again independent (or have been dropped ddd). From the marketing to the styling (the hair ddd) to the logo (THE HAIR DDD) to the sound, the idea this is a huge major label cash investment is just so.. odd?
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She’s Cirkut’s girlfriend and an old bio of hers says she signed to Dr. Luke’s publishing company back in 2013. Plus now she’s signed to Mike Caren’s APG (Ed Sheeran, Charlie Puth ...) so that’s a whole lot of industry connections. If you go back in her social media, you can see her tweeting and working with Dr. Luke’s minions like Kool Kojak, Ammo and company a long time ago.
AVA, born Amanda Ava Koci on February, 16, 1993 is an American recording artist and songwriter based out of Los Angeles, CA. AVA is co-produced by Dr.Luke´s team, multi platinum producer and songwriter for Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, etc. Co-Producers are JKash, Ammo & Koool Kojak, Kevin Rudolf and Grammy winner Evan "
AVA, born Amanda Ava Koci on February, 16, 1993 is an American recording artist and songwriter based out of Los Angeles, CA. AVA is co-produced by Dr.Luke´s team, multi platinum producer and songwriter for Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, etc. Co-Producers are JKash, Ammo & Koool Kojak, Kevin Rudolf and Grammy winner Evan "
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Sweet But Psycho is fun enough. All of Kim Petras' music is much better and mostly in the same vein. This sound is so at odds with whats currently popular that it would surprise me if she really blows up. Still, she could cultivate a small, loyal gay audience with this sound and there's nothing wrong with that. I wish Bonnie McKee would realize the same thing and stop thinking she needs to be trendy when she's independent and radio won't give her the time of day. Its ok to just make bops for the girls and gays until things swing back to pop.
This is exactly how i feel. She kinda came out of no where with no origin story. The whole thing just seems very manufactured by the label. Like if you were to google Ava Max, nothing about her personal life or how she was signed comes up. It all just seems.... inorganic
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It's a pop music forum where we analyze pop music, sis.
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