I have concluded that even through the heat death of the universe I can count on Inna to release new bops.
Not everything she releases pushes the limits of pop, but she also never misses. Even if its basic, its a bop.
The "In My Head" song she was teasing last year is finally getting released on Friday. It's titled "It Don't Matter" and is a collab with Alok and Sofi Tukker.
Flashbacks has been a cute hit for her in Romania, Russia and the former USSR states. She always gets a hit somewhere eventually.
'It Don't Matter' slaps. I quite honestly don't understand why her new songs don't get played more in western Europe anymore. They would absolutely fit on radio and to be quite honest they're bops. I feel like at one point she kind of got that image that all her songs sound the same and she didn't recover from that. I'm glad 'Flashbacks' of all songs turned into a hit somewhere because it's the best one from that album.
Unfortunately I think shes a victim of the dreaded 'woman over 30 years old' syndrome that ageist radio has. More of her songs should be getting pan-European exposure. They'd fit in so many different types of playlists.
Maybe her record label hasn't sent it out to other countries? It's not always about age or gender. If the interest and backing is there, the plays will be there.
To put it short, I think her first singles were maybe too similar sound wise and by the time she did switch it up a bit it was too late. The Spanish ~artiste era did absolutely nothing for her either and the reaction for those songs were very mixed at the time among whatever was left of her worldwide fanbase too. She'll always find success here in Romania via music, TV and endorsements and luckily for her she's probably financially set for life anyway.
Her label looks to be absolutely clueless and they're just chucking out music for the lols. I'm surprised there's still no licensing deal in place or an international label to push her music and properly strategize the roll-out. So many of her songs can smash in some Western European countries. I'm sure she'd still find some success in France, for example, with the right songs. Plus, her multi-label distribution deals in the past probably affected the release schedule and focus on singles, killed the momentum with another release instead of letting songs take off. Nirvana's release was handled so weirdly and Gimme Gimme deserved so much better. Edit: also - what's the deal with her Roc Nation stint? Is that still a thing?
I don't think it has to do with age. If I take my country as an example, her last hit here was More Than Friends (using the term hit loosely but I've definitely heard it more than once while out). She was still well in a viable pop age for years afterwards. I also remember her promoting 'Gimme Gimme' a few years ago on the radio here and her reaction to the DJs mentioning that they still play 'Sun is Up' was ''that song is so old". I do think her label doesn't really bother promoting her outside Eastern Europe but the fact that she came to radio to promote 'Gimme Gimme' would suggest otherwise (in the end the song didn't go anywhere, which is a shame but let's be honest 'Heaven' and 'Ruleta' which were released before and after are so much better and deserved the promotion much more). I made an Inna playlist with a lot of her singles (to weed it down I only took songs that were top 20 in her home country + the newest release) and I'm BOPPING. Especially now that the sun is out today (for the first time in what feels like a year) her music feels so good. Spoiler: Playlist 1. Hot 2. Love 3. Déjà Vu 4. Amazing 5. 10 Minutes 6. Sun Is Up 7. Un Momento 8. Endless 9. Wow 10. Crazy, Sexy, Wild 11. Inndia 12. More Than Friends 13. Diggy Down 14. Bop Bop 15. Yalla 16. Heaven 17. Gimme Gimme 18. Ruleta 19. Nirvana 20. Iguana 21. Bebe 22. Read My Lips 23. Flashbacks 24. It Don't Matter
Inna has so many good songs and it's a shame her music isn't promoted as much as they used to be. It only takes for a decent deal to bring her songs to the west. They would smash as well.
Azealia Banks is apparently an Inna fan (or she at least knows of her work). Plot twist of the year seeing Inna getting dragged into the Azealia vs Grimes social media war.
