Featured cover art by the Perry-nominated artist Vinni @letswitness
The girl is finally back! After years of drought waiting for what’s coming next in her musical storytelling, our collective fanatical dreams have finally came true, and as the recent stanning adage says – we won. Katy Perry is finally back on track from her judging and shoemaking gigs to continue with what she does best: treat us back to another era of pop music extravagance with the upcoming release of her new song Never Really Over, to be released this Friday, May 31, 2019. Presave it here.
Since the end of her Witness era with the conclusion of the tour in August 2018, the pop legend dedicated a considerable period of time to compose and plan for her fifth studio record. With reports every now and then of her meeting and working with the new (collaborations with Zedd, Daddy Yankee, Ian Kirkpatrick, Steve Mac) and and the old (reunion with A&R Chris Anokute and producer Greg Wells), the excitement and uproar for what’s incoming is justly teased with the artwork for Katy’s new single, which will be her first solo release since Rise in 2016.
Never Really Over is described by industry insiders as a 2011-esque pop uptempo anthem “with a BIG chorus” and sounds like a better version of the dance masterpiece 365. The song is confirmed to be done in writing collaboration with Norwegian pop singer Dagny, and produced by Zedd, thus explains the rumored resemblance to their recent collaborative work.
A new song, a new era, and a new aesthetics, it seems like there’s only one more thing for Katy and the fandom to achieve with NRO: a new comeback to the charts. As pop music continually struggles to get the groove with the current atmosphere of the streaming era, it is indeed going to be a challenge to insert the new song into high ranks in various charts. But with proper promotion and an optimistic team effort amongst us, the fans, we can put Katy back to her seat at the table, just like how Con Calma is currently putting on a good fight inching its way within the Top 20 in the current Hot 100 edition (now at a new peak of #27 in the latest chart issue). So how can you help? It starts with understanding how the pointing system works. Using current chart status rankings, NRO will need to achieve at least 241 points to enter the Top 5 of the American Billboard Hot 100 charts, 279 points to land a Top 2 spot and 819 points to get a high chance of debuting atop the charts.
But if we would only want to enter the Top 10, we will need a minimum of 200 points. Through paid streaming apps such as Spotify, Apple Music, Play Music and Amazon Music, #NeverReallyOver will require 11 million streams first week (69 points) and a total of 35,000 pure sales (54 points) plus an aid of 7 million streams from free services like Youtube (29 points) and Mediabase spins from radios of 43 million airplay (48 points). Chained to the Rhythm accumulated at least 8 million streams from Spotify alone during its first week run and combined with pure sales, was able to finish her first week with 108,000 sales, giving it a 300+ pts finish. Bon Appetit and Swish Swish were able to pull at least 15 million views on their first day in Youtube, despite being released relatively later after their official debut to the public. If we can pull off these figures for what were considered an “underperformance” in her career, it will be a possibility that we can rally ourselves behind to help NRO achieve a decent debut atop.
Buying the single is indeed the best way (highest weighted count in the charts) but streaming is the new norm, so if you’re streaming the song on Friday, remember to keep in mind these rules for an effective participation:
Or perhaps just join one of your dear creative *promotional* mutuals in coming up with business-oriented ways of engaging the general public into consuming the future hit with deals and promos such as that with Starbucks, Apple and Burger King.
Get ready to gird your loins this Friday and let us bend the light, love and the streams back to the pop goddess who deserves it the most.
The Perrys 