The Sophomore Slump
Over time it has become common knowledge that in a trilogy the second book, film or album is weaker. Obviously this isn't always the case but with music especially, second albums are stereotyped as weak.
In music this "phenomenon" is often not true commercially but usually in the opinion of fans and critics. The problem with this is that everything is judged by opinion alone which is of course subjective. This can lead to negative labelling.
Some famous examples of sophomore slumps are in alternative music with bands like The Strokes with 'Room On Fire', Yeah Yeah Yeahs 'Show Your Bones' and even the Scissor Sisters with Ta-Dah. Many of my favourite bands have definitely been subject to the phenomenon such as Two Door Cinema Club with 'Beacon', Empire of the Sun with 'Ice On The Dune', HAIM with 'Something To Tell You' and more recently George Ezra with 'Staying At Tamara's'.
The thing is, sometimes to make the album a sophomore slump it doesn't have to be bad, just a drop off in quality from its predecessor. Two of my favourite albums from last year were 'How Did We Get So Dark?' by Royal Blood and 'Visions of a Life' by Wolf Alice, both great albums, especially the latter, but both being less good than the previous album from each band.
There are often times when the Sophomore Slump is purely commercial, for instance with 'Melodrama' by Lorde, one of the best pop albums possibly ever, completely under performing her debut. This can be incredibly frustrating as the album might be far better than the debut but slump commercially. Another example would be MGMT's 'Congratulations'.
Overall I have to say that the entire Sophomore Slump phenomenon has gotten out of hand as people fall back on it constantly as if it were some sort of expectancy. In actual fact, different artists and bands will take different approaches to second albums which will make different results.
I chose to do a post on the Sophomore Slump phenomenon as I'm currently anticipating Aquilo's second album (due May 11th) which I'm slightly worried will be a slump due to my mixed opinion on the singles. 'I Could Fight On A Wall' and 'Thin' are incredible, the latter being my favourite song the duo have released; whilst 'Silent Movies' and 'Who Are You' were just okay. The single 'Seagull' has perhaps been what I've least enjoyed from the duo ever so I shall just have to wait and see how good it is.
On a more positive note, Blossoms released their highly anticipated sophomore album on Friday 27th and I'll post my review of that on Wednesday.
Check out my Spotify and Deezer playlists (Loganjbest) and please explore other posts on my blog. My next monthly recap is coming soon so look out for that in the next week or so.
In music this "phenomenon" is often not true commercially but usually in the opinion of fans and critics. The problem with this is that everything is judged by opinion alone which is of course subjective. This can lead to negative labelling.
Some famous examples of sophomore slumps are in alternative music with bands like The Strokes with 'Room On Fire', Yeah Yeah Yeahs 'Show Your Bones' and even the Scissor Sisters with Ta-Dah. Many of my favourite bands have definitely been subject to the phenomenon such as Two Door Cinema Club with 'Beacon', Empire of the Sun with 'Ice On The Dune', HAIM with 'Something To Tell You' and more recently George Ezra with 'Staying At Tamara's'.
The thing is, sometimes to make the album a sophomore slump it doesn't have to be bad, just a drop off in quality from its predecessor. Two of my favourite albums from last year were 'How Did We Get So Dark?' by Royal Blood and 'Visions of a Life' by Wolf Alice, both great albums, especially the latter, but both being less good than the previous album from each band.
There are often times when the Sophomore Slump is purely commercial, for instance with 'Melodrama' by Lorde, one of the best pop albums possibly ever, completely under performing her debut. This can be incredibly frustrating as the album might be far better than the debut but slump commercially. Another example would be MGMT's 'Congratulations'.
Overall I have to say that the entire Sophomore Slump phenomenon has gotten out of hand as people fall back on it constantly as if it were some sort of expectancy. In actual fact, different artists and bands will take different approaches to second albums which will make different results.
I chose to do a post on the Sophomore Slump phenomenon as I'm currently anticipating Aquilo's second album (due May 11th) which I'm slightly worried will be a slump due to my mixed opinion on the singles. 'I Could Fight On A Wall' and 'Thin' are incredible, the latter being my favourite song the duo have released; whilst 'Silent Movies' and 'Who Are You' were just okay. The single 'Seagull' has perhaps been what I've least enjoyed from the duo ever so I shall just have to wait and see how good it is.
On a more positive note, Blossoms released their highly anticipated sophomore album on Friday 27th and I'll post my review of that on Wednesday.
Check out my Spotify and Deezer playlists (Loganjbest) and please explore other posts on my blog. My next monthly recap is coming soon so look out for that in the next week or so.
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