Artists can spend their whole lives leading up to their debut album perfecting the material, crispening every jagged edge. In the beginning, there is no timeline, pressure or label down your back wanting more from you. However, an artist’s sophomore album has many hills to climb, even before it is released.
There are many qualifiers when it comes to creating an album, let alone your second. First, the pressure from both your fans, the media and especially your label. Second, the album needs to follow a consistent and coherent sound, one that will solidify your career and one’s fanbase. While juggling all of those responsibilities, one must also avoid the slippery slope of stardom and stereotypes.
The pop culture term ‘Sophomore Slump’ is where one’s earlier success has a reducing effect on their latest efforts to be successful. Female artists especially have to prove themselves to society that they do belong in the music industry, and they should be allowed to stay. This dark cloud is just another blockade to get these women to the places they deserve to be. The transition from that first album and its success to the creation of their next album has many different factors.
It may take years for artists to create their next masterpiece, which can be a component to the downfall of that artist’s work. In this environment, musicians who spend less time on the quality of their work in favor of producing work quickly may suffer under the critique of professionals in the industry.
Singer/Songwriter Maggie Rogers has made many remarks over the years about putting quality and effort into your work. “I don’t think we spend enough time having reverence for the process…I want something that takes time because I want something that’s going to last.”
This ‘quantity over quality’ tradeoff is common in many industries where there is a lot of pressure to produce more and more output. It is therefore not surprising that the sophomore slump would be present in the music industry.
Olivia Rodrigo acts as a stellar testament to this phenomenon. Her highly-anticipated second album “GUTS” has people discussing if her talent is a fluke or if she is the real deal. Her record-breaking debut album “Sour,” which did incredibly well in terms of sales, is still in the cultural zeitgeist 2 years later. Rodrigo’s debut single “Driver’s License” took over social media when it got tied to a Disney love triangle and skyrocketed to number one for 8 weeks straight
“GUTS” has a more mature lyrical structure compared to her first piece of work, but both albums carry similar synths and sounds create an aesthetic that serves as a product of her fresh, young voice.
Emerging artists are not allowed as much musical freedom compared to those who have a loyal fanbase that will listen no matter what. The message for both of these albums are similar to many angsty teen albums, written about heartbreak, fear and frustration. “GUTS” follows the older sister album stereotype, that chronicles the anxieties of entering your twenties and leaving those teenage days behind. The realization that the man you’re infatuated with is full of lies is written all over this album, also followed by themes of empowering female friendships.
Rodrigo sticks to what she feels comfortable with, and if that has similar revelations to her previous album, that is conventional for her and the story she tells. Her latest single “bad idea right?” has been trending on TikTok and social media since its release, but people are still questioning as to why that was chosen as a single rather than some of the other tracks.
Time will tell if “GUTS” surpasses the accusations of being a slump album, or just another teenage hit.
In the nature of visiting Olivia Rodrigo’s pop-punk album, I decided to look into one of my favorite artists, Alanis Morrisette, to see where she lands when discussing sophomore albums and their success. Her second studio album “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie” was released almost three years after her infamous breakout album, “Jagged Little Pill.” The latter was named one of the best-selling albums of all time, which is an amazing accomplishment for a debut album and sets a hard precedent to follow.
Morissette’s lyrical changes from anger to much more calmer, introspective lyrics contributes to the alienating of the album from the start of its release. This led to issues with its popularity and sales, due to the album being seen as extraneous in the eyes of the public. Known to be a “misunderstood” follow up to her previous album, people expect things from an artist that might be unreachable for them as a writer.
Morissette had left her angst and frustration behind her, and was keen to move forward with her life and music. The disadvantage of already having the album being unrelatable by the audience may categorize it as a slump album. Selling ten million copies worldwide compared to the thirty million sold for “Jagged Little Pill” adds to the pressure that these artists have on the commercial side in terms of their sales. She was feeling this pressure from all angles, and wanted to continue to bask in that success. The sound on her second album is all her, but she seems to be pulled in all different directions rather than her clear decision of anger.
With sounds of warm fuzzy guitars and Arabic inspired melodies, it was a shock to those who were expecting ugly truths and eye rolling lyrics. One may even say that calling it a cohesive album is being kind, when discussing her sophomore album compared to her other works. Morissette had her own self doubt about releasing the album, and almost didn’t. Comparing any album to “Jagged Little Pill” is a hard game, but when taking a look at Morissette’s discography, her sophomore album is not one you can easily compare.
Female artists will always have to prove themselves, or reinvent themselves more and it seems that most female artists have come to terms with that, and it has not stopped them from continuing their success stories. An interesting thought to tackle is the way in which we define ‘The Sophomore Slump.’
Is a decrease in the sales between the first and second album a factor followed by a decline from the second to third, and so on? Or, is it entirely how the album is perceived by audiences? The success of the album may define how it plays out down the road, or whether the artist can just be defined as a one-hit wonder. Meanwhile, Alanis Morissette and Olivia Rodrigo both found themselves winning Grammys for their debut releases, which proves the success of those two albums. However, it does not act as a seal for their success, leading to this pressure of the sophomore album.
