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OOC: No real thread for this album. Just having a bit of fun with a story :)THE ZONE'S LIAM ALLEN SELLS A MEAGER 930 COPIES OF DEBUT SOLO ALBUMWhat goes up must come down is an age-old saying which will forever ring true and a phrase that sadly applies to Liam Allen this week as his debut solo album, "The Showstopper", only managed to sell 930 copies and limped in at an abysmal #189 on Chart Heat Albums. Allen previously enjoyed success of epic proportions and dizzying heights as part of four-piece American boy band "The Zone" in the early-to-mid 2010's. The group, comprised of Allen, Blake Williams, Chris Adams and Jason Ochoa-Steele, formed in 2012 and were hailed as an American alternative to British-Irish pop group sensation "Weekend". Whilst Allen's group didn't last as long or rack up a multitude of hits like their counterpart, "The Zone" still held their own for numerous years, accumulating a dedicated fanbase, international recognition and several top ten hits alongside a Platinum certified, top 5 album in the form of "The High Life". One of few boybands to survive and steadily sell during "WeekendMania". Since the band's demise in 2015, however, chart success and solo stardom has eluded Liam. Allen is the second member of the defunct boy band to release a solo album, following in the footsteps of Blake Williams' "Rewrite" which hit the shelves last summer. After the group parted ways, all four members fell out of the spotlight to live fairly reclusive lives not only away from public gaze but from the entire music industry altogether. Expectations for Liam were high, however, often being dubbed as the most "handsome" member of the band alongside a brief stint on the ill-fated fifth season of Celebrity Big Brother. It seemed as though Allen was being tailored and set-up to be the next hunky pop boy but everything quickly fell silent after the cancellation of CBB5. In the interim, it was Blake Williams who would rise to solo stardom. Whilst the cousin of Mandy Williams was out causing controversy and pushing out very candid records that got tongues wagging, Liam almost fell into complete obscurity, making no further public appearances and having very little online presence. With no prior announcement or teaser, Allen dropped his debut solo single "All That Glitters" in May 2021. The song generated very little buzz online and failed to chart, currently tallying at a mere 21k streams of Spotify - far from the numbers one would expect for an ex-boybander launching a solo career in the pop field. Liam's debut album, "The Showstopper", faired even worse, shifting a measly 930 copies in its opening week. It made its chart debut last week, coming in at the dizzying heights of #189. In comparison, Blake Williams' debut album "Rewrite" peaked at #1 and is currently still charting within the Top 20 almost exactly a year after its release. Allen's effort is projected to fall out of the Top 200 entirely in its second week with sales currently even lower. So what happened with "The Showstopper"? Both Liam and Blake self-funded their debut projects and released independently yet the results couldn't be more polarising. Whilst Williams had a famous surname, controversy, industry connections and slick production to propel his project, Liam's effort sadly feels bare-bones in all areas in comparison. Despite the very few critics who actually reviewed "The Showstopper" praising its "fun" and "upbeat" content, almost all of them have counteracted their points with the fact that the material sounds "cheap" and "faceless" while also criticising the use of autotune and Allen's "thin" voice. Lack of funding also creeps over into promotional materials with many fans being unaware that Liam actually has an album out. "The Showstopper" is also only available on streaming and digital services. Whilst Spotify and Apple Music are the heavy-hitters when it comes to music consumption, a huge portion of sales these days comes from multiple variants of physical media. A vinyl, CD and cassette would count for three different sales whereas one simple stream doesn't. A "limited signed CD" edition of "The Showstopper" is currently available for pre-order but will not be released until September, a few months too late to do any real damage control surrounding the poor-selling record. Liam has yet to comment on the disappointing sales figures whilst official Chart Heat accounts and pages have also failed to report on the stats for the album. "The Showstopper" is available to stream and purchase digitally now. Edited by user 08 July 2021 06:34:00(UTC)
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WEEKEND: BILLY • DUSTYN • OSCAR • RILEY • SCOTT PUBLIC WARNING: BEAU • CARTER LEE • JAKE • MYLES • ZANDER THE STAT NERDS: BRIAN • CHRISTOPHER THE ZONE: BLAKE • CHRIS • JASON • LIAM
JOSHUA GRIMMIE • LINCOLN • LAYLA • MERCEDES • MICHELLE GREEN ANDREA • DENEIL • CHICAGO NOBODY • BLOOM • SONNY • VICTORIA BLACK REUBEN • ELLIE-GRACE SUMMERS • ALFIE SUMMERS • MICAH DELISLE JAMIE JACKSON • KONSTANTIN • FAYETTE • SAYYID |
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