I've been thinking a lot about the phrase "fall off" and how its used in such different contexts. Cole, for example, made his album based around the idea of retaining skills, meanwhile, fans often pick on artists whose sales are declining and say they "fell off". We know sales and quality aren't really the same thing

So to you, as a fan, when you think of artists who "fell off" are you thinking commercial success, or quality? or both

aesop rock

There are two types of fall offs in my opinion.

1. The Artistic Fall Off. When the quality of your latest works are collectively seen as not reaching the same heights as your prime works, but you are still doing well commercially. This is obviously subjective, but some artists this gets applied to are Taylor Swift, Eminem, Kanye, Drake, etc. Usually artists who reach that "too big to fail" level.

2. The Commercial Fall Off. Artists who are selling much less than they were at their peak, irrespective of the quality of their output. This one is completely objective, and applies to acts like Katy Perry, Big Sean, Meek Mill, Chance the Rapper, Usher, etc. These artists may score a hit every now and again, but for the most part their new music is not doing the same numbers or capturing the same cultural zeitgeist that they were in their commercial prime.

Artists can fall into both categories, but I feel like for the most part they moreso fall mostly into one

Means nothing to me tbh

I grew up during a time where a bad album didnt mean someone fell off, we just waited for the next album

When they gotta downgrade venues when touring

Find it the most interesting when artists are doing one of these things but the opposite of the other

For example when asher roth was in label purgatory and nobody gave af about him after i love college and his debut album, he dropped some pretty decent mixtapes that were a lot more artistically interesting (although i havent gone back to them to see how well they’ve aged lol)

Yea this is actually the exact example i use in the video its really the only one people can use as accurate just bc we don't have other tour data otherwise

when hadji make a video about you

making ass music

A noticable dip in quality and/or popularity in a relatively short amount of time compared to what level they were just at beforehand