Charli XCX isn’t the only pop girl who has beef with Taylor Swift following the release of The Life of a Showgirl!
According to Hollywood insider Rob Shuter on his Substack on Tuesday, Adele is furious with the 35-year-old singer! Why? The Rolling in the Deep artist feels she is using a “cheap trick” to boost her album sales and break records.
For the rollout of The Life of a Showgirl, Tay Tay released several limited-edition color vinyl variants, limited batches of signed CDs, and acoustic bonus track albums. The Grammy winner even held listening parties at theaters across the country and reduced the iTunes price to $4.99. All done in the hopes of coming out on top. And you know what? Her tactics worked!
Related: CNN Dragged For ‘Sexist’ & ‘Problematic’ Taylor Swift Article!
Citing data tracking firm Luminate, Billboard reported she surpassed 3.5 million equivalent album units, representing both sales and streaming, in the first week. That means she broke the record previously held by Adele’s 25, which secured 3.482 million units during its first week in December 2015. Impressive!
Adele still holds the record for actual album sales sans streaming — but probably not for much longer! The Hello artist scored 3.378 million for physical and digital copies in the first week. Tay currently sits at 3.2 million in only five days. She is very close to Adele’s numbers, so she has a strong chance of smashing that record, too! Especially if she keeps dropping more variants!
It is an incredible feat for Taylor! However, her business tactics have her fellow musicians reportedly “enraged” right now! Shuter reported a rival executive slammed the Opalite songstress for slashing the album price within days of its release to break a sales record, saying:
“It’s a cheap trick — literally. Taylor’s gaming the system. Everyone knows it.”
Another source claimed “everyone” includes Adele. She is reportedly “quietly livid” over the situation. The insider explained:
“Adele believes records should be earned, not discounted. She worked for those numbers — Taylor’s just buying them.”
We have a feeling Adele isn’t the only one reportedly annoyed about her strategy! Billie Eilish, who threw shade at Taylor for releasing so many album variants last year, probably is as well! Another Grammy winner complained to Shuter:
“If we all dropped our albums to five bucks, we’d all go platinum.”
And at the end of the day, her tactics are working — whether her peers like it or not! People are buying and streaming the album! As another insider pointed out:
“Taylor plays to win — and right now, no one can stop her.”
Say what you want about Taylor, but she is a mastermind when it comes to music and business. There is no doubt about that. We’ll see if she is successful in beating Adele when the final results are announced by Billboard on Sunday.
What are your thoughts on the matter, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments!
[Image via Hits Radio/The Graham Norton Show/YouTube]