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The music industry has a long history of trying to manufacture the next big thing — but it doesn't always work out as planned. Join us as we count down musicians and artists who were heavily pushed by the industry but ultimately failed to reach the heights that were expected of them. Which of these artists do you think deserved more success? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00People forget that doing something repetitively over and over again, it can get very monotonous.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 18 musicians and artists who were unsuccessfully
00:12pushed on us by the powers that be in the music industry.
00:21Madison Beer. Although the jury is still out on just how far Madison Beer can climb before
00:27all is said and done, it's pretty clear that she received more than a little help along the way.
00:39After getting a few pushes and cosigns from established artists, Beer just seemed to appear
00:44out of nowhere at the end of the 2010s.
00:55Despite the support of singers like Justin Bieber, she hasn't consistently translated
00:59buzz into major chart dominance.
01:08Sure, she has the look and seemingly the connections necessary to succeed, but most critics agree
01:14that finding a unique, artistic identity would truly elevate her to another level.
01:23Kelly Osbourne. The perks of having an uber-famous and well-respected music legend as your father
01:28were not lost on Kelly Osbourne.
01:37There are very few people who would argue that she didn't spring into the public eye thanks to nepotism.
01:42It's an undeniable fact. First, it was the TV show The Osbournes which led to her own solo career as
01:48a singer.
01:53Despite some chart successes, she was never truly built to last as a musician.
02:03In 2005, following the release of her second album, she largely dipped out of music and focused on
02:09television appearances instead.
02:21Kiara. After emerging in 2015 with her breakout single,
02:25Gold, Kiara looked set to take the world by storm.
02:28And if you love me, love me, but you never let me go.
02:32Her aesthetic and overall style seemed tailor-made for the era in question,
02:37not to mention that she was aided by strategic placements and industry backing.
02:47The issues became clear when her first major hit needed a follow-up.
02:55The foundation was there, but expanding her sound out into something fully formed eventually became a
03:01problem. Aside from a 2017 collaboration with Linkin Park, Kiara, forgive the pun, has never
03:07managed to strike gold again. Ultimately, her momentum slowed down entirely, and she remained
03:13associated more with one song than a sustained career arc.
03:21Blueface. Any artist who enjoys a rapid rise to fame with a very trendy sound on the back of a
03:27bunch of cosigns is bound to come under suspicion at some point.
03:36Blueface is one such artist, a rapper who was an instant magnet for viral success,
03:41and controversy in equal measure. His offbeat style of rapping made him stick out,
03:47and his meme ability kept him at the forefront of our minds.
03:52However, the novelty of Blueface's style never seemed like it was built to last.
04:01Eventually, he became more known for his personality and his latest scandal, more than the music itself.
04:07If there's one thing history has shown, it's that spectacle alone can only get you so far.
04:15Ashley Tisdale. As another star who rose to prominence on the back of a major push from Disney,
04:21Ashley Tisdale seemed set for world domination.
04:28Following the success of her role in High School Musical, Tisdale launched a solo singing career,
04:33releasing her debut album in 2007.
04:40That LP, and its 2009 follow-up, seemed to prove that there was a market for her talents.
04:50However, the 2010s showed something quite different. Her critics argued that the industry leveraged her
04:56existing audience, rather than cultivating a real artistic lean for Tisdale. Then, as the Disney machine
05:02moved on to overseeing the growth of its next batch of stars, her music career kind of lost its primary
05:08engine.
05:13Ashley Simpson.
05:20Looking back on it now, it does seem odd that Ashley Simpson got such a hard time over lip-syncing,
05:26when countless high-profile singers have been guilty of it over the years. However,
05:30that famous SNL backing trap mishap ended up killing her artistic credibility and momentum,
05:36before it had truly had the chance to make her mark.
05:43It was clear that her reality TV presence, and the image she was marketed under,
05:47were meticulously crafted to gain her favor with a specific audience. Simpson was pushed as an edgy
05:53alternative to mainstream pop, but found it hard to be seen as authentic after that iconic TV blunder.
06:04The Calling. It would seem like a band whose debut single topped the US Adult Top 40 for 23 weeks,
06:10would be destined for a long and successful career, right?
06:18Well, for The Calling, they ended up having one of the most top-heavy careers of their era. Bursting
06:23onto the scene with a grungy alt-rock sound, The Calling struck gold with Wherever You Will Go,
06:29a song that became the second longest-running chart leader in Adult Top 40 history.
06:39Even with the industry pushing them onwards, they simply couldn't find the material to follow it up.
06:50Subsequent releases fell further and further down the charts before,
06:54eventually, their initial splash felt like a distant memory.
06:57Let's make the best out of our lives.
07:02Brooke Hogan. Being the daughter of the legendary pro-wrestling figure Hulk Hogan,
07:06certainly opened up a few doors for his daughter Brooke.
07:13In other words, her move into music and television would almost certainly never have
07:18happened if it weren't for his influence. Sure, she did hit the Billboard Top 40 with About Us,
07:23but time would prove her singing career to be a flash in the pan.
07:30By the time her sophomore effort came out, the hype had almost entirely died down,
07:35leading to a spot well outside the top 100. She swiftly changed course, diverting her attention away
07:41from music, likely understanding that the push she originally received had brought her as far as she
07:46would ever go.
07:47I'm falling in love. I never thought I'd fall in love.
07:53JoJo Siwa.
08:00In the late 2010s, Nickelodeon put a great deal of effort into making JoJo Siwa their next big star.
08:07Despite the push, she never quite reached mainstream stardom.
08:10Her initial persona was characterized by bright colors and a childlike enthusiasm,
08:16but she's since rebranded to look more gothic.
08:25Her 2016 track Boomerang has over a billion views on YouTube, but on regular streaming services,
08:32she's a long way from mainstream. After leaving Nickelodeon, she released the EP Guilty Pleasure,
08:38which received a fair share of negative criticism. Even though her music isn't as lucrative as hoped,
08:44she's still a prominent social media influencer.
08:52Quavo. If you kept up with the charts during the 2010s, you may remember when it felt like
08:57Quavo was a feature on every single charting track.
09:06His career was kickstarted as the frontman of Migos, a now disbanded rap group.
09:11Quavo managed to get featured on a plethora of top 10 singles from artists like Post Malone,
09:16Justin Bieber, and DJ Khaled.
09:25His first solo album made some noise. In 2023, his second album, Rocket Power, had moderate success,
09:33but it's a long way from mainstream. So he can hardly be considered a failure,
09:37but he hasn't become as big as the industry hoped.
09:40I took a loss, but you still gonna get beat. You still gonna get beat.
09:4450-50. This K-pop girl group debuted in 2022,
09:48and quickly achieved global fame with their track Cupid.
09:57They wouldn't maintain this momentum for long, however. In 2023, the group filed a lawsuit against
10:04their label, Attract. The court sided with Attract, and the case was dismissed in August 2023. Soon after,
10:12three of the four members were fired. They've since hired four more members, but the scandal has
10:17seriously tanked their reputation. Subsequent releases haven't come close to reaching the fame of Cupid,
10:22and they're unlikely to recover.
10:28The fired members have started their own group, Abloom, which achieved moderate success with their
10:34debut track, Echo, but has also been somewhat tainted by the scandal.
10:38Wherever you go, I go. I'll always be your echo, echo.
10:45Cody Simpson. Back when Bieber fever had spread wildly across the globe,
10:50Australia decided to respond with their own act, Cody Simpson.
10:54You like your music video, video, video, video. I could listen to one day.
10:59His early marketing presented him as a teen heartthrob, but he never overtook Bieber as hoped. He
11:05wasn't a total failure. He earned a name for himself in his home country and had some success
11:09internationally. But as he grew and matured, he never succeeded at becoming an adult pop star,
11:15unlike Bieber. In 2022, he shifted careers and became a professional swimmer.
11:21You know, I have to find myself in the right time at the right moment mentally to be able to
11:26do what
11:27it is I want to do. Unfortunately, it also didn't go too well, as he failed to qualify for the
11:322024
11:32Olympics. As a result, he's returning to music.
11:36See, I've been working on music for the last couple of months and I'm getting pretty close
11:38with like a project that I'm really, really happy with. It's kind of been a process of trial and error.
11:44I've kind of like been making a bunch of stuff, canning it, making much stuff, canning it. But for
11:48me, that's the process of an artist. Jayden Smith
11:51I am just an icon living, shot a record label, Miss Fish just did it. Whoa, I'm high style, cover
11:56five
11:56minutes. Whoa, we are so hot in the business. Two of Will Smith's three children, Jayden and Willow,
12:03have tried following in their father's footsteps and becoming mainstream musicians. Willow has arguably
12:08been fairly successful, releasing a variety of popular tracks and albums. Jayden, on the other hand,
12:14hasn't reached the same level of mainstream fame. Even though he's collaborated with huge names like
12:25Tyler the Creator and Justin Bieber, he's never become part of hip hop's top dogs. Instead,
12:31Jayden is more known for his acting, fashion and his hilarious tweets. If newborn babies could speak,
12:37they would be the most intelligent beings on planet earth. The music has always felt secondary to the
12:42public, but he's acquired a cult following despite this. Sky Ferreira. Our next entry might be the most
12:48complex case on the list. In 2013, Ferreira released her debut album, Nighttime My Time,
12:56which received many positive reviews. Afterwards, she disappeared from the scene for years. For over
13:09a decade, she's teased a follow-up album, but as of this writing, it's still not released. Her label
13:15has been desperate for her to become a mainstream pop star, but they've never seen eye to eye. She
13:20considers herself a perfectionist and has accused her label of sabotage.
13:30A lot of the issues stem from her label giving her a lack of creative control,
13:34so the industry has been pushing her to become a star, but she just wants to make the music that
13:39makes her happy. Ice Spice. The presence of social media makes viral explosions happen a lot faster
13:52than ever before, making the idea of an overnight success more realistic than ever before.
14:01Ice Spice certainly was the creator of her own initial spark. No one can deny that.
14:06Ice Spice. However, once that spark turned into a small flame, she was swiftly integrated into high
14:16profile collaborations and an all too familiar circuit. It may be premature to rule her out entirely,
14:27but critics are quick to point out that the quality of the music itself hasn't quite delivered on the
14:31hype. Iggy Azalea. In 2014, Azalea was dominating the charts with her monster hit Fancy featuring Charlie
14:40XCX. Now, Azalea is kind of niche, whereas Charlie XCX is one of pop's biggest names. Azalea's later tracks
14:54flopped hard, and her 2019 album was a commercial failure. A lot of it was her own doing, it turns
15:07out.
15:07For instance, in 2015, she was accused of tweeting racist and homophobic statements. She then started
15:13beef with her label, Britney Spears, Halsey, and even her mentor, T.I. After struggling for years to
15:20regain relevance, she retired from music completely in 2024. I just don't feel that I am comfortable
15:27being that level open to the public. Kim Petras. In 2021, Petras signed with a major label after years
15:36of releasing music independently. This allowed her to collaborate with artists like Nicki Minaj,
15:41Sam Smith, and the controversial Dr. Luke. Her track Unholy with Sam Smith won a Grammy award,
15:52making her the first trans woman to win in a major pop category.
15:57And when you want it, baby, I know I got you covered. And when you need it, baby, just jump
16:02another
16:03dub ride. Regardless of this, her solo career has never topped the charts. Her longtime fans felt
16:09alienated by her label-driven pop, but it wasn't catchy enough to attract new fans. Still, Petras has
16:16achieved huge milestones for trans representation in pop music. She's clearly talented, but she's
16:22unlikely to achieve full-on pop stardom as her label has hoped.
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16:57Millie Vanille. If you ever needed proof of how one scandal can truly rock a pop group to its core,
17:03look no further than Millie Vanille.
17:10The problem with this late 80s sensation wasn't just that they were found to be lip-syncing on stage,
17:15or even that they had virtually no part in the production of their own songs.
17:27The whole thing became a punchline because of the simple fact that Frank Farian designed the
17:32duo with the intention of deceiving the public, and the truth eventually came to light.
17:40Their total inability to recover highlighted how essential authenticity is to longevity,
17:45turning them into a cautionary tale about prioritizing image over substance.
17:52Who do you consider to be the biggest industry plant of them all? Let us know in the comments.
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