- 6 weeks ago
We’re diving into the highs and lows of musical comebacks, spotlighting albums that either reignited fading careers or hastened their decline. From the raw emotion of Kim Petras’ independent breakthrough to the commercial misfires of Vanilla Ice’s nu-metal experiment, these albums tell stories of triumph and misstep. Tune in to explore how musical reinvention can make or break an artist’s legacy.
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00:00Was she worth it?
00:06Was I strong enough?
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:10And today, we're counting down our picks for albums that were hyped as a popular artist's return,
00:15separating the successes from the failures.
00:17Whatever you thought of albums like Chinese Democracy from Guns N' Roses,
00:21we're only covering solo artists.
00:23Don't rule the Bible
00:26I guess you'll find a point of sale
00:28Number 10. Fail. Bionic. Christina Aguilera
00:39Four years after her hit album Back to Basics,
00:42Christina Aguilera found herself in a new pop landscape as she entered the 2010s.
00:47Bionic seemed to be an attempt to measure up to the likes of Lady Gaga,
00:51in terms of superstardom in the futuristic electropop genre.
00:54But critics saw through this cynicism, and how it undermined the unadulterated vocal prowess that made Aguilera special.
01:08After debuting at number 3, Bionic became her worst-selling album.
01:12Until the next one came out.
01:14A growing cult following now looks back with admiration for the experimental ambitions that failed to hit with wider audiences
01:20at the time.
01:21The fact is that Aguilera's relevance in an ever-changing industry hasn't been the same since.
01:26Babe, you lost me
01:33Number 10. Success. Detour. Kim Petras.
01:37Started stumbles in the room. Next look to a non-stop. I'm a pop store.
01:43After breaking free from Republic Records' rigid creative and distribution control,
01:48pop provocateur Kim Petras stopped asking permission.
01:51Her new independent label, Bunheads, teased us with singles and the EP Pre-Tour over the course of a year,
01:57before Detour blew up in May 2026.
01:59There was a building there, and there was brutalist, and it was beautiful, yeah, yeah.
02:06Fans and critics praise the more raw, alternative production,
02:10as well as Petras' confessional songwriting after a decade of dealing with the showbiz machine.
02:15The chart performance was even comparable to that of her major label work.
02:19As Petras triumphantly reclaims her musical direction,
02:22Detour feels more like a victory lap around the gatekeepers.
02:25Cause I like your look. It's so extreme. You walk the street. So effortless me.
02:33Number 9. Fail. Bitch. Lizzo.
02:36It would be tough to sell an album with this title.
02:39We wouldn't have doubted Lizzo's ability to pull it off before the years of mixed reviews
02:43and personal controversies following 2022's acclaimed special.
02:47And you can ask me anything about it because I got dismissed from the case.
02:52Yeah, that's a big weight off your shoulders, I'm sure.
02:54Yes, and we're continuing to fight the other claims until they're all dismissed, and not dropped, dismissed.
03:02Listeners were split over her foregoing upbeat anthems for vulnerable,
03:07self-reliant homage to older R&B, hip-hop, and synth-funk.
03:11The lack of clear artistic direction made it feel more outdated than retro.
03:14If you call me bad things, I'm gonna be bad, baby.
03:23After its June 2026 debut, Bitch's commercial direction would only head downwards from starting at number 46 on the U
03:30.S. chart.
03:31Whether Lizzo can return to her mainstream magic from here,
03:34the misstep shows that consumers are at least reluctant to welcome her back.
03:38If this ain't it, just tell me tonight. Don't make me love you.
03:45Number 9. Success. Light Years. Kylie Minogue.
03:49We stay, my baby. Who knows when we'll dance again.
03:56From the bubblegum teen scene of the 80s, Kylie Minogue conquered the alt-pop world through most of the following
04:02decade.
04:02But sales dwindled so much toward the end that she lost a contract with Deconstruction Records.
04:08Parlophone offered a lifeline, and Light Years rang in the new millennium with gloriously campy disco.
04:21Spearheaded by Spinning Around, Minogue's first U.K. number one in over a decade,
04:26the album as a whole topped the charts in her native Australia.
04:29Light Years proved to be one of the great turnarounds in modern pop,
04:33restoring Minogue's status as dance floor royalty.
04:36One year later, the smash single, Can't Get You Out of My Head,
04:39cemented the princess of pop as a permanent icon.
04:50Number 8. Fail. Cyberpunk. Billy Idol.
04:54It's true. You say the shame of all things do.
05:00Awesome momentum in the 80s was set to carry the radio-friendly punk Billy Idol into triumph in the 90s.
05:06But a motorcycle crash at the top of the decade nearly cost him his leg,
05:10before grunge cost him his relevance.
05:13Idol's answer was Cyberpunk,
05:14a home-recorded concept album built on Mac computers and William Gibson novels.
05:26Critics savaged the ambitious project as a pretentious misunderstanding of musical trends ahead of the digital age.
05:33The critics were proven right by an embarrassing commercial performance.
05:37It would be 12 years before Idol followed with Devil's Playground,
05:41beginning a slow return to form.
05:43Cyberpunk taught him the hard way about the risks in rushing into the future.
05:47Make me scream all night, all night long.
05:53Number 8. Success. Confessions to. Madonna.
05:57People think that dance music is superficial.
06:00But they've got it all wrong.
06:03The dance floor is not just a police.
06:062026 marked seven years since the acclaimed Madame X underperformed relative only to Madonna.
06:11While she's never lost her prestige as the godmother of dance pop,
06:15we needed a reminder that she could challenge any of today's superstars.
06:19And she gave us that in very 2020s blockbuster fashion, with a legacy sequel.
06:33Confessions 2 continues the fusion of futuristic jams and progressively profound songwriting
06:38that made the masterpiece Confessions on a Dance Floor a sensation in 2005.
06:43The project was accompanied by a mega viral short film and multiple editions of the album,
06:48all competing for the top of charts worldwide.
06:50If there were any whispers about who might be the next queen of pop,
06:54Confessions 2 declares that there's only one, Madonna.
07:04Number 7. Fail. The Spirit Indestructible. Nelly Furtado.
07:17The 2006 multi-platinum phenomenon Luz was expected to turn Nelly Furtado
07:22into one of the biggest stars in North America.
07:25She risked it all by releasing the Spanish-language Mi Plan
07:28through her personal label Nelstar Music.
07:38Despite its acclaim and niche success, a six-year absence from the English market
07:42meant that the Spirit Indestructible couldn't afford to miss the cultural mark.
07:46Still, no one expected the polarizing album to end up debuting at number 79 on the Billboard 200.
07:53This put a decisive end to Furtado's major label career,
07:56though she'd continue to enjoy modest success on the indie scene through Nelstar releases.
08:06Number 7. Success. Bangers. Miley Cyrus.
08:10I just started living.
08:18The shelf life of Disney superstardom was coming to an end as Miley Cyrus entered her 20s.
08:23After shifting priorities toward acting and parting ways with Hollywood Records in 2013,
08:29she grew up fast with RCA.
08:31Bangers embraced modern hip-hop and electropop with a disarmingly rebellious new image for Cyrus.
08:44Audiences were divided by the rebrand,
08:47but loved the record,
08:48which topped charts worldwide alongside record-breaking singles like We Can't Stop and Wrecking Ball.
08:54A new era of edgier music and acting hits then followed.
08:57The triple platinum bangers proved Cyrus could not only be the architect of her own adulthood,
09:02but pushed the boundaries of the whole pop ecosystem.
09:05It's our song we can sing if we want to.
09:08It's my mouth, I can say what I want to say.
09:11Number 6. Fail. Everything I Thought I Was. Justin Timberlake.
09:19In the years following 2013's triumphant The 2020 Experience,
09:26Justin Timberlake was felled by declining relevance and mounting scandals.
09:302018's experimental Man of the Woods sank to a frosty reception after debuting at number 1.
09:36And Everything I Thought I Was saw an even more dramatic fall
09:39from the heights of a relatively modest March 2024 release.
09:49The sprawling, genre-bending opus was criticized as overlong and uneven,
09:55but also conservatively formulaic.
09:57Instead of renewing Timberlake's once unparalleled status as R&B pop royalty,
10:02Everything I Thought I Was confirmed him to be a has-been.
10:05Now pop culture is indeed moving on with questions of what we ever thought America's Golden Boy was.
10:16Number 6. Success. Rainbow. Kesha.
10:19I knew I had to change and learn to take care of and love myself.
10:27Rainbow was the beginning.
10:29Not only a major departure from her party girl persona,
10:32Kesha's Rainbow aimed for a meta-narrative amid the backlash and scandals that threatened to burn her out early.
10:37This was her first record outside the purview of Dr. Luke,
10:41the producer she was suing for years of abuse.
10:44It's a battle cry of empowerment and freedom,
10:47which won further praise for its experiments in several genres and sounds.
10:56From the lead single Praying to the top of the Billboard Hot 200,
11:00Rainbow completely reinvented Kesha,
11:02and the world was eager to follow her to the high road and beyond.
11:06I just say this is it, I wish you farewell.
11:09I hope you're so afraid.
11:13Number 5. Fail.
11:14This is me now, Jennifer Lopez.
11:17Timing wasn't kind to JLo in 2024.
11:20When it feels right, nothing else matters.
11:25Is this real life too good to be true?
11:29Her first album in a decade was released alongside a documentary and visual album,
11:34and meant to show a more mature version of Jenny from the Block.
11:37I know what they say about me.
11:41About hopeless romantics.
11:44That we're weak.
11:47And I'm not weak.
11:48Reviewers were quick to point out that This Is Me Now didn't necessarily reflect that maturity.
11:54The song seems stuck between the dance anthem she's known for and something a bit more high-minded and poetic.
12:00It didn't help that the inspiration for the album, her marriage to Ben Affleck,
12:04was over less than six months after its release.
12:07I don't think he's very comfortable with me doing all of this.
12:10But he loves me, he knows I'm an artist, and he's gonna support me in every way he can.
12:15Circumstances can change just that quickly.
12:18Though Jennifer Lopez's recovery from This Is Me Now is taking a while.
12:22Number 5. Success.
12:24American Recordings.
12:26Johnny Cash.
12:26After 28 years of collaboration, Columbia Records dropped Johnny Cash in 1986 due to plummeting record sales.
12:34She was low down and trifling.
12:37And she was cold and mean.
12:40Country music's growing market for pop crossover left little place for even the most celebrated traditionalists.
12:46And yet, producer Rick Rubin chose to embrace that traditionalism by recording Cash with nothing more than an acoustic guitar.
12:53I was crazy and I was wild and I have seen the tiger smile.
12:58I spit in a bamboo viper's face and I'd be dead but by God's grace drive home.
13:05American Recordings was the first release by the label of the same name.
13:09Overwhelmingly acclaimed for its raw folk storytelling.
13:12Despite weak initial mainstream sales, it was a hit on country charts worldwide.
13:17It also initiated the American album series that Rubin continued beyond Cash's passing in 2003.
13:23By then, the man in black had been embraced by a new generation as a lifelong master maverick of his
13:29genre.
13:29God help the beast and me.
13:38The beast and me.
13:52As edgier forms of hip-hop were scrubbing the young genre's squeaky clean mainstream image,
13:57even MC Hammer was in free fall by the 90s.
14:00His parachute was to be the funky headhunter,
14:03a gritty and socially conscious twist on his radio-friendly jam.
14:06Unfortunately, the sudden aesthetic and lyrical shift felt completely artificial even to the loyal fans.
14:13Gangsta rap listeners just thought of Hammer as a poser.
14:21Fueled by the lead single Pumps and a Bump and controversy surrounding its music video,
14:26the funky headhunter was a commercial success.
14:28But its failure to save Hammer's mainstream appeal rendered it a symbol of a rough decade for hip-hop's first
14:34pop star.
14:35At least he'd find solid niche success by over-correcting toward Christian hip-hop.
14:40I held on and I didn't give up because I had the good lord laying in the cut for what?
14:45I don't know him for what?
14:46I can't see him.
14:47Number 4. Success.
14:49Circus.
14:49Britney Spears.
14:51My eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus.
14:55When I go flip, flip, flip, everybody gonna trip just like a circus.
14:59It's safe to say that the mid-2000s were not kind to the princess of pop.
15:03Naysayers were certain her career was over before circus came to town in 2008.
15:08It was classic Britney Spears, with up-tempo dance hits like the title track,
15:13Womanizer, and the hilariously controversial If You Seek Amy.
15:24She stomped back into the mainstream with a vengeance and a tongue-in-cheek humor about it.
15:30Unfortunately, Britney Jean failed to restore momentum after a four-year hiatus,
15:34followed by over a decade of personal and professional conflict.
15:38For a time at least, circus was a historic feat of a scandalized starlet owning the narrative.
15:51Number 3. Fail.
15:53In My Defense.
15:54Iggy Azalea.
15:55After all the backlash and accusations of cultural appropriation,
15:59Iggy Azalea's 2014 debut album The New Classic was a colossal hit.
16:04First things first, I'm the realest.
16:06Realest.
16:06Drop this and let the whole world feel it.
16:08Let them feel it.
16:09Instead of running to capitalize on that success,
16:12the rapper took five years to independently release, In My Defense.
16:16This was hard to defend after the critics got through with it.
16:19What little authenticity there was to Azalea's divisive brand
16:23had faded to formulaic, superficial bragging.
16:26You started out hating, now you love me.
16:28I bitch ain't looking at me.
16:29They not looking at you.
16:31I don't mean to be rude.
16:32I'ma tell you it too.
16:34Just two years after In My Defense fell short on the charts,
16:37End of an Era proved to be a sleeper hit.
16:40But true to its name, it triggered no comeback
16:42before Azalea's formal retirement in 2024.
16:45I got my coins, but still gonna look for him to pay it.
16:48News broke the net.
16:49I hate to be the one to say it.
16:51Number 3.
16:52Success.
16:52Believe.
16:53Cher.
16:54It was unthinkable that Cher would lose cultural relevance
16:57before she entered disco at the end of the fad,
17:00becoming preoccupied with acting,
17:01and stuck to ballads through most of the 90s.
17:04Then she did the unthinkable again for a faded pop icon in her 50s.
17:08Do you believe in life after love?
17:141998's Believe was praised for nailing European dance pop
17:17in both timing and technique.
17:19The title track went particularly bold
17:22by stylishly warping Cher's legendary voice
17:24with an effect that would be popularly known as auto-tune.
17:28Do you hear me?
17:31Do you want me?
17:33She became the oldest female artist
17:36to top the Billboard singles chart
17:37before the whole album came out
17:39to be the biggest commercial success of her entire career.
17:42Cher has stood tall
17:43between classic and futuristic pop ever since.
17:46It's true
17:48Now I'm telling you
17:50that I'm strong enough
17:52Number 2.
17:53Fail.
17:54143.
17:55Katy Perry.
17:56Open your eyes
18:05After dedicating herself mostly to hosting American Idol,
18:08Katy Perry started a new era with the thud
18:11that was 143.
18:13Instead of fanfare,
18:14the lead single Woman's World
18:15was welcomed with confusion and vitriol
18:17as a feminist message produced by alleged abuser Dr. Luke.
18:21The truth is I wrote these songs from my experience
18:24of my whole life going through this metamorphosis.
18:27And he was one of the people to help facilitate all that.
18:31One of the writers, one of the producers.
18:33Most critics didn't find anything else to like
18:35on the outdated, seemingly uninspired album.
18:38Between this and the controversy,
18:40it had the lowest charting debut of any of Perry's pop albums.
18:43It fell off the Billboard 200 entirely after two weeks.
18:47Neither the singer's clout nor her reputation has bounced back since.
19:00Number 2.
19:01Success.
19:02The Emancipation of Mimi.
19:03Mariah Carey.
19:11When her first starring role in a film
19:13turned out to be anything but glittering,
19:15Mariah Carey was essentially putting her career on pause
19:18while she licked her wounds.
19:20She came back with an album that shattered records
19:22and reintroduced the elusive Chanteuse to her public.
19:26The Emancipation of Mimi was one hit after another.
19:34Marrying her pop and R&B sound with dance and hip-hop,
19:37the song Bird Supreme perfectly distilled that mid-2000s moment.
19:41Emancipation also earned praise for its songwriting
19:44alongside that iconic whistle-vocal range.
19:47Topping lists of 2005's best releases,
19:50with three Grammys to affirm that,
19:52the Emancipation of Mimi is still recognized as a timeless achievement.
20:11Before we continue, check out this single from Sound Mojo's Adia,
20:15Songs from Iran,
20:17reimagining Persian melodies as modern rock, metal, and pop songs.
20:21Check out the full track and album below.
20:37Number one fail, hard to swallow, Vanilla Ice.
20:41As sudden as the stardom hit,
20:42Vanilla Ice's fall was quicker and harder.
20:44He was accused of lying about his background,
20:46claiming he grew up in the Miami ghetto
20:48when he was actually raised in the Dallas suburbs.
20:51Few people have ever seen as many accusations of fakery
20:54and inauthenticity in rap music as Vanilla Ice.
20:58As a result, the Ice Ice Baby rapper tried to reinvent himself in the late 90s
21:02by tackling the new metal trends that were dominating the charts at the time.
21:13The only positive thing that most listeners could say about Hard to Swallow is that it was aptly named.
21:19After Ice skewered his critics,
21:21they were the ones vindicated when it failed to chart.
21:24As subsequent releases continued to struggle,
21:27Vanilla Ice was at last melted by his haters.
21:37Number one, success, private dancer, Tina Turner.
21:42I'm your private dancer, a dancer for money.
21:46Do what you want me to do.
21:49In the aftermath of her divorce from the abusive Ike Turner,
21:52Tina was relegated to the status of a novelty act.
21:55Then she was signed by Capitol Records
21:57and the second half of her legendary career took off.
22:08Private dancer is wall-to-wall bangers,
22:11including the seductive title song written by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.
22:15The second U.S. single, What's Love Got To Do With It,
22:18instantly became Turner's signature song.
22:20What's Love Got To Do, It's Got To Do With It,
22:25What's Love But A Secondhand Emotion?
22:29Bringing distinctive R&B rasp to an 80s rock hook,
22:33Private Dancer wasn't just one of the greatest comeback stories in popular music,
22:37it crowned Turner the queen of rock and roll.
22:40What are your favorite musical comeback stories,
22:43triumphant or tragic?
22:44Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
22:50Read it.
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