Thread: Why did Untitled flop?

I was just looking at Kellz sales statistics and you can see a big drop from Double Up to Untitled. Especially, in the international markets. In the UK Double Up sold 45,000 copies and Untitled only sold 15,000 copies. Do you guys think it was the lack of promotion or the music? Is it because people lost interest in R&B music? Idk. Thoughts?

I think it was a lack of promotion and just a general lack of cohesiveness and direction on the album. Lots of the material was from 12 Play 4th Quarter which everyone who is a fan has already heard, and the other songs were just ok IMO. It didnt have the bangers that Double Up has. I think he's fine with it. It doesn't seem like the project was a huge deal to him...he didn't even know what to name it. He found himself and came back hard with Love Letter.

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Originally Posted by kellzfan
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I think it was a lack of promotion and just a general lack of cohesiveness and direction on the album. Lots of the material was from 12 Play 4th Quarter which everyone who is a fan has already heard, and the other songs were just ok IMO. It didnt have the bangers that Double Up has. I think he's fine with it. It doesn't seem like the project was a huge deal to him...he didn't even know what to name it. He found himself and came back hard with Love Letter.

I agree..it didn't have a banger like DU did...also I think his fan base didn't care for DU so they lost interest but that happens to every artist in their careers..

Imo untitled wasn't a good album although it had a few songs I still listen to...it's a lot of folks that LL is his comeback album after the trial...so it was a lack of promo but like Kellzfan said he didn't seem to care and it showed..

huh! not understanding how Untitled wasnt a good album is coming from. I think it was a good album. the only songs I didnt care for were Go Low, Text Me & Pregnant. Thats 12 of 15 sings that were good. I think it was the choice of the first single & yes a direction. It seemed like the album was going in a pop-ish direction so thats what I wouldve went with. Had I had the choice of choosing a single to kick off the album, I wouldve kept One Day On This Earth & used that as the first single. The first 4 tracks were bangers to me & Be My Number 2 wasnt a bad track to follow up with. Either one of those wouldve been my 2nd single especially Echo which shouldve had a bigger impact. I do also think from reading comments some ppl thought Kelly was following the autotune trend so ppl thought Untitled was the same formula. I think Untitled is a better album than TP3 which by the same context basically went the same direction just it had an "official" title but had TITC as tracks (which I think shouldve had its own album). Most ppl did think he lost his mind in going that direction so maybe that in itself had something to do with the drop off with his base (or fake FANS I should say which I dislike).

Personally, I LOVE this album and I think it's crazy how it didn't sell well. I think it was promoted very poorly and Rob was just not interested in the project anymore.

Did Untitled really sell 15,000 here? I'm really surprised at that if it's true. It didn't chart at all here and I couldn't find it in any stores, I had to order online.

I think it's a good album, but if you compare it to any other RnB album coming out at that time it doesn't really stand out like all of R's other albums do. Poor single choices aswell, and when they chose a good single (Echo) they didn't even bother promoting it (and I won't even bother commenting on the video).

I still play it regularly to this day though, despite the quality of it not being as good as all his other albums, it is still one of my favourites

I loved Untitled I could listen to start to finish, basically Usher got Raymond vs Raymond from R.Kelly Untitled so yeah its a good album if people are copying the formula in my opinion.

Alot of people followed R. Kelly's Untitled formula and I enjoyed the album and it only had 2 songs from TP4 out of 15 two songs from a mixtape and the rest brand new original tracks. The album is still in my car. It just didn't have any direction but if you look at the comments on the songs people loved that album. Just didnt receive alot of promo plus undershipped just like Love Letter. Many people look at that album as a failure but he got a grammy nomination off it. It was just an experiment in sounds just like every other R. Kelly album with more of a mixtape layout

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Originally Posted by Exit
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Did Untitled really sell 15,000 here? I'm really surprised at that if it's true. It didn't chart at all here and I couldn't find it in any stores, I had to order online.

I think it's a good album, but if you compare it to any other RnB album coming out at that time it doesn't really stand out like all of R's other albums do. Poor single choices aswell, and when they chose a good single (Echo) they didn't even bother promoting it (and I won't even bother commenting on the video).

I still play it regularly to this day though, despite the quality of it not being as good as all his other albums, it is still one of my favourites

Yup -
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It also sold 25,000 in Japan. IMO, that proves that Kellz has the potential to do very well internationally again.

Thanks for the link. Sorry if I am of topic but I clicked the link about worldwide sales on this blog, and the sales are listed as 53 million (if double albums are counted twice). Now i remember the figures released by his team last year before Love Letter was released and they said the worldwide sales were 32 million (excluding double albums). But if you look at this list below and considering what we already know he has sold in the US for each album, I think this list is fairly accurate, and his actual sales are closer to this total listed here if you count double albums, and if you exclude double albums the total would still be 42 million. Comments in red are my own

Born into the 90's - 2 million ( 1 X platinum in the US)
12 Play (1993) - 7.2 million (( 6 X platinumin in the US)
R. Kelly (1995) - 6.2 million ( 5 X platinum in the US)
R. (1998) - 12.4 million [6.2 million] ( 8 X platinum in the US)
TP-2.COM (2000) - 6 million ( 4 X platinum in the US)
The Best of Both Worlds (2002) - 1.7 million ( 1 X platinum in the US)
Chocolate Factory (2003) - 5.1 million ( 2 X platinum in the US)
The R. In R&B (2003) - 3.8 million ( 2 X platinum in the US)
Happy People/U Saved Me (2004) - 4 million [2 million] ( 3 X platinum in the US)
Unfinished Business (2004) - 1.25 million ( 1 X platinum in the US)
TP.3: Reloaded (2005) - 1.75 million ( 1 X platinum in the US)
Double Up (2007) - 1.35 million ( 1 X platinum in the US)
Untitled (2009) - 450,000 ( sold 330000 in the US)
Love Letter (2010) - N/A (( Gold in the US)

Total Worldwide Album Sales: 53.2 million