Why did Nothing Really Matters flop in America?

[Drownedboy 1,775]

3 hours ago, LongIslandTea said:

WB should've used "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room" as B-side since they'd screwed up the commercial single release.

It hadn´t been recorded at that time.

[luluthecat 1,198]

2 hours ago, Prayer said:

I found the segment of Cher defending Madonna's "Nothing Really Matters" video on UK TV:

Cute.

Fun fact: the song was indeed a hit in the UK - Top 10 peak and 12 weeks in the Top 100 in total.

This is one of my strongest childhood memories 😹 can’t believe I’m watching it back 

[I am madonna 170]

15 hours ago, Prayer said:

It was an UK TV show with Cher as guest, where they were commenting on new music videos. Everyone was laughing at Madonna's moves on "NRM" and Cher said: "you laugh now but you'll be doing those in 6 months!".

Can't find the video now on YouTube!

Yes!!! Thank you! that's the one!!!!!

[I am madonna 170]

4 hours ago, Prayer said:

I found the segment of Cher defending Madonna's "Nothing Really Matters" video on UK TV:

Cute.

Fun fact: the song was indeed a hit in the UK - Top 10 peak and 12 weeks in the Top 100 in total.

Thank you so much!! Yes! this one is what I'm talking about!! 

[Blue Jean 16,046]

5 hours ago, Prayer said:

I found the segment of Cher defending Madonna's "Nothing Really Matters" video on UK TV:

Cute.

Fun fact: the song was indeed a hit in the UK - Top 10 peak and 12 weeks in the Top 100 in total.

Cher being polite for once in her life

[Blue Jean 16,046]

17 hours ago, MaDöner Kebab said:

So, most of Moo‘s "hits" aren’t organic? Must be why they are all forgotten.

Not by moi! I was just making a playlist of Mariah’s best remixes as we speak!

[deathproof 10,834]

someone call for me?

[littlestartman 81]

She only released this as a single to play Hatsumono in Memoirs of a Geisha (same strategy as take a bow/evita) but the movie didnt happen and By that point ROL was a huge success already and she quickly moved on to new best thing/beautiful stranger.

 

She was really focused on being an actress in between albums. Even Power of Good Bye she tested her look for the Violin movie.

Edited June 4 by littlestartman (see edit history)

[MaDöner Kebab 7,146]

1 hour ago, littlestartman said:

She only released this as a single to play Hatsumono in Memoirs of a Geisha (same strategy as take a bow/evita) but the movie didnt happen and By that point ROL was a huge success already and she quickly moved on to new best thing/beautiful stranger.

 

She was really focused on being an actress in between albums. Even Power of Good Bye she tested her look for the Violin movie.

As if she seriously believed that she could be cast as an Asian character. 💀

[littlestartman 81]

7 minutes ago, MaDöner Kebab said:

As if she seriously believed that she could be cast as an Asian character. 💀

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-20-tm-48407-story.html

The world was different back then. Hollywood would cast several White actors as Asians over the years. She was heavy into geisha drag. People didn't have the concepts of what we have today.

[Blue Jean 16,046]

1 hour ago, MaDöner Kebab said:

As if she seriously believed that she could be cast as an Asian character. 💀

 

There was actually controversy because they cast a Chinese actress in the lead role  I would have loved to have seen the reaction with Madonna in it.

It’s such a beautiful book though. I’ve always found it strange Madonna identified closely with the villain in the story rather than the main character. I did not like the movie adaptation much, it didn’t do the book justice.

[Blue Jean 16,046]

1 hour ago, littlestartman said:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-20-tm-48407-story.html

The world was different back then. Hollywood would cast several White actors as Asians over the years. She was heavy into geisha drag. People didn't have the concepts of what we have today.

That article doesn’t tell us anything we don’t know. She was inspired by the book/character for the video. But did she ever say she wanted a part in the movie?

[Prayer 15,089]

Well she played a Latin woman only three years before that... things were different back then.

I think she definitely planned to use the "NRM" video somehow as a casting part, just like she did with the "Take A Bow" video for "Evita". She was hyping "Memoirs" and Hatsumomo to the max even months before the video and during the making of:

I think she truly believed in the geisha analogy with her own life and career.

[Blue Jean 16,046]

24 minutes ago, Prayer said:

Well she played a Latin woman only three years before that... things were different back then.

I think she definitely planned to use the "NRM" video somehow as a casting part, just like she did with the "Take A Bow" video for "Evita". She was hyping "Memoirs" and Hatsumomo to the max even months before the video and during the making of:

I think she truly believed in the geisha analogy with her own life and career.

Playing a Latin woman is a bit different. I could be wrong but I do not recall any white women playing Asian women in films in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Maybe in the 80’s. As for the whole geisha analogy , that particular character is not the main character anyway. So I’m not sure Madonna had some great intention to be in that movie and was using the video as an audition. She was just inspired by the book.

 

[Prayer 15,089]

12 minutes ago, Blue Jean said:

Playing a Latin woman is a bit different. I could be wrong but I do not recall any white women playing Asian women in films in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Maybe in the 80’s. As for the whole geisha analogy , that particular character is not the main character anyway. So I’m not sure Madonna had some great intention to be in that movie and was using the video as an audition. She was just inspired by the book.

 

I agree it would have been weird and controversial even in 1999, but...

I haven't found much info about her actually wanting the role except for this Los Angeles Times article from June 1999, which of course could be just speculating.

Maybe she tried to approach the production but was turned down since early on, for obvious reasons?

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-20-tm-48407-story.html

You Must Cast Me

We haven’t seen such brazen lobbying for a role since Sean Young pranced around the David Letterman set dressed as Catwoman. (For naught--Michelle Pfeiffer did the hissing in “Batman.”) Madonna wants the world to view her as ideal for the part of Hatsumomo, the malevolent courtesan in Arthur Golden’s 1997 bestseller, “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

Does the studio envision the singer-actress as the lead in a “Geisha” adaptation? “The answer is, ‘No.’ Madonna is not being considered for a role,” says a blunt spokeswoman for Columbia Pictures, which is producing the Steven Spielberg-directed film. Perhaps he would reconsider, though, if he knew just how much the part means to her. To wit:

* “Sometimes I think that what I do is like being a modern-day geisha.”--Madonna, above, dressed in full courtesan garb, in the February Harper’s Bazaar.

* After showing up at this year’s Grammys in a cherry red kimono, she performed a Kabuki-style dance. To prepare, “she read a number of books on geisha culture and worked her way through the geisha-themed films of Kenji Mizoguchi.”--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

* She wore a black obi-style belt over a Versace outfit at this year’s MTV Europe Awards.

* “Madonna has become obsessed with my book and has changed her look.”--Arthur Golden, in the Providence Journal Bulletin.

* On her “Nothing Really Matters” video shoots, in which she plays a character inspired by Golden’s courtesan, people reportedly called her Hatsumomo--a lot.

* She is listed as “Hatsu” on the call sheet for her current film, “The Next Best Thing,” and her director’s chair on the set is printed with “Hatsumomo.” “There are people in her entourage who might say, ‘Oh, you’re being very Hatsumomo today.’ There will always be a place for Hatsumomo in her heart.”--Liz Rosenberg, Warner Bros. Records vice president.

[littlestartman 81]

12 hours ago, Prayer said:

Well she played a Latin woman only three years before that... things were different back then.

I think she definitely planned to use the "NRM" video somehow as a casting part, just like she did with the "Take A Bow" video for "Evita". She was hyping "Memoirs" and Hatsumomo to the max even months before the video and during the making of:

I think she truly believed in the geisha analogy with her own life and career.

It really feels she is literally auditioning in this video.

[forbiddenlove1 421]

On 6/2/2024 at 2:00 AM, mysweetaudrina9 said:

The theory seems to be that the physical release came out really late? i don't know how it works but doesn't really make sense, she was on top of the world and the video got a lot of publicity and people liked it, it reverberated for some time, even getting referenced by that band who made a video with madonna lookalikes, etc, it's weird to have it chart at 93, it's literally her biggest flop. 

I think people get confused sometimes she performs a remix or performs the wrong songs

[littlestartman 81]

Well now that it is the oppening number of the celebratiom tour with a great performance this went from B tier to A- in her catalog. Lots of people rediscovering the song

Edited June 6 by littlestartman (see edit history)

[LongIslandTea 1,736]

On 6/4/2024 at 12:27 PM, littlestartman said:

She only released this as a single to play Hatsumono in Memoirs of a Geisha (same strategy as take a bow/evita) but the movie didnt happen and By that point ROL was a huge success already and she quickly moved on to new best thing/beautiful stranger.

 

She was really focused on being an actress in between albums. Even Power of Good Bye she tested her look for the Violin movie.

The movie did happen and Madonna didn't get the role (Thank god)

If Madonna got the role, the movie title would be renamed as "Memoirs of a Yoga Teacher".

 

[litemakr 1,927]

It wasn't promoted well. As others have said, the single came out really late. I had a CD bootleg of the Club 69 mixes months in advance and they were being played in clubs far ahead of the official release. I also recall the Club 69 single mix being on in-store music services months before the official release. So it was a bit of a non-event when it finally came out in the US and even though the video got some play it wasn't that well received by the mainstream fans.  I think even Madonna fans were kind of past it by the time it was actually officially released. That combined with it being the last single and it just didn't make a splash. But people liked the song. 

[littlestartman 81]

12 hours ago, LongIslandTea said:

The movie did happen and Madonna didn't get the role (Thank god)

If Madonna got the role, the movie title would be renamed as "Memoirs of a Yoga Teacher".

 

Oh yeah i meant the movie didnt happen in 1999. The actual movie is great and a classic.

 

Directed by Rob Marshal (who imo would be the best to bring Madonna biopic to life)

Edited June 6 by littlestartman (see edit history)

[I am madonna 170]

It's clear that the Ray of light album era was an interesting era that stimulated the imagination of fans.

Because if this is True blue era then who cares? almost each every single gonna be No1. So there's no room for imagination.

But Ray of light album era was different. The singles from the album had very such different characteristics and style and were so great but they stimulated the fans' imagination because they produced huge different chart result.

So whenever I think about that era, I always get into my imagination. If... what if...

First single was Ray of light and then Frozen then nothing really matters

or

Nothing really matters as first single then Ray of light and then Frozen

or

Ray of Light as first single then Nothing really matter as second single then to Frozen as third single.

I mean every case would be really interesting. Doesn't it?

[Drownedboy 1,775]

I think it´s also very interesting ROL never sold 25 millions of copies or not all the songs were number  1 as it happened with True Blue, when, you know, ROL is the state of art, magnus opus kind of record that very few singers own on their carreer. And everybody, critics, fans agree. She was at her best. So why it was not an even great commercial success, even though it was a huge success, and I know it cause I was there. But why albums by Adele or other ladies sold much more later when there was the streaming, and I don´t think those albums are so well regarded as ROL is. It´s interesting. And there you have, an amazing single like NRM with an outstading videoclip just went to 93 on the US charts. In Spanish it was a radio hit for sure.

[MaDöner Kebab 7,146]

24 minutes ago, Drownedboy said:

I think it´s also very interesting ROL never sold 25 millions of copies or not all the songs were number  1 as it happened with True Blue, when, you know, ROL is the state of art, magnus opus kind of record that very few singers own on their carreer. And everybody, critics, fans agree. She was at her best. So why it was not an even great commercial success, even though it was a huge success, and I know it cause I was there. But why albums by Adele or other ladies sold much more later when there was the streaming, and I don´t think those albums are so well regarded as ROL is. It´s interesting. And there you have, an amazing single like NRM with an outstading videoclip just went to 93 on the US charts. In Spanish it was a radio hit for sure.

Nothing Really Matters did quite well outside of the US considering it was the 5th single of an album that a lot of people had already bought by that time. In quite a few countries it charted higher than The Power Of Good-Bye even. I suppose the reason is that the radio release of the singles across Europe was more aligned with the physical release.

In Germany, for example, airplay wasn’t counted towards chart position until maybe 6 or 7 years ago. Airplay was mainly responsible for encouraging people to buy a single (as it should). I find it so strange how much influence airplay still has on the US charts when it can be so easily bribed and manipulated. Then again, video rotation never counted towards airplay which made absolutely no sense at all.

 

[Prayer 15,089]

2 hours ago, Drownedboy said:

I think it´s also very interesting ROL never sold 25 millions of copies or not all the songs were number  1 as it happened with True Blue, when, you know, ROL is the state of art, magnus opus kind of record that very few singers own on their carreer. And everybody, critics, fans agree. She was at her best. So why it was not an even great commercial success, even though it was a huge success, and I know it cause I was there. But why albums by Adele or other ladies sold much more later when there was the streaming, and I don´t think those albums are so well regarded as ROL is. It´s interesting. And there you have, an amazing single like NRM with an outstading videoclip just went to 93 on the US charts. In Spanish it was a radio hit for sure.

We've mentioned it before, but it was all about the narrative. All the elements aligned and it just worked. For the first - and maybe only time? - in her career, people were actually rooting for her, there was the "bad girl turned good" redemption story, plus maternity (she finally became "normal" for people), plus spirituality when it was the coolest thing in the world close to the Millennium plus a great GP album, one of those you could say you like and no one will think bad of you (Adele fits into that category too).

It had the EXACT amount of weirdness and new to make it accessible to everyone but surprising at the same time.

Still to this day, many people say "I don't like Madonna but I love the Ray Of Light album".