If you think you’re having a bad week, just remind yourself of the week Robin Thicke just had. The “Blurred Lines” singer recently released his album Paula, which was named after his ex wife who recently filed for legal separation due to rumors of infidelity on Thicke’s part. In its opening week the album proceeded to sell 24,000 copies in the US, 530 copies in the UK and a gut wrenching 54 copies in Australia.
This is a far fall considering that his hit “Blurred Lines” hit number one on the Australian charts only a year ago. “Blurred Lines” also sold 117,000 copies its first week in the US, numbers that his current album could not even come close to replicating.
On top of all of this, last week Thicke ran a promotion for his new album by having a Q&A over twitter with the hashtag of #AskThicke. What followed was an absolute tirade on Thicke from users who centered their questions around Thicke’s misogynistic music video and lyrical content from “Blurred Lines.”
Here are some of the tweets:
Is your next ‘hit’ just a lyric sheet, with a Rohypnol Sellotaped to it? #AskThicke
— TittyBiscuits. (@dawneywawney) July 1, 2014
#AskThicke Did you really write a rape anthem as a love song for your wife and are you still wondering why she left you?
— Maria (@MariaJPrice) July 1, 2014
#AskThicke Once you’ve cracked ‘hug me’, any thoughts on what rhymes with ‘misogynistic douchebag’?
-— James Martin (@Pundamentalism) July 1, 2014
You get the idea. Where does Thicke go from here? Besides immediately firing his PR and marketing team, what else can Thicke do to change the extremely negative image that “Blurred Lines” erected for him? It seems like not so long ago that Thicke was at the peak of his career. He had a number one hit single, and while everybody was not totally on board with the song’s content, he cracked the pop charts and had mainstream success. Now he faces the #AskThicke nightmare, below mediocre sales for his album, a divorce from his longtime high school sweetheart wife (Thicke and his wife Paula Patton started dating when they were sixteen) and one of the worst images in the pop music realm.
It’s unclear what Thicke’s next move should be. The thing that scored him the most success is also what is fueling his downfall. All of that aside, if we know anything about the pop music charts and audience, it’s that nothing really matters as long as you make a song that has a catchy beat and features Pharrell.
