Anja Nissen’s great big flop
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Anja Nissen signed copies of I’m So Excited at Penrith Westfield last week.
Source: News Corp Australia
VOICE victor Anja Nissen’s curious tactic to delay the release of her winner’s single by three months has backfired.
Nissen’s I’m So Excited debuted at No. 42 on the ARIA chart with 3023 sales nationally.
Reality rival The X Factor has started and finished on TV before Nissen’s winner’s single was released.
By comparison Marlisa, who won The X Factor, released her single the night of her victory and it has been in the Top 5 for three weeks.
This week’s ARIA No. 1 single, Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran, sold just over 24,000 copies.
Despite being launched on a national TV show to millions of viewers, Nissen has avoided the usual path for a reality TV winner transitioning to recording artist.
Winners aren’t always grinners … Anja Nissen’s debut single has landed on the charts with a thud.
Source: News Corp Australia
A winner’s single (co-written by Delta Goodrem) was recorded, then scrapped at the last minute, rejected by her million-selling mentor will.i.am.
He wrote I’m So Excited, and features on the track with Nissen and US singer Cody Wise, also, like Nissen, is signed to Will I Am’s label.
Wise also featured on will.i.am’s previous release It’s My Birthday, which was a platinum-selling Top 5 hit in Australia earlier this year and has a similar feel to I’m So Excited.
Nissen’s single was also going to feature RedFoo, who was left off the final version.
will.i.am tweeted the single’s video and a purchase link to his 12.5 million followers.
“I’m So Excited” is released today! http://t.co/ek8ULjd1nC Get it now http://t.co/fewsdpPw6u
— will.i.am (@iamwill) October 30, 2014
The will.i.am connection was expected to give Nissen a global headstart considering his chart track record and provide an edge over most Australian reality contestants.
Yet I’m So Excited and its video have divided fans so far, as well as missing the Top 40 after all-important first-week sales.
Damian Nicholas, who runs website auspop.net said his feedback was people liked the video but not the song.
“Maybe she left it too long to release it?,” Nicholas said. “Perhaps her audience has moved on in the three months since The Voice? Perhaps they feel the material was a little disingenuous?”
The Voice’s Facebook page is a mix of positive and negative comments for the track, with some confused about the use of will.i.am’s trademark autotune despite Nissen’s powerful voice.
Will.i.am’s A-list connection has not helped Anja Nissen connect with music buyers … so far.
Source: News Corp Australia
Greg Evans felt the party vibe of the song suited Nissen, who recently turned 19, noting “Fantastic song and a fantastic opportunity! People, she is 18 and not Celine Dion!”
Shaz Millar wrote “I think they have made a massive mistake with her. Anja has been pretty much forgot about and it is only a few months since the show finished. X Factor has been and gone since then and there are new people for us to listen to and it is a shame, because I really liked her. She is now way to the back of the queue.”
Aaron Makeham wrote “I don’t understand why Will felt it was appropriate to scrap the song Delta wrote for this B-grade offering. Meh.”
@anja_nissen @iamwill so proud to be a part in your rise!
— cody wise (@CodyWise) October 31, 2014
Nissen surprisingly downplayed her first album of covers from the show, which only sold 1952 copies in its first week to concentrate on writing original material.
I’m So Excited got invaluable national exposure when Channel 9 supported the star they made by using the song on a TV promotion.
Globally The Voice has struggled to achieve the same chart success with its contestants as The X Factor has.
Locally, Karise Eden was not able to match the No. 1 position — and large sales — of her post-show album with this year’s original set Things I’ve Done; the album has held in the Top 20 for a third week.
Last year’s winner Harrison Craig is yet to release his own original album, after two covers records.
Chart flop … Nissen has failed to capture the popularity she garnered on the show.
Source: Supplied
So far none of the runners-up on this year’s season of The Voice have been signed by Universal.
Despite low album sales, and poor sales for a Voice concert tour this year, Channel 9 will bring back The Voice next year but not The Voice Kids.
The line-up of judges is yet to be announced, with Will I Am tipped to not return, but Joel Madden stating he’d like to keep his job.
This week’s ARIA chart was also worrying for X Factor runners-up Dean Ray and Brothers 3.
Both acts got to release what would have been their winner’s single to test of their popularity in the world outside of TV.
However after one week Ray’s single Coming Back dropped from No. 5 to No. 32, selling just 4154 copies.
Even more alarming were Brothers 3, whose single The Lucky Ones only managed a No. 29 debut last week and sank to No. 98 this week on just 902 sales nationally.
Sony have signed Marlissa, Dean Ray and Reigan Derry from this year’s X Factor for future album releases.
Ray and Marlisa’s covers album from the show are released this month, with Reigan Derry releasing a covers EP in December.
