I hope Kelly Rowland has a warm jacket and a torch. It must be cold there in Beyonces shadow and the hapless diva isnt going anywhere soon if the predicted first week sales tally of Talk A Good Game is any indication. The deeply personal album has garnered positive reviews from critics but is still only expected to sell 60,000 65,000 copies this week. To put things into perspective, Queen B sold 300,000+ copies of 4 in its first seven days of release.
Perhaps thats an unfair comparison but Talk A Good Game will, most likely, sell considerably less than recent albums by fellow R&B divas Fantasia and Keyshia Cole, who managed 91,000 and 96,000 respectively. A first week sales tally of 65,000 copies would be the lowest of Kellys career even less than 2011′s Here I Am, which sold 77,000 copies. There is some good news. The underselling opus is set for a top 10 debut, Kellys third in a row.
So what went wrong? This was supposed to be the new X Factor judges moment to shine. Dirty Laundry proved that Rowland is a multifaceted artist, while I Remember is a reminder that Kelly still reigns supreme on the dancefloor. The most obvious cause of the albums first-week failure is the lack of a hit single. Kisses Down Low stalled at number 72, while promising tracks like Street Life and Gone havent been officially released yet.
Dont despair, Rowland Stones. The child of destiny has a tonne of promo on the horizon and will no doubt keep soldiering on until something sticks. Most importantly, numbers dont change the fact that Talk A Good Game is a very, very good album.
