The music business is a cutthroat game where an artist can be on top of the world one day,
only to wake up years later as a has-been.
In the 2010s, some musicians quickly peaked, then slowly faded away in popularity or even
worse, ruined their careers overnight, and were canceled by the public.
Back in 2013, Robin Thicke skyrocketed in popularity off of the song of the summer,
"Blurred Lines."
He followed that up with one of the most iconic pop moments in the decade, when Miley Cyrus
twerked alongside him during their performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
According to ABC News, despite the huge viral surge the moment provided, which is normally
a good thing for a star, the reaction from the crowd and the home viewers ranged from
shock to revulsion.
And while Cyrus bore plenty of the criticism, it was worse for Thicke.
See, he was married to actress Paula Patton at the time, and she allegedly didn't take
kindly to the performance.
A year later, Thicke released his album Paula.
If you thought this was a sweet gesture dedicated towards his wife - not quite.
The pair had already split, and the album was a desperate attempt to win her back.
"Put your hands together y'all help me get her back now, c'mon."
Thicke threw away subtlety with tracks like "Get Her Back," and the album received terrible
reviews.
Also by this point, the world pretty much collectively agreed that the lyrics of "Blurred
Lines" were actually terrible since, as Rolling Stone puts it, the song is essentially about
"disrespecting a woman's boundaries."
Not only that, he also lost a multi-million-dollar lawsuit claiming the song ripped off Marvin
Gaye's "Got to Give It Up."
Paula went down as one of the biggest album flops of the year, and Thicke's career has
never been the same since.
In the 2010s, music sharing website SoundCloud became a legitimate way to go from obscurity
to superstardom, especially for rappers.
One of its most polarizing figures was Tekashi 6ix9ine.
In 2017, his song "Gummo" went viral for a mix of catchy musicianship and his shocking
image of rainbow hair, face tattoos, and multicolored teeth.
Quickly, Tekashi 6ix9ine - real name Daniel Hernandez - started his amazing rise.
The rapper collaborated with some of music's biggest stars, like Nicki Minaj and Kanye
West.
Then, this musical "supervillain" ran into big trouble with the law.
He remains locked up, as of this video, for attempted murder, armed robbery, and a slew
of other charges related to his alleged activity with the street gang Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.
To try and reduce his minimum sentence of 47 years, Hernandez testified against his
alleged former gang associates in 2019.
Even if Hernandez's cooperation with law enforcement works out, and a long-term prison sentence
isn't what ultimately saps his career, his courtroom behavior probably already did the
trick.
According to the New York Times, he's clearly lost credibility in the industry, with fellow
rappers, quote, "[sharing] memes or pointed words denouncing 6ix9ine as a snitch."
For nearly two decades, singer-songwriter Ryan Adams was known as, to quote the New
York Times, "a mercurial creative genius and a respected industry tastemaker."
But his celebrated career took a completely different turn in 2019.
Adams allegedly used his fame to promise success in the music industry for female artists,
when in reality, he had dark intentions.
A Times report highlighted allegations from "seven women and more than a dozen associates,"
who described a, quote, "pattern of manipulative behavior in which Adams dangled career opportunities
while simultaneously pursuing female artists for sex."
This allegedly included illicit text communication with a minor.
Among those women who bravely came forward was actress and singer Mandy Moore - who also
happens to be Adams' ex-wife.
Moore claimed Adams psychologically abused her and stalled her music career.
Other musicians, like Phoebe Bridgers, made similar accusations.
"Musicians, especially active musicians, have been really insulated from this sort of international
reckoning we've seen over sexual abuse and conversations about abuse of power."
On the day of the New York Times report, Adams apologized in a series of tweets, but maintained
that it was, quote, "upsettingly inaccurate."
Still, the fallout was severe.
Variety reported that a trio of albums Adams planned to release starting in April 2019
were "put on hold."
He also cancelled tours in the UK and Ireland.
Adams only public statement after his initial apology seems to be a July 20th, 2019 Instagram
post that reads, in part,
"I have a lot to say.
I am going to.
Soon."
Before his 2017 breakout hit "Tunnel Vision," rapper Kodak Black was already infamous - at
least, to law enforcement.
As XXL summarized, Black's legal woes started in 2015 when the rapper, described as "a product
of the juvenile detention system," constantly ran afoul of the law.
Though his music career was taking off, Black simultaneously expanded his criminal record
with arrests for everything from illegal drug and weapons possession, to first-degree criminal
sexual conduct.
Despite his lengthy rap sheet, it took until 2019 for Black to catch a long-term sentence.
That finally happened after police arrested him ahead of his set at Rolling Loud music
festival in Miami for allegedly, quote, "[lying] about his criminal history on a federal document
that must be completed to buy a gun from a registered dealer," according to the Miami
Herald.
Obviously, the four years in prison he received will sap Black's career, but that's hardly
the end of his troubles.
The Herald also noted that for just two of the remaining charges on the much longer list
he faces, Black could be looking at, quote, "up to 30 years in prison on each count as
a 'habitual violent offender.'"
You know the typical image of a boy band: clean cut, wholesome, and with striking, coordinated
dance moves to boot.
But this has never been the case for Brockhampton, the collective of musicians and artists from
Texas.
Things seemed to be on the rise for the eclectic band until one of its founders and main rappers,
Ameer Vann, made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
According to Pitchfork, in 2018, several women accused the rapper of sexual misconduct toward
them, including "emotionally manipulative and mentally abusive" behaviors.
In a series of since-deleted tweets, Vann responded, in part:
"Although my behavior has been selfish, childish, and unkind, I have never criminally harmed
anyone or disrespected their boundaries."
After the allegations, the group announced via Twitter that "Ameer is no longer in Brockhampton."
They also claimed that Vann lied to them about the situation, and cancelled the rest of their
2018 tour, quote, "to go home and regroup."
Though the guys proceeded to release their fourth album Iridescence, the end result left
much to be desired, and the release earned mixed reviews.
At the start of the decade in 2010, Billboard named R. Kelly the most successful R&B / Hip
Hop artist of the last 25 years.
Among his accomplishments were an astounding six #1 albums and 54 songs that reached the
Billboard Hot 100 chart.
But cut to the back half of the decade and the career arc for the crooner drastically
changed.
A 2017 report by Rolling Stone revealed R. Kelly allegedly abused one of his former girlfriends,
among a long history of reportedly manipulating women.
Then in 2019, Lifetime network aired the mini-series Surviving R. Kelly, which investigated the
decades of rumors and allegations against the singer.
According to the New York Times, "a Homeland Security Investigations official" said that
an agent watched the series and started to investigate the truth behind R. Kelly's behaviors.
The same year, courts in Chicago and Brooklyn indicted the singer on multiple charges, including
"conspiracy to obstruct justice," "racketeering," and several charges dealing with the sexual
abuse of minors.
Both before and after the 2019 charges, celebrities started openly distancing themselves from
the tainted singer.
As reported by Spin, several artists such as Lady Gaga and Chance the Rapper removed
their collaborative songs with R. Kelly from music streaming services.
Even the streaming services themselves got involved, according to Rolling Stone.
For example, Spotify removed R. Kelly from all editorial playlists in 2018, then later
added a feature in 2019 for users to permanently mute artists from automatically playing.
Rapper Cornell Haynes Jr. - you know him as Nelly - was on the top of the hip-hop music
scene in the early aughts with hits like "Ride Wit Me" and "Hot in Herre."
His success carried in to the next decade with his hit single "Just A Dream" in 2010,
which hit #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart.
Then in 2013, the rapper tried to rebrand as more of a country artist.
The biggest example was when Nelly was the featured guest on the song "Cruise" by Florida
Georgia Line, which broke the top five songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
As Forbes reported, Nelly also released a cover of the country song "Die A Happy Man"
and went on tour with Florida Georgia Line to "introduce himself to even more country
music lovers."
The move never fully paid off, however, and the rapper's last album was 2013's disastrous
M.O.
According Vice, by the end of the year the album only sold around 23,000 copies.
In the latter half of the decade, several women accused Nelly of sexual assault, as
reported by TMZ, which further damaged any comeback attempt.
Plus musically, it appeared Nelly just hadn't figured out the right formula.
Eventually, Lil Nas X ended up finding the perfect combination of country and rap with
the mega-hit "Old Town Road."
Australian model and rapper Iggy Azalea exploded onto the music scene with the song "Fancy"
off her 2014 debut album The New Classic.
Her popularity rapidly peaked, and Iggy Azalea appeared on several other popular songs like
"Black Widow," but then she seemed to go on hiatus for several years.
And by hiatus, we mean creating continuous controversy that may have destroyed her career.
For example, when Iggy Azalea reemerged in 2018 and released her Survive the Summer EP,
it was, uh, not a new classic.
In it's scathing review, Pitchfork summarized the album as the product, quote, "of someone
too deep in the hole to stop digging."
Of her "songcraft," the outlet wrote,
"These songs are so derivative that it's hard not to home in and nitpick every instance
where she says or does something absurd."
"I think that's particularly insane."
As Variety reported, Iggy Azalea canceled her 2018 "Bad Girls" tour around North America.
The article hypothesized that her long time "out of the spotlight ... probably contributed
to low sales."
In 2019, Iggy Azalea released both the In My Defense album and Wicked Lips EP, still
hoping to climb back to the top of the music world.
As of 2019, "Fancy" is still her only #1 hit.
Way back in 2011, LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" was such a huge smash hit that it became one
of only 20 songs to ever reach the Recording Industry Association of America's "diamond"
status, according to Forbes.
LMFAO earned its second number one hit in 2012 with "Sexy and I Know It."
The party boys who made up the group - Redfoo and Sky Blu - are actually related to Motown
royalty, Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records.
What's more, Redfoo is actually Sky Blu's uncle, according to the New York Times.
Unfortunately, the party ended when LMFAO split up amid a nasty personal feud that Sky
Blu aired out on Facebook in 2016.
He accused his uncle of not only abandoning him after a back injury that left him unable
to perform during "a huge stadium tour," but also attempting to continue performing as
LMFAO without him.
According to Digital Spy, Redfoo released his 2016 solo album Party Rock Mansion, which
only, quote, "sold 144 copies in its first week on sale in Australia."
As for Sky Blu, he released two solo albums to date, neither of which got the party started
again.
But don't worry.
As Forbes also noted, "Party Rock Anthem" was huge enough "to keep them both living
large for some time."
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