I much prefer "Blinding Lights" myself. It also has an 80s vibe, and is a fantastic song.
When The Weeknd makes songs like those two, they are going to be popular and sell well. He is a talented artist, a little quirky, and is very popular because of his great music.
But The Weeknd is half of Duran Duran's age, and is not regarded as a pretty boy with fantastic videos who were last popular 36 years ago.
To even think that Duran Duran working with successful people in 2021 could lead to large album sales amazes me.
Spoiler: It doesn't matter who Duran Duran work with - they will never be popular again. It might pay to try to get your head around that. I'm just hoping they work with people that help produce great music - that is all we can hope for from Duran Duran in 2021.
Sad but true my friends. Feel free to shoot the messenger if it makes you feel better, but it won't change Duran's fortunes.
If they want to capture the youth of today ..
I stopped reading after that.
If Duran Duran want to capture the youth of today - then I'm not interested in the craptacular music that would produce. It's not even worth thinking about thinking about thinking about wanting to try to appeal to young kids.
If Duran Duran, or anyone else for that matter, believe that a band of 60 year olds who were last big news 36 years ago, a band known more for their look and music videos as much as their music, are going to capture the youth of today, then they should try living on Planet Earth for a while. Viruses aside, it's lovely here.
Now everyone is different. And probably plenty of fans would love for Duran Duran to be popular again, selling plenty of records and becoming a household name (again).
And that's cool. Each to their own and all that. But my question to those fans is quite simply "Why"?
Why are fans still obsessed with Duran Duran becoming popular again 40 years down the track? It just doesn't make sense to me. Think about this : if you place importance on Duran Duran's chart positions, if you're going to get happiness when they're successful, then by definition you're going to be sad when they're not successful.
You can't say "Well I don't care at all if Duran Duran's next album doesn't sell very well or become popular, that doesn't worry me. But if it IS popular and successful - then that is the greatest news ever and validates my being a fan".
If you want something to succeed, and it fails, then you can't just shrug your shoulders and say "Oh well". You are naturally going to be disappointed. You're going to wish that your dream had come true. You mightn't admit it on the outside, but your heart knows.
"But I want the album to be successful, because it could prolong their career and give them incentive to keep making more music" might be a reason perhaps. However, considering that Duran Duran have kept on going over the past 40 years regardless of how well or poorly their previous album sold, it really isn't a valid point. If album sales was a major reason for Duran Duran to exist, they would have called it a day some time last century.
Sorry to break it to anybody who still believes that Duran Duran will be the band of the 20s - but it ain't happening. Let's be realistic, and just hope for a decent album with a good tour. That's all I hope for Duran Duran at this stage in their career. But then again I'm a realist.
If you think differently to that - then I honestly hope you get your wish. I get no enjoyment from Duran Duran selling millions of albums or zero albums, but some of you guys do. So I wish you luck. But you're going to need more luck than every single person in this video :