Vanessa Carlton Loses Top 40 Clout
Heroes and Thieves Flops Despite Change to The Inc. Records
“A Thousand Miles,” Vanessa Carlton’s first single off of her first album Be Not Nobody (2002), reached number five on the charts and earned her three Grammy nominations. Carlton’s follow-up album, Harmonium (2004), displayed the artist’s growth as a songwriter and featured a darker, more mature sound that evidently drew the ire of the folks at A&M Records because of its less marketable sound.
“No, I am not a pop princess [and my] current label doesn't realize this important tidbit,” Carlton posted on her message board at the time of her fallout with A&M. She threw gasoline on the bridge she was burning when she referred to the decision makers at A&M as “shortsighted, nonmusical bastards.”
Vanessa Carlton may go down as one-hit-wonder
Harmonium flopped, likely due to poor promotion, and that set the table for A&M to let Carlton go. After a messy split with A&M, Carlton signed with Irv Gotti and The Inc. Records, formally Murder Inc. Gotti, interested in diversifying his label with other genres, made Carlton his first non hip-hop act.
Despite being reenergized, Carlton’s subsequent release flopped. Heroes and Thieves singles “Nolita Fairytale” and “Hands on Me” did not even break the Top 40, and the album’s sales are much more Harmonium-like than Be Not Nobody-like.
Heroes and Thieves sounds very conventional and overproduced as opposed to Harmonium, which showcased Carlton’s growth as a singer/songwriter and created the rare image of a popular, contemporary pop star with creative integrity.
On Heroes and Thieves, Carlton sounds as if she focused more on producing catchy, radio friendly tracks than she did on producing an honest, passionate sound to enhance the emotional drive of songs as she did on Harmonium. The result is a forced-sounding, watered down version of Carlton’s Be Not Nobody style.
Ironically, Carlton’s biggest beef with A&M regarded their unwillingness to allow her to mature as an artist and do things that differed from the sound and style of Be Not Nobody.
“I was given an ultimatum. I could only stay there if I would relinquish my creative freedom. […] I wanted to carve out my aesthetic more and they just weren't going to support that, so I decided to leave,” Carlton said in an interview with Saidah Petrie for Complex magazine.
Murder Inc. and Vanessa Carlton fail to produce Top 40 hit
Carlton and Gotti gushed over one another in interviews after the singing, but their high hopes led to nothing. Perhaps Carlton rushed into a deal with Gotti because he showed an enthusiasm in her that A&M did not, while Gotti took advantage of Carlton’s vulnerability and gullibility after the flop of Harmonium. Perhaps Carlton desires popular recognition more than she leads on, and she though that Gotti could and would turn anything she created into a mega hit, while Gotti figured that if he threw some money and resources Vanessa’s way that she could and would make it a hit for him.
Regardless of what the case may be, the Heroes and Thieves sales numbers indicate that Carlton and Gotti relied on each other to do more in the relationship than they were able to deliver.
On the Harmonium track, “Half a Week Before the Winter,” Carlton uses the metaphor of vampires devouring unicorns to comment on what happens to many artists in the music industry. She sings, “The vampires are growing tired/The coats of white all turn to red.”
For the time being, it appears Carlton’s white coat has turned to red.
