Next Lead Single

[WeirdAlIsMyHomeboy]

From Al's Twitter:
"I’m starting to think that these Enrique Iglesias song lyrics have some kind of sexual implications. "

Possibly a Tonight (I'm Lovin' You) parody for his lead? makes sense, it's doing well in the charts and i hear it all the time on my top 40 radio stations

[Teh Dingo]

Hmmmm....guy who peaked years ago with a big comeback hit that no one saw coming. Definite "dark horse" possibility.

Thouigh I'd be surprised if Al would ever tip his hand on Twitter like that

[JCM]

I change my mind. It's undoubtedly Tonight. Al's tweet is just too convenient for it to be anything otherwise.

[Yankovic Farley]

It could work. He could also get Snoop to come in and do the short rap sequence. Was this song popular enough though?

[CatraDhtem]

Except it's a song that's been out since November, peaked in "Billboard" back in February, and didn't climb higher than #4 (in fact, it didn't hit #1 in any country). I'm all for Al thinking outside the box, but for a lead parody that would be a pretty weak resume and certainly isn't striking while the iron's hot after all this time.

Back to the discussion about first and second singles, the very importance of a first single is in sort of a state of flux right now. Some labels and artists still use the first single as the BIG song off the album to push, while others have started using it more as the teaser single and using the second single as the album's defining track.

There's no real pattern to it. To use a recent couple of examples, "F--- You!" was the first single off Cee Lo's album and was pushed as the major song off it...it still is, almost a year after the song's release. Yet for--oh, I don't know, random choice here--Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" album, the first single "California Gurls" was timed both as a teaser for the album and to have a summertime hit out there, while the actual "Teenage Dream" single was released to coincide with the album release and to help sell the tone and image of the album...and ultimately "Teenage Dream" became the more sustainable hit off the album.

Or, if we need a more forum-specific example, "Don't Download This Song" was billed as the first single off "Straight Outta Lynwood," but "White & Nerdy" was clearly the BIG song off the album.

I think we're hovering closer to the mark with the "Grenade"/"Born This Way"/Cee Lo round of guesses. I know Al once said "Born" wasn't an option, but that was before the single started getting variously ridiculed and criticized...it has much less of that meaningful "sacred cow-ness" to it now, and it's been far too big of a hit to just ignore it as a possibility.

"Black and Yellow" I'll agree is a possibility...but only as a longshot. The song only really became a hit because the Steelers were in the Superbowl; the fact that it kinda came and went after that week proves that. Wiz's album had a great debut, which is definitely a change of pace since his stuff had never really charted well before. The second single, "No Sleep," peaked at #6, so he's doing something right this time out, so yeah, he's perhaps the strongest rap possibility...but again, one would think Al would have recorded the parody sooner if he was eyeing up either of those two singles.

And some unlikely options would probably include Rihanna, the Black Eyed Peas, Christina Perri, and Chris Brown...but you know, as much as Al claims that he looks at a variety of sources to determine if a song is a "hit," for the last four albums the target for a lead parody has at least hit #1 in "Billboard."

[TMBJon]

I know some people think it's crazy, but it's at least worth considering "Friday" if Al suddenly had a great idea. I mean the timing is basically exact.

[minnick27]

No, that songs message is too serious. Didn't you see the funny or die video?

[WeirdAlIsMyHomeboy]

Would Al do a Britney Spears parody?

Think about it*

Hold It Against Me, although only #1 for one week, and 5 weeks in the top 10, she is a well known artist since the 90's, i do hear the song a lot on my top 40 stations. and i have not heard any really good parodies online of it, so Al has (i think) free range of what he could do with that song.

Just a random thought

[Teh Dingo]

If Al's still trying to be as current as possible (And he's still barring Born This Way), I'd think the timing works out just right that that's one of the leading choices

But the problem with the whole current as possible idea is will Hold It Against Me still have shelf life by the time the album hits. We're looking at probably a couple months from now, but she's already moved on to promoting Til The World Ends, so I don't know.

This is another reason why I'm guessing he dropped the idea

[sethmartin]

In the "Archives" section of weirdal.com, it says that there has been a new recording April 6, 2011. This would make it the final song to be recorded for the album and probably the lead single