90's Trend (Album)

### Producers

Jack Antonoff, Joel Little, Cashmere Cat, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, Benny Blanco, Kanye West, Peder Losnegård, Belka

## Chronology

### Next

Bedroom (EP)

**90's Trend** - Third studio album by American singer-songwriter Belka, dropped on October 29th 2021, year after its predecessor Scooch A Mooch and 2 years after singer's debut studio album, New York Gurls. It was promoted by 5 singles, "Fetish" featuring A$AP Rocky, "The Ride", "Teams", "Wake Up" and "Headlines".

## Background And Realese

During the Scooch Stadium Tour Belka confessed that she is finishing her 3rd studio album and that she's moving into a completely diffrent direction than in her 1st and 2nd album. She also sang some songs from the record, including "You Should Be Sad", "Invisible String", "Court" and "I Love You Too Much?". Tour ended on October 25th, 2021 and there were rumors floating that Belka is going to go on a little break before the new album, but on October 27th "Fetish" featuring A$AP Rocky came out, album's lead single. It debuted and peaked at #1 on US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Belka's 9th #1 single. Same with song's realese, she annouced the album. Day later, on October 28th, album's name, cover and tracklist were revealed. Also, album's first and only promotional single, "Cities" was out same day. On October 29th, 2021 album was realesed. It debuted and peaked at #1 on Billboard 200 with 987K sales, 76.4 million streams and 39.2 million airplay. Album stayed atop the chart for next 4 non-consecutive weeks. On October 30th, 2021 album's 2nd single, "The Ride" was out. It peaked at #5 on Billboard Hot 100. Same day, album's deluxe edition was out. On October 31st Belka annouced that her 3rd tour, 90's Trend Tour is coming on November 2nd. On November 2nd tour started. On November 3rd, album's 3rd single "Teams" was out. It peaked at #2 on US Billboard Hot 100. On November 7th, 90's Trend Tour ended, grossing 221 million box office. Same day, album's 4th single "Wake Up" was out on Rhytmic Radio. Song peaked at #7 on Billboard Hot 100. November 10th album's last single, "Headlines" from the deluxe version was out. It peaked at #4 on Billboard Hot 100.

## Songs

"***You Should Be Sad***" is a song about a person that tries to get revenge on a partner who cheated on them and enjoying moments when their lover is feeling bad. "***The Ride***" is about asking someone to a relationship, comparing it to an invitation for a ride. "***Why***" is about how a person who has been cheated on wonders why their love did this to them and if they were at fault and what they were at fault for. "***Fetish***" featuring A$AP Rocky is a song about how someone flaws and insecureties excite you at the start of relationship. "***Teams***" is written from the perspective of a teenager who was rejected from all kinds of groups in high school and realizes that not belonging to groups only shows your superiority and independence of mind. "***Love(Less)***" is from a perspective of a person afflicted with heartbreak, that realizes that there is no love left in them to share with someone and that they first need to heal and take care of themself before taking someone else. "***Invisible String***" is about a person who, despite the fact that their former lover has broken their heart many times, still feels in love and attached to them, like an invisible string. "***3PM***"is, as Belka said, about a person who is constantly high and has no idea what's going on and is meanwhile destroying every good thing in their life.

"***Cities***" is about being overwhelmed by big-city life and the life of a celebrity. Belka confessed that she wrote the song after "Fucker Face" blew up and she moved to New York City. "***Down Deeper***" is about rolling down through a toxic relationship with the wrong person to the very bottom, to that person's level. "***Court***" is about being in a love triangle in which you are the main character but after a while it turns into a metaphorical tennis ball that the players hit from one side of the court to the other. "***Shut Up***" featuring Lorde is written from the perspective of a young adult to whom there are thousands of "pertinent" pieces of advice that everyone tells him, and they just wishes they would shut up because, after all, they're an adult and knows what they're doing with their life. "***Me Myself And I***" is written about how a person who did something horrible to their lover now has to be alone with themself, quite alone, looking at themself in the mirror and feeling disgusted with themself after what they did. "***Wake Up***" comes back to a topic of young adults. It tells the story of how every teenager, upon entering adulthood, has to face a hard fall from the cloud of dreams, privilege, and falsehoods that the media has been selling us throughout our lives so far to the hard ground in which every person dulls you, criticizes you, and rushes you, and you have to participate in this rat race and never-ending judgment and struggle for survival. "***I Love You Too Much?***" is written from the perspective of a person who has just entered her first relationship with someone who treats her like a burden despite the fact that the lyrical subject loves her very much. "***Headlines***" is, as Belka confessed, a song about the fear of growing up and adulthood, and how we always try to escape from these problems by heading for the headlines.

## Singles And Promotion

Fetish featuring A$AP Rocky was realesed as album's lead single, on October 27th. It debuted and peaked at #1 on Billboard Hot 100 becoming Belka's 9th #1 single, 3rd consecutive #1 lead single, and only #1 single from the album. Song was realesed to streaming platforms, digital download, vinyl and CD pressings and Rhytmic Radio. Single sold 12.3 million copies worldwide, has over 3.2 billion streams worldwide, with 1.8 billion streams on Spotify alone.

The Ride was realesed on October 30th, 2021 as album's 2nd single. It was realesed to Modern Rock Radio, streaming platforms and digital download and peaked at #5 on Billboard Hot 100. Single was streamed over 2.6 billion times worldwide, with 1.7 billion streams on Spotify alone, and sold over 11 million copies.

Teams is album's 3rd single, realesed on November 3rd, 2021. It's album's most successful single. Realesed to streaming platforms, digital download and Modern Rock Radio and later Contemporary Hit Radio and CD pressings. It peaked at #2 on Billboard Hot 100, has sold 13.7 million copies worldwide and has over 2.2 billion streams accross all streaming platforms.

Wake Up was realesed on November 7th, 2021 as album's 4th single. Realesed to streaming platforms, digital download and Adult Album Alternative Radio and Modern Rock Radio. It peaked at #7 on Billboard Hot 100, was streamed 2.6 billion times worlwide and has sold over 4.2 million copies all around the world.

Headlines, altough realesed only on deluxe version, was realesed as album's 5th and final single on November 10th, 2021. It became a sleeper hit, peaking at #4 on Billboard Hot 100. Realesed to Contemporary Hit, Modern Rock and Rhytmic Radio and also to vinyl pressings, streaming platforms and digital download it sold over 9.2 million copies worldwide and has over 2 billion streams worldwide.

## Critical Reception

Album was met with widespread critical acclaim. Critics praised album's lyrics, production, sound and visuals. Critics were also positively surprised by Belka's new musical path and maturing image. **On Metacritic, album got a weighted avarage score 91 out of 100**, making it singer's 2nd best-rated album on the platform. The conclusion sounds: *"Belka opens up to another genre and sounds better than ever before. With amazing arrangements and lyrics, this album didn't need a hugely complicated production to sound amazing. It's just... Belka at her finest!"*

## Commercial Performance

Album debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 with 987K sales, 76.4 million streams and 39.2 million airplay. Album spent it first 2 weeks on #1, fell to #2 where it spent next 4 weeks, and came back to #1 in its 6th week. Album spent its 6th and 7th weeks at #1, and on 8th week it fell to #2 and never came back to the top of the list. Album spent 50 weeks in TOP10 of the chart.

Album has over 8.4 billion streams on Spotify, making it Belka's 4th most-streamed album. On YouTube, all videos combined have over 4.9 billion streams, so album has 13.3 billion streams accross all streaming platforms, making it Belka's 3rd most-streamed album across all streaming platforms.

Album sold 22.5 million copies worldwide, making it Belka's 2nd highest-selling album, only after *New York Gurls*. It's also 10th best-selling album in history and 6th best-selling album by woman in history. All 5 singles sold over 52.6 million copies all around the world, with "Teams" leading (13.7M). Whole era sold 75.1 million copies worldwide, making it Belka' 4th best-selling era.

On Billboard 200 All-Time chart, 90's Trend was ranked as 4th most successful album of all-time, and Belka's most successful album at the chart.

## Trivia

* It's Belka's first album where she got credits as a producer.
* It's Belka's favourite album by herself.
* It's fan favourite among Belka's discography.