The music industry is a tough place to be, especially if you're seeking new relevancy in a style experiencing declining popularity, something that Falling in Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke has been forced to reckon with. In an interview with radio station 100.3 The X Rocks, he was asked about Falling in Reverse's prerogative to focus on singles instead of full-length albums.
"Well, my album Coming Home didn't do well," he admits. "It tanked. It did bad. It didn't do well. The numbers don't lie, like they say — in good ways and bad ways. So, I noticed a lot of bands that were my age that were putting out [new music], trying their hardest and they were trying to figure it out, and I just remember being, like, 'I can't put another album out.' I'm, like, 'What can I do? Because I don't wanna go down. I don't wanna disappear into the abyss of aging emo….' There's a lot of bands that have done that. So I looked to rap, like Drake, and I was, like, 'What are they doing?' And they're putting out singles. They just drop a single. Pop artists drop singles. I'm, like, 'Okay, so what if I put all my creativity into one song instead of putting all my creativity into 10 songs and being rushed to get it out? Your creativity starts spreading out over 10 songs. If you put it all into one song, it's really good. And then you put all your creativity into this music video. And it worked. Slowly. 'Cause it was 'Losing My Mind', then it was 'Losing My Life', then 'Drugs'. Corey Taylor, who's the nicest guy ever, jumped on it. And then 'Popular Monster', it [shot right up]. I was like, 'Oh, I need to keep doing this.' I was, like, 'This is somehow working."
Radke also explained that he thinks the singles have been working because he realized he can spend more time on writing songs before releasing them to the public.
"It was just because I honed in my creative juices and I just really spent… Like 'Popular Monster', I wrote that chorus six times," Radke said. "And I realized, 'Wait a minute. I don't have to be sold on the first chorus that I write.' And I figured that out, and I'm, like, I'll just keep making it until when I wake up the next day I don't question the song anymore. I'm, like, 'Dang.' It's like seven in the morning. I'm going to get coffee. I put the song on. I'm, like, 'This slaps.' Instead of being, like, 'It's pretty good,' it's, like, 'No. This is insanely good.'"
