I just want a word with Ghost's current social media and marketing teams, because I really think they dropped the ball this album cycle.
A lot of complaints that fans have could've been avoided simply by having better communication and promotion, instead of staying silent and mysterious. I 100% blame the way some fans have gotten bored, fatigued, or have dropped off entirely on shitty marketing. They really let the hype die in a frankly spectacular way by wasting every single opportunity they had to drum up excitement.
There are issues with the tour that will prevent it from being world-wide like was initially teased? TELL US! People were mad because you led them to believe for months that you might be coming somewhere they could see you! The point where you realize that's impossible should be the point where you make announcements. You don't just leave us to figure it out on our own.
There was so much SILENCE this album/tour cycle! There was so much potential for fun, engaging posts and campaigns that would have kept the lifeblood flowing through the fandom. You could've taken a page from the Meliora era and made silly little Instagram posts that took 10 minutes tops to create. The possibilities were endless, but you chose to only pop up with cold, copy-pasted "we wish to inform you" posts promoting shit. Usually the SAME shit, over and over.
And as much as I adore Vanessa and enjoyed seeing the fans, Ghoulbangers Ball really should have featured some behind the scenes footage. Give us SOMETHING other than an occasional tour-bus tour. I get that they're showing us some of that now with the movie, but it's too late, fellas. I personally know a lot of fans who felt so left out by the "world" tour that they became bitter and left entirely. That NEVER should have happened, y'all fucked up and alienated fans who were too far away from and/or couldn't afford a show. The movie should feel like a celebration and a fun recap! Instead, I'm getting post-mortem vibes of how everything went wrong. It feels like a "Well damn, here. Here's what happened. Ya happy?" and I cannot help but feel that the vibes would be massively different if there had been an ounce of transparency during the tour.
The most bittersweet part is how STRONG the album cycle started with the reveal of Papa V and the teasing of the album. That was so much fun, everyone was excited, the online community was buzzing! And then it just... stopped, once the album dropped. They frontloaded the whole cycle and, what, forgot that fans aren't going to be content with radio silence once they have the album?
Idk, I just feel like the weird vibes and meh energy a lot of people are expressing could have been very easily avoided. There was no need to lose steam! I sincerely hope they learn something from this experience.
For the record, I am in no way trying to shit on them or be negative. I am a ride-or-die, they are my special interest and they have me in a vice-grip. I just can't help but feel a little sad seeing the people around me in the community drop off one by one because bad decisions were made that WOULD have been easily prevented by a more skilled, professional team in charge of interacting with fans. We didn't want to be sold more merch. We wanted a CRUMB of consideration.