I think the important question is, "Does
Stevie consider the album to be a flop?"
And unfortunately, from the way she talks in recent interviews about how no one buys records anymore, it seems she does. Or more accurately, she considers pretty much
all albums released these days to be flops.
If her words are to be taken at face value, lack of potential sales was at least part of the reason she didn't go into the studio with Christine and Lindsey. Her attitude could be summed up as, "Why bother, when no one will buy the record anyway?"
Of course, she kinda contradicts herself on this (Stevie, contradict? No!
) because she's also said she recorded IYD and 24KG because she finally stopped caring about sales. So who knows.