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Rolling Stone: Who is the modern Queen of Pop?

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Seems fairly arbitrary to declare someone a "Queen of Pop" and only take the past two years into account to come up with the rankings. My nominee is someone with much more staying power, she's been around for four decades and still doing her thing. In fact, she has more Top 40 hits than her brother, the "King of Pop" himself.

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^Oh yeah, forgot about Janet! What about La Toya though? :o

LQX said:
Just noticed Alicia Keys is not on the list, thought for sure she was at least more popular than Pink of all people.

For people saying why its not from 2000 on, I think its pretty obvious its so that Lady Gaga comes in at one. If the list started that far back the whole dynamics of it would change and no question the top three would have to be Beyonce, Britney Spears and Christina Agusomthing because they have been around longer. Also other artist besides the current popular ones would enter the list and throw it off.

#1 would have been Madonna, she sold almost 50 million records between 2000 and 2010.

The list wouldn't be too different, perhaps Nelly Furtado would be on there (Loose was awesome), Adele and Robyn would have been knocked out for something like Celine Dion :/

Does anyone really give a shit about the likes of Taylor Swift?
 
Puddles said:
She's a mediocre piano player and an average-at-best singer. The only thing "great" about her stuff is the production, which is admittedly pretty damn good.

Her voice is subjective, and she isn't an accomplished pianist for sure, however she can
still plays it which is a plus in comparison to other pop singers who have no instrumental
background. Gaga has a unique sound and style that separates her from Rhianna, Spears
and Katy Perry. The music she produces is also diverse. Hey I am not even a fan, but
as far as pop music is concerned, Gaga is queen by a long shot. The rock and roll hall of fame
will recognize her when her career is finished, I guarantee it, because for her genre, the
music she made was pretty damn good.
 
shadowsdarknes said:
Gaga has a unique sound and style that separates her from Rhianna, Spears and Katy Perry. The music she produces is also diverse.

Hardly. Everyone mentioned there is pretty-much interchangable.

Putting a shitty dress on and colouring your hair does not make you unique.
 
Gotta agree with the skewed list group, how would Gaga be anywhere near #1 if this was a real list that covered the whole decade and not just like 2 years. Brit fo sho, even though in terms of sales it may be Shania Twain, Janet, or yeah, Madonna. At least do half a decade.
 
inthezone said:
13 years of non-stop hit making, tour sell-outs and overall relevance dont mean shit?

In the 4 months her latest album has been out, it struggled to sell what Gaga sold in a day.

and we can all see how ugly she has become but have you seen her perform lately? A perpetual embarrassment.
 
KamenSenshi said:
Gotta agree with the skewed list group, how would Gaga be anywhere near #1 if this was a real list that covered the whole decade and not just like 2 years. Brit fo sho, even though in terms of sales it may be Shania Twain, Janet, or yeah, Madonna. At least do half a decade.

Nope it's still Britney. She's the highest selling female of the last decade.

And *I'd guess* Britney's concert tours from the last decade would be the second highest grossing for a female behind Madonna.
 
inthezone said:
13 years of non-stop hit making, tour sell-outs and overall relevance dont mean shit?
Britney is interchangeable with anyone that looks good and can dance. Gaga has talent. Gaga >>>>> Britney. Gaga stands up for gay rights, Britney spears is dumb and vapid and gives bad interviews.
 
I'm not sure it's possible to enter a thread with Gaga in it without Puddles coming in and telling everyone how painfully mediocre and untalented she is.

Britney would deserve a place near the top if she actually bothered to perform live. Everyone I know who went to her show last year said she bobbed around on stage, dancing and miming badly.
 
Cynosure said:
In the 4 months her latest album has been out, it struggled to sell what Gaga sold in a day.

and we can all see how ugly she has become but have you seen her perform lately? A perpetual embarrassment.

She performs just fine in the new tour.

Almost all albums released in the last 3 years (excluding Taylor's Speak Now) would have struggled to sell what GaGa sold in a day. Doesnt mean make anybody irrelevant, just makes them less popular.
 
YoungHav said:
Britney is interchangeable with anyone that looks good and can dance. Gaga has talent. Gaga >>>>> Britney. Gaga stands up for gay rights, Britney spears is dumb and vapid and gives bad interviews.

When did it become a question of talent or who is better?

13 years of career in pop music is not an easy feat. Despite of all the odds against her (talent, vapidness, being "dumb", superficial music, whatnot). Why is it that she has far outlasted her more talented, intelligent and politically-involved peers? If it was about talent then Christina would've been far up in that list and yet she's only one spot above Robyn.

She must've done something right and you can stay fucking pressed about it.
 
julls said:
I'm not sure it's possible to enter a thread with Gaga in it without Puddles coming in and telling everyone how painfully mediocre and untalented she is.

Britney would deserve a place near the top if she actually bothered to perform live. Everyone I know who went to her show last year said she bobbed around on stage, dancing and miming badly.
The Puddles Chronicles in the BTW OT was entertaining though. Every time he came back, there was a new song added to his like list. :lol


Also, I'm failing to see what would make Robyn deserve the #1 spot. Her voice is not an asterisk in the field (Adele has that honor), the production of her songs are far from fresh or cutting edge, and her lyrical prowess definitely isn't strong enough to make up for the prior mentioned shortcomings. I do like her and talent-wise, I'd put her behind Gaga, Adele and Beyonce, but given that this list also mentions sales and social influence, well, it becomes obvious why she's last.

She should be ahead of Xtincta though. At least Robyn has a music career at the moment.
 
Stabby McSter said:
HOW DARE YOU

HEY I'm just trying to make the world a more beautiful place!

Cynosure said:
In the 4 months her latest album has been out, it struggled to sell what Gaga sold in a day.

and we can all see how ugly she has become but have you seen her perform lately? A perpetual embarrassment.

Britney's album has been out for 3 months, and AFAIK sales were never artificially inflated by flogging the album for 99 cents. Gaga's album had one of the biggest sales drops EVER the second week.

And calling Britney Spears ugly while defending Gaga in the same breath is just funny.
 
Phonomezer said:
Hardly. Everyone mentioned there is pretty-much interchangable.

Putting a shitty dress on and colouring your hair does not make you unique.

For the most part mainstream music is really limited in what you can do creatively, so I definitely agree with your interchangeable remark to an extent. I feel I would enjoy Gaga if she actually did a dark electropop album, but as of now her music doesn't excite me. I don't count either of her LPs as dark considering whats out there. I believe she's a victim of her own hype, and most of the time it seems to be more about her videos than the actual music. It started out fun and playful, but now it's just getting a bit out of hand and kind of lost in translation. I guess I'm just disappointed her videos really never fit the tone of her songs or her persona. I'd love if she just went for a simplistic angle for a change.
 
I'm assuming that's the US Queen of Pop. Some of those artists have a small fan base worldwide... plus it's missing Kylie, who's released an album and has been touring in the last couple of years.
 
I will admit that I heard some god-awful Rihanna song on the radio while driving the other day and found myself wishing it was Gaga.

Compared to some of the pop acts these days, Gaga is goddamn Ludwig Van.

julls said:
I'm not sure it's possible to enter a thread with Gaga in it without Puddles coming in and telling everyone how painfully mediocre and untalented she is.

Britney would deserve a place near the top if she actually bothered to perform live. Everyone I know who went to her show last year said she bobbed around on stage, dancing and miming badly.

Honestly, I'd never do it if articles like this didn't come out.

I prefer letting the music speak for itself. Gaga is so goddamned hyped up these days that it seems like the music takes a backseat to the videos, the interviews and the media machine.
 
No matter what period of time they chose, it was going to be somewhat arbitrary. They chose 2009 as the cutoff so it could be a current Queen of Pop. And Lady Gaga would still come out on top even if you went back several more years. Even if you go all the way to 2000, only Britney and Mariah would probably jump over her.

It's interesting that they kinda penalized Taylor for being able to push almost any of her songs into the Hot 100, but didn't do anything to Lady Gaga for essentially giving away her newest album for a week.

We downplayed peak Hot 100 position and played up longevity, to underweight songs that only spend a couple of weeks in the Top 40 after a big debut (Taylor Swift's album cuts often make high-ranked but short-lived Hot 100 appearances).

A small note: Taylor's concert gross would have been higher, but she doesn't like charging a lot for tickets. It's not unusual to see the most expensive tickets for one of her concerts be about the same price as the cheapest for Lady Gaga.
 
Puddles said:
Honestly, I'd never do it if articles like this didn't come out.

I prefer letting the music speak for itself. Gaga is so goddamned hyped up these days that it seems like the music takes a backseat to the videos, the interviews and the media machine.
You do realize you're basically admitting to constructing your opinion on what others say, and not on what you think.

2i90ck4.jpg
 
Oozer3993 said:
No matter what period of time they chose, it was going to be somewhat arbitrary. They chose 2009 as the cutoff so it could be a current Queen of Pop. And Lady Gaga would still come out on top even if you went back several more years. Even if you go all the way to 2000, only Britney and Mariah would probably jump over her.

And Madonna, Shakira, Nelly Furtado, Pink, Janet, Celine, Beyonce, Christina & all the other female singers that have generated more sales and revenue since 2000 than Lady Gaga.

numble said:


SuBo :(

subo.jpg
 
Puddles : you do it in near every Gaga-related thread. Of course she's hyped up. She's the most shameless self promoter on the planet, for better or worse.

Also, I never considered Janelle Monae a 'pop' artist as such - as in the big, flashy, overproduced pop-star style. Not surprised she's not on this list.
 
inthezone said:
When did it become a question of talent or who is better?

13 years of career in pop music is not an easy feat. Despite of all the odds against her (talent, vapidness, being "dumb", superficial music, whatnot). Why is it that she has far outlasted her more talented, intelligent and politically-involved peers? If it was about talent then Christina would've been far up in that list and yet she's only one spot above Robyn.

She must've done something right and you can stay fucking pressed about it.

So you're reason for her being queen is that she sucked enough dicks to stay in the spotlight? Even so Britney's name is never mentioned when vapid and awful pop music is on the radio or when I'm around my female friends. It is always Gaga, with Katy Perry as a close second.
 
Gaga? Wth...I swear I see Rihanna's song's on TV/radio far more often. ANyway I'd have thought it would be Rihanna or Beyonce. Though lately Beyonce's been dipping.
 
KaotikMind said:
So you're reason for her being queen is that she sucked enough dicks to stay in the spotlight? Even so Britney's name is never mentioned when vapid and awful pop music is on the radio or when I'm around my female friends. It is always Gaga, with Katy Perry as a close second.

Im not arguing if she's queen. I dont think she is.

Anybody who claims Brit's 13 years of career "don't mean shit" is delusional. Especially when she wasnt supposed to last more than 2 years because Christina was the talented one. Funny how that worked out.
 
Oozer3993 said:
It's interesting that they kinda penalized Taylor for being able to push almost any of her songs into the Hot 100, but didn't do anything to Lady Gaga for essentially giving away her newest album for a week.

A small note: Taylor's concert gross would have been higher, but she doesn't like charging a lot for tickets. It's not unusual to see the most expensive tickets for one of her concerts be about the same price as the cheapest for Lady Gaga.
There's a bit of a bias here in that you paint Gaga (or her label) as giving away the album at 0.99 and Taylor Swift not wanting to charge higher prices out of kindness. In reality, Amazon was the sole actor in the album discount, and Taylor Swift likely isn't charging higher prices because she simply cannot (a young fanbase isn't going to be shelling out the $100+ tickets that Madonna's fanbase happily turn over).


KaotikMind said:
So you're reason for her being queen is that she sucked enough dicks to stay in the spotlight? Even so Britney's name is never mentioned when vapid and awful pop music is on the radio or when I'm around my female friends. It is always Gaga, with Katy Perry as a close second.
You're still not making any sense. Any other artist could suck as much dick as Britney and yet she's the one that has remained relevant. The argument that "well, she's interchangeable" absolutely falls apart when one takes into account her longevity: if she were truly interchangeable, she would have been replaced a long time ago, especially after the extremely public and negative mental breakdown.

And I think it'd be common sense to not be citing anecdotal evidence as factual evidence. I have friends that talk about Britney when pop discussion comes up, so already my anecdotal story has balanced out yours.
 
Ericsc said:
Nope it's still Britney. She's the highest selling female of the last decade.

And *I'd guess* Britney's concert tours from the last decade would be the second highest grossing for a female behind Madonna.
I thought I read this somewhere but was not sure, glad I wasn't imagining that. Do people here really hate Britney that much that they dump on her being popular for a decade just because her latest album didn't sell like the current flavor of the moment pop tart, never noticed that before.
 
People seem to keep making the argument that Lady Gaga has some sort of godly talent that the others don't, can anyone tell me what that is exactly? Not trying to be a jerk, just have no idea. That said, her stuff is the most listenable to me off this list.
 
NGAMER9 said:
People seem to keep making the argument that Lady Gaga has some sort of godly talent that the others don't, can anyone tell me what that is exactly? Not trying to be a jerk, just have no idea. That said, her stuff is the most listenable to me off this list.
her music videos and performances are usually great
 
brianjones said:
i havent even heard a britney song since toxic

he career seems propped up by her dedicated but weird fanbase

2moo8zb.jpg

Her latest single was a major radio and digital hit. Her fanbase can only carry the song beyond the first week or two.
 
NGAMER9 said:
People seem to keep making the argument that Lady Gaga has some sort of godly talent that the others don't, can anyone tell me what that is exactly? Not trying to be a jerk, just have no idea. That said, her stuff is the most listenable to me off this list.

Because she can perform like this live (aka her live performance is always different from her album performance) on top of her writing her own materials:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRILEQhJqoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdkxv3ijuY0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bl_ZNakNbA

To be honest though, I'm not too fond of "Born This Way". With the exception of Scheisse, Judas, and Americano, I don't really like the album. I miss Gaga from "The Fame" era.
 
Koodo said:
You're still not making any sense. Any other artist could suck as much dick as Britney and yet she's the one that has remained relevant. The argument that "well, she's interchangeable" absolutely falls apart when one takes into account her longevity: if she were truly interchangeable, she would have been replaced a long time ago, especially after the extremely public and negative mental breakdown.

And I think it'd be common sense to not be citing anecdotal evidence as factual evidence. I have friends that talk about Britney when pop discussion comes up, so already my anecdotal story has balanced out yours.

inthezone said:
Im not arguing if she's queen. I dont think she is.

Anybody who claims Brit's 13 years of career "don't mean shit" is delusional. Especially when she wasnt supposed to last more than 2 years because Christina was the talented one. Funny how that worked out.

You do know that she was heavily marketed and it worked cause she used to be hot right? Her music sucked, her dancing sucked, and her performances, acting, hell everything that includes talent was terrible. She was hot, teen girls worshipped her, guys wanted to fuck her, she was in an era when pop musicians can have longevity as long as they aren't one hit wonders from the start.

And Christina definitely had not just a better career, but a longer one. Britney's career ended with kevin federline and the shit that came afterwards, christina's career only hit this bump recently. And if you think Britney got a comeback due to talent or hotness you're lying to yourself, she sucked the right dicks to have the spotlight for a little bit and now she still isn't relevant. The only reason she's still well known is her former fame and craziness.

In the end its all stupid and awful music and anyone who seriously listens to it should never be able to discuss music. And since you openly discuss britney in public I can't help but call you guys losers.
 
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