My love for Lady Gaga is something I am not shy about. If anyone wants to try and argue that the current Queen of Pop did not change the entire pop game, then sorry you are wrong. When Gaga stepped onto the scene with her debut single, "Just Dance", even I thought she would be a one-hit wonder, but she kept cranking out amazing pop/dance tracks such as "Poker Face" and "Paparazzi". Even after releasing four consecutive top ten hits and receiving an Album of the Year Grammy nomination for her debut album, I was still not sure that Gaga would be more than a quick fad that disappeared as fast as she busted onto the scene.
Then "Bad Romance", the first single off the artist's The Fame Monster EP, arrived, and everything changed, the world stood still for months. When I came across the haunting demo of the track, I was hooked to a different, unexpected side of the singer. Discarding the generic pop sound for meaningful lyrics and killer beats, Gaga had crafted a song that shot herself into the pop genius category. I'm sure even she was not expecting the success the song experienced. Even though the song unfortunately never hit the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, instead settling for the runner up position, the track will always be remembered as Gaga's signature song.
The song's music video, featured on my list of my top 15 videos of all time, is a moment when every critic started taking Gaga more seriously. Gaga was sending everyone a message. She was getting rid of the dance artist that they came to know from The Fame, and out emerged a completely reinvented woman who was making every other artist step up their game in order to compete, or at least try to compete. Lady Gaga has now broken numerous records, recently received her third Album of the Year Grammy nomination for Born This Way, and is readying a brand new tour and album for 2012 and 2013. My paws will always be raised for my queen.
When R&B/pop sensation Rihanna emerged back in 2005 she was just another young, innocent-looking girl from Barbados trying to make it big in the music world. Her debut album quickly came and went without much of an impact, only two singles were released, but the artist did not let that stop her. A year later Rihanna returned with her second studio album, A Girl Like Me, that featured three top ten hits, including her first number one, "SOS", a song I personally fell in love with. But even with a number one hit under her belt, I do not think people were ready to fully embrace her at that time. The world was still trying to understand just exactly who she was as an artist.
In 2007, Rihanna reinvented her sound and image once again for the Jay-Z assisted "Umbrella", the first single off her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad. The song changed the way I viewed the artist, and I'm sure many others were putting her on top of the crowd. The song was extremely catchy, it was the first Rihanna song I heard on the radio over and over again. The chorus was cute, it would be stuck in the back of your mind for days, and an appearance from Jay-Z did not hurt the song's chart success. The artist's new sound and look made her a force to be reckoned with and she has never looked back.
The music video is a simple, sexy four minute piece showing Rihanna in a range of outfits as she belts out the lyrics to the track covered in pop gold. The attitude and sass were clearly present and it showed the beginning of a new woman emerging. The innocence was slowly slipping away. The song also showed a strict pop vibe from the artist, as her R&B side was disappearing. Unfortunately, besides future tracks like "Disturbia", I feel the artist has not topped what she created here. Rihanna has released six albums in six years, but I honestly did not care for her last three. She has numerous number one singles in her arsenal, but she has not achieved a number one album for a reason. I feel she is a singles artist.
I have always had a love/hate relationship with Miss Katy Perry, for reasons that have been previously discussed. When Perry made a big splash in the summer of 2008 with "I Kissed A Girl", I fell in love with the sexy, new attitude that was radiating from her. Her follow-up efforts, "Hot N Cold" and "Thinking of You", also pleased me for different reasons. I felt she could do no wrong and I guess the country felt the same way. When Perry was readying the release of her second album with its first single, "California Gurls", everything that I loved about the artist was disappearing and the rest of the world was latching on to her generic appeal and music.
The spunky attitude was gone and out emerged an image created by her record label. I began to take notice of the artist's mediocre ability to actually produce live vocals. Sometimes it was painful to hear her perform. The artist's recent album accumulated five number one songs, not including the recent "Part of Me", and I still do not understand how. Each one of the songs sounded exactly alike. The world turned Perry into a phenomenon after "Firework" was released. The inspirational song was a catchy pop track, I'll admit that, but did it really deserve a Grammy nomination? I don't think so. The song made the artist a pop darling and everything after turned into gold. Perry has achieved seven number one singles, two of which I think are truly worthy.
The music video for "Firework" was beautiful, way better than the actual song. The artist makes her way through a city as emotional stories of weight issues, gay rights, and domestic abuse are woven throughout. Perry was sending an important, valuable message to her fans and I can wholeheartedly respect that. Throw in some dancing and fireworks escaping from her chest and you have a visual piece that pleased me. Not to mention the video looked like it cost a serious amount of her record label's dollars. Perry received six Grammy nominations for her work on Teenage Dream, matched a record set by the late Michael Jackson, and recently sent "Part of Me", the first single off the album's re-release, to the top spot of the charts.
You cannot talk about the pop genre without mentioning the great and powerful Christina Aguilera, an artist who has one of the greatest voices in the entire recording industry, Rolling Stone would agree with me. Aguilera made her grand and memorable appearance back in 1999 with the smash hit "Genie in a Bottle", I was only eight years old when the track hit radio airwaves and made its way all the way to the number one spot. Christina kept turning out number one hits and started preparing for the release of her very different second album, Stripped. An album that will always be remember as the project that showed a less innocent, overly sexualized version of the artist.
When the album's second single, "Beautiful", was released critics took noticed of its uplifting message of acceptance and Aguilera's powerful vocal performance, a performance that would earn the artist a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Perormance in 2004. The song contained such a strong message that the LGBT community would praise it for its positive potrayal of the gays and lesbians. The song cemented Aguilera's pop icon status and showed the world that the arist was here for a reason: she could sing and outperform any other artist on the charts at that time. The artist has been on the scene for ten years and is recognized as a true star.
The music video for "Beautiful" is one that brought tears to my eyes when I was younger. Aguilera is making sure that everyone knows that they are beautiful just the way they are, to ignore the hate coming from the rest of the world. Depictions of gay couples will be forever remembered and is truly one of the greatest videos to ever be released. Christina has since released two other albums, the beautiful Back to Basics and the disappointing Bionic, became a judge on the hit singing competition show, The Voice, and recently announced plans for a comeback later this year. It's about time the amazing voice was put to good use.
I may not have enjoyed all of Britney Spears' career, that has spanned more than ten years, but the pop icon has had her moments of greatness. One of those moments being her debut single, "...Baby One More Time", which hit radio way back in 1999. I can remember dancing and singing to the track during music sessions in elementary, everyone was guilty of blasting this fun, pop track laced in yummy goodness. The track quickly showed that Britney would be on top of the pop genre for as long as she wanted to. The artist has never really left the music scene, expect for a brief mental breakdown that led to a bald head and her greatest album, Blackout. Hmm maybe she needs another trip to the psych ward. Just saying.
"...Baby One More Time" has become a music staple, especially in the pop genre. The song, produced and written by pop giant, Max Martin, was the only thing I remember hearing in 1999. Every pop artist today, male or female, was influenced by the song in one way or another. It has become one of the biggest selling singles of all time and earned the artist a Grammy nomination at the young age of 16! The addictive chorus is one I always find myself singing to when it comes across the radio and I am not ashamed. Say what you want about Spears, and I have had some nasty things to say about her in the past few years, but the song is one of the greatest things to ever come out of the music industry and turned Spears into an overnight phenomenon.
The music video deserves a entire post to itself. Just like the song, the video has become this iconic figure in pop culture. When we first laid eyes on Britney we saw her in a short school girl uniform performing dance routines she still wishes she could do. Set in a high school, every girl wanted to be her and I am sure every guy fantasized about her at least one time in their lifetime. Britney's career has had its share of ups and downs since the release of her debut single. Spears has sent six of her seven albums straight to the number one position, the most recent being the lackluster Femme Fatale, earned four number one hits, and racked up a decent amount of Grammy nominations. However, nothing compares to the beginning.
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