If you're just like me, that loves fashion and music as well, tell me what's going on with the current musical world! "Singers" who make no effort to "sing"... How come? I could name a few, but it takes no genius to know that I'm talking about Kesha, Justin Bieber (?) and even Adam Lambert. Oops!
Known as bubblegum hits, these songs are usually appreciated by those who doesn't care about quality. I said usually, so don't throw stones at me. Question: Who really wants to know about Kesha's nights drowned in beer?! Adam has an amazing voice, but he's wasting everything with this style. Justin, well, I won't even tell you what I think about him.
I picked 3 decades and 2 artists of each one.
Cyndi Lauper and Madonna
Who appeared first doesn't matter! Both simply took over the 80's, with their clothes, personalities and obviously, music. Still there are alive people to compare them and cause rivalry and blah blah blah (not Kesha's new horrible single)
Cyndi had a band called Blue Angel before she came up with her first record, She's So Unusual, her only hit machine, unfortunately. But that doesn't mean she never made good music again. Her greatest hits are Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Time After Time (who doesn't remember of those?), She Bop, Money Changes Everything, True Colors (classic) e I Drove All Night. All from the 80's. In the next decade, Cyndi didn't have much luck, but didn't give uo on her career due to the fact that she had nomore success. I only feel sad for two of her most recent albuns, Shine and Bring Ya to the Brink. In between them there is the wonderful At Last.
Madonna's first singles don't please me that much, like Holiday, for example. To me, her career began with Like A Virgin, her second record. The song Like A Virgin caused controversy and that, at that time, was something only Madonna had courage to do and trust me, she knew how to. She wouldn't be who she is if she wasn't so ambitious and smart. Material Girl, my favorite single from the album, is one her best, and she cleared things up: "If I knew they would call me a Material Girl, I wouldn't have sung it". She doesn't need a man to do what she can do herself, right? True Blue e Like A Prayer made more noise, respectively, with singles like Papa Don't Preach, Open Your Heart, Like A Prayer (her biggest and most polemic single, probably) and Express Yourself.
Now don't you call those hits bubblegum hits! Because they are still hits.
Mariah Carey e Toni Braxton
Ballads took over the 90's. Romantic ones, sad ones and happy ones. Two singers who began in that decade couldn't have sung another style, right? Mariah Carey and Toni Braxton have the most beautiful ballads and the world had the chance to hear them.
I'm a lamb, but I'll try not to talk about her entire career. In 1990, Mariah Carey released her first album, Mariah Carey. Her first single, Vision Of Love, is, still, one of the best singles I've ever heard in my life and was #1 on Billboard, as well as the other singles from the album, Love Takes Time, Someday e I Don't Wanna Cry. And that was the first step to become the artist of the decade. Her biggest hit, Hero, from 1993, is considered her best song. In 1996 the singer revolutionized the Pop scenery, when she invited a rapper to sing in the remix of her single Fantasy, that would be the version to the video. One Sweet Day holds 16 weeks in #1 on Billboard and no one has taken that record from her yet. In 1997, the style had changed and quality had improved. Butterfly was a libertation for her, who always had R&B influences and could finally record her first album in that gender. The best! Honey and My All are the most known singles from that album, and they never stay outside the tours. Mariah had #1's in each year from the 90's decade, least in 1994, when only the Christmas single was being divulged. Even with the highs and lows, Mariah is still on Billboard charts.
Toni Braxton may have disappeared, but what she did will never be forgotten. Her first record, Toni Braxton, in the best R&B style, is full of ballads, including Seven Whole Days and Breathe Again. Her best album, in my opinion, is Secrets, from 1996. Who doesn't know Un-Break My Heart? Probably her biggest hit. How Could An Angel Break My Heart and I Don't Want To are in that album as well. The Heat closed the decade with Spanish Guitar, the best single from that album. Toni is known as "The flop" among the ignorants, because she hasn't made any success after The Heat. Does success equals quality? Not. Her forth album, More Than A Woman, from 2002, had no success, but the songs Lies Lies Lies, A Better Man and And I Love You are great. She's releasing a new album soon, but it's gonna be pretty difficult for her to come up with something better than what she has done in the 90's.
Christina Aguilera e P!nk
The gender that took over the decade of 2000 was bubblegum Pop. Christina and P!nk started with a commercial style, but have changed with time. For the better... much better.
I'm Christina's fan as well, but I won't control myself. She appeared in 1999 with her first single, Genie In A Bottle, the best that the Pop world had at that time, besides the other singles from her first album, What A Girl Wants, Come On Over Baby and the ballad I Turn To You. How come a singer with vocal skills strong enough to join Aretha Franklin sings this kind of music? Well, everyone has to start from somewhere and she always said she loves blues, soul, jazz and the best of music. In 2002, she was in control of her career and had the chance to change. Was exactly what she did. Showed who she really was. Who she is! Clothes had changed as well, and shrinked. Stripped, her second album, proved that a Pop singer doesn't need to be a label's product. Dirrty, the first single, was the first deception to the USA, but the second, Beautiful, proved that she's not only one Christina. The balada is her biggest hit. Fighter, Can't Hold Us Down and The Voice Within were the last singles from the album, perfectly well chosen. In 2006, she released her 3rd album, Back to Basics, double disc, is considered her best so far and it's also in the musical reference book 1001 albuns you must hear before you die. Her look was clean, inspired by the the 20's, 30's and 40's. Elegant and classic. Yes, she did it again! Changed like a chameleon. The first single, Ain't No Other Man, was a summer hit that year. The second, Hurt, was released near to Christmas time, but didn't go too far. Candyman, the third and last, is one of the best songs from the album, but didn't do well in the charts. In 2008, she released a Greatest Hits and Keeps Gettin' Better reached #7, a great deed due to the fact that it was a single from a Greatest Hits album. Her 4th studio album is to be released and a new style is coming up. Change completely on the outside and have the same voice after 10 years isn't something anyone can do.
P!nk released her first album in 2000, which had the singles Most Girls and There You Go. Her hair was completely pink and real short. Success only came in the following year, with the Missundaztood record. The singles Don't Let Me Get Me and Get the Party Started are both of her best. In 2003, released Try This, my favorite, with a style less commercial and didn't make as much noise as the last one. Trouble and God is a DJ were the first singles. Very animated and fun. In 2006 she came back with her 4th album, I'm Not Dead, her best so far. Stupid Girls, the first single, had one of the funniest videos ever, in which she imitaded celebrities, such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson. Who Knew and U + Ur Hand were the most successful singles. In 2008 she released Funhouse, her fifth. The first single, So What, was #1 on Billboard, but success started to drop with the following singles, Sober, Please Don't Leave Me and Funhouse. After her performance of Glitter in the Air at the Grammy 2010, the song was released as a single. Her personality didn't allow her to stay stuck in commercial pop, and that's amazing.
Christina and P!nk sang together in Lady Marmalade, along with Lil' Kim and Mya, for Moulin Rouge's Soundtrack, from 2001. Both know how to talk about subjects that really matters on their lyrics. Violence, politics, self-assurance and sure, love. Aguilera has Jazz, Soul, and Blues influences. Etta James's fan. And P!nk, real Rock and Roll influences. Janis Joplin's fan.
Well, there's a lot to talk about each one, but I tried to make a summary and it's long still. Hope you guys like it and search for their music, if you don't know them.
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