This one seems to be one of the new hitters.
I think it's the one I saw on TV recently. Very pretty. But multi-shade make-up which must have taken hours to apply. I wonder why they do that, it's not my thing. But then of course you can make somebody seem a lot prettier with lots of make-up.
I do not want to sound racist, but can anyone point me to a current black popstar who isn't vulgar, crass, materialistic, over-the-top and generally able to exercise some good taste? Is the general taste gone so low that this is just accepted as the norm, or is it some reverse racism at work (can't criticize their lack of refinement because they are black and I would sound like a racist).
ReplyDeleteWhen I (rarely) watch MTV, the moment I see a black performer, I generally switch to another channel.
@ umbra:
ReplyDeleteToo many of them seem to be hung up on all that 'gangsta rap' and wannabe-stripper image which appeals to the young & horny & desperate with too much disposable cash and too little character.
Rihanna isn't the smartest kid on the block or she wouldn't have got mixed up with that guy who beat her up.
As for the makeup, girls are like used cars: a good coat of paint covers a lot of sins.
The white artists aren't any better. It's just the whole current pop music thing in general.
ReplyDeleteJes
ReplyDeletein fact I see lady Gaga and similar artists as part of a "blackification" of white pop. I just hoped some smart black character would step up and differ from the gangsta/stripper crowd. After all, there are blacks excelling in ALL other arts (acting, presidency-- well that's actually the same art :-)
There are a lot of white refined performers (I will not make any examples because musical tastes are like @$$ess) around. Is there any black equivalent of Coldplay? or Tori Amos?
Or Al Jourgenson? Or Skinny Puppy? Or Mutant Death Ray? (OK, the last one I made up.)
ReplyDeleteHow is Lady Gaga black? She seems dang white to me. Pic here.
I meant that IMHO Lady GaGa is part of a lowering of taste/lack of refinement which brings white pop on the same low level of most black pop.
ReplyDeleteAnd the others -- it seems they can't reach the top charts UNLESS they feature some black gangsta. See the last offerings from Nelly Furtado or Kathy Perry. I'm waiting for Ke$ha to do a duet with a cigar-smoking guy dressed in black and with a name containing some random acronym or misspelling of an actual English word.
"ICE F.U."
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't see one following the other, it just seems like everyone's kinda sucking in general right now. I'm only talking about pop radio of course, there's plenty of good artists out there(white and black), you just don't hear about them. Personally, I think the radio's a dead format anyway.
ReplyDeleteumbra said -
ReplyDelete"I meant that IMHO Lady GaGa is part of a lowering of taste/lack of refinement which brings white pop on the same low level of most black pop."
Didn't that start with Madonna?
Madonna was still bearable IMHO, and she did a few nice songs along the way. I think pop now suffers from dramatic inflation, meaning that every new "star" must outdo, in terms of "shock value", whatever the former stars did. Hence Gaga's fascination with outrageous costumes and general excess which are meant to attract gay audiences and those teen girls who, like her, are not terribly beautiful but can be like her with a ton of make up and a pinch of bad taste :-)
ReplyDeleteOne black artist I find refined is Seal, although I don't know how "current" he is considered nowadays. More soul-pop than pop, though.
ReplyDelete