Pop's glass ceiling: why new female stars can't break through

This is a topic that's been covered and moaned about in individual threads over the past year, but The Guardian yesterday posted this quite lengthy and interesting piece about struggling pop girls, so I figure it deserved an individual thread because it's something that's coming up daily here.

Read the full piece over here.

What do y'all think? Is your fave in label A&R hell? Could the tide be turning now that Dua managed to release a great album and is about to blow up finally? Will be alive to see Joyride on iTunes?

 

Rita Ora is coming to take over

 

I read the article but I'm not exactly sure what their point was. It's all very scattered.

 

Because Azealia Banks deserves it the most and the Gods of Pop can't let anyone else through until she succeeds.

 

I felt really old reading that list of names.

 

I'm rooting for Tove Styrke & Mabel.

 

It's not even about feeling old.
I know most of them - but they're just... not good and performing poorly because they're not good.

Like, there are genuine issues in the structure of the music industry, but these issues (lack of female CEOs, lack of female producers) were just as prominent when female artists were smashing from 2008-2014.

 

I feel even more typically old, finding most of them total shit.

 

I do think we're about to go into that part of the decade where the next big female pop stars will emerge, at least judging by cycles.

That being said, I think there's a problem with the public. There's no desire for a "pop star" people, more often than not it seems, prefer the generic act that sticks around for a song or two. There's not a lot of vested interest in popstars anymore.

That being said, these girls also are just putting below par. Very few of them excel in one area and even fewer release good material that would warrant a more thorough listen of their discographies. Saturated with potential stars, but there's not a drop to drink in terms of quality.

Little Mix have been big this year for a reason.

 

Many of them suffer from being interchangeable and having generic songs. We're waiting for one to have that bit of star power.

 

Literally me @ that entire list.

 

Drake should snatch Mabel and feature her on a song so she can blow up, she is the only one on that list worth salvaging, except Tove Styrke and maybe Maggie Rogers

 

Maggie Rogers is amazing but why is she in a list with Zara Larsson. They are in different lanes in different highways.

 

I feel like we're about ready for another zeitgeist capturing Britney/Gaga-esque pop star to correct things a bit. I'd give it another 2 years before we know who that'll be.

 

Most of them have that 'put on' Halsey type voice. I can't bear it.

 

Hint: it won't be Dua Lipa.

Nñ cue this post being quoted a year from now when she smashes.

 

The ones with one or two ok-to-great tunes don't have the starpower to gain mainstream interest and the ones with starpower/actual potential seem to get stuck in label purgatory or terrorized by awful A&R decisions. Definitely an oversimplification, but it unfortunately bears more truth than not.

 

It'll probably be an act that we don't even know about yet. If the rest of her album campaign is handled correctly, the seeds could probably be set in place for Dua to properly blow up but I'm more concerned about her surviving the 2nd album curse nn.

 

I truly hope it's someone we've not met yet. Come out swinging with an all encompassing debut. That's what we all want, and these current girls feel like filler.