In respect to women in the music industry, gone are the days of bubble-gum pink lipstick, “Baby One More Time” lyrics, and music videos following happy, innocent couples walking off into the sunset. A new power-to-the-woman revolution has risen: piercings and tattoos, scandalous music videos, random hook-ups and barely-there clothes run rampant.
It’s an understatement to say that Lady Gaga is a superstar. This woman is not a star, but a cosmic explosion, and she has certainly exploded into the world of pop music.
The platinum blond songstress has won two Grammy Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, and been nominated for nine others. She also became the first artist in history to have her music videos reach one billion views online.
What accounts for her success? She is openly bisexual and her song lyrics do not inspire confidence in her sanity. She has sported headdresses with bedazzled lobsters and performed songs while blood spurts and soaks her chest. She turns heads.
This craziness has become a fad for some of the biggest names in music. Names we hold dear to our heart have broken out of their sugar-coated shells. Rihanna’s latest album, Rated R, not only speaks of her pain in gut-busting lyrics, but also in her shredded wardrobe choice and good-girl-gone-bad music videos. Christina Aguilera, once a respected singer who belted hits like “Beautiful,” has recently released a startling new music video for her song “Not Myself Tonight.” When searched, YouTube bears a warning that the material is inappropriate for underage audiences.
Lately, it seems as though this statement could apply to much of the music that is arriving on the scene.
We used to love flirty, bashful confessions but now we thrive off women who bare their raw testimonies for all to listen. We crave drama and madness that these trailblazing women bring to us by the bucketful. This is a revolution to rival Madonna.
Is this a ploy to sell tickets or an expression of femininity and independence? These women are some of the biggest and most successful names in music. This may be an act—an incredible one at that—to attract fans. If it is, it’s working.
Or is it us? Are we, to quote Rihanna, “good girl[s] gone bad?” Do we crave unconventional behavior because we too wish to be different? These women are our role models and when they change, we blindly follow them into a world that we do not even understand or perhaps even like. This revolution is likely to last as long as we’re still gaga for glitz, and restless for Rihanna—which will be until the good girl reigns supreme once again. Not so likely.
