From Mariah to Britney Spears: 90's pop singers have lost space for new generation

[e-mailmyheart]

I found this article on a Brazilian site that talks about the reasons that led Britney, Mariah, X-tina and J-lo to not be as successful as they were in this new generation and so I decided to translate.

Pop, decadence and depression

Go back 15 years in time. Now, think about whether it would be possible to imagine that stars of the size of Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera would see their careers go back. And even worse: often need to undergo performing shows in Las Vegas, a place popularly known to house decadent artists? Despite the constant renewal of the pop market, not even the most pessimistic analyst in the phonographic market could predict or bet on this scenario. Although they still enjoy a good reputation among fans, the trajectories of these and other stars of the 1990s are only a shadow of what it once was. The motives vary, but poor career management and emotional imbalance to deal with fame have resulted in the situation observed today.

About Britney:

"Britney has been up and down for the last 15 years, and the American pop princess looked like she was going to be similar to Madonna's career, but her legacy so far is far less impressive and important for pop music. The reason for the blonde's career getting off the rails was her own inability to cope with being the biggest star in the world, and in 2007 that led to crises that prompted Britney to freak out, haircut and threaten a photographer with umbrella. However, that same year she released the acclaimed Blackout, and the following year came out Circus, also well received by critics and audiences. But pop is like a marathon: if you do not sing singles at the top, a yellow sign is lit just in time.

Femme Fatale (2011), Britney Jean (2013) and Glory (2016) also performed well on the charts. However, they did not guarantee that Britney discontinued the biggest stars of the day, such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Among the critics, there is a consensus that the singer needs to renew herself and launch some more daring project. Although she has never stopped releasing records with hits and relevant songs, the Britney of 2016 is a figure who shines and works in pop music much less than Madonna, with a decade and a half more road."

What equals the stars of this era is that practically all have abdicated a more solid and interesting career as singers to become figures that live basically from the image they have built and from what it generates in the advertising market and in TV projects.

http://entretenimento.r7.com/pop/de-mariah-a-britney-spears-cantoras-pop-dos-anos-90-perderam-espaco-para-nova-geracao-13012017

[Soni]

I spot no lies tbh...she really needs to release something daring and stop chasing trends (like she does from Circus or FF till today)

 

[Nova Terra]

that last sentence is so true. these older singers are now focusing more on marketing, tv stuff, etc. because it makes them more money than selling records, sadly...

[e-mailmyheart]

8 minutes ago, Nova Terra said:

that last sentence is so true. these older singers are now focusing more on marketing, tv stuff, etc. because it makes them more money than selling records, sadly...

Unfortunately it is the evolution of the times 

[DJSLAYZEE]

1 hour ago, Soni said:

I spot no lies tbh...she really needs to release something daring and stop chasing trends (like she does from Circus or FF till today)

 

 

[Orlando.]

The problem is not the music, it's all about the brand. Maroon 5 and that Ed Sheeran guy both released tropical house singles recently and see successful, no one says they're untalented and chasing the trends. The **** is this? How dare you come after Glory just because it's not commercially successful? So suddenly it's a trend chasing album that doesn't deserve recognition and success? It's one of the best pop albums in 2016 for ****'s sake. I'm so done.  

I don't disagree with the last paragraph though, it's all about the brand and image.

[Spearsfan]

Britney isn't in with the  new generation because they don't get her music to them. 

That is the only problem. They gave up on that which can be very crucial for her career. 

It's how Madonna survived so long getting the young generation. It's how I got into Madonna through the 2003 Kiss. 

 

[ICouldntThinkOfOne]

I don't agree with the first paragraph at all. Madonna rose to fame during a time where people had word of mouth and general media (Newspapers, and TV). She has said herself that she had the space to make mistakes without the world watching. Britney didn't have this at all, when Britney was at the age where she could (legally) go out and party, she had hundreds of press on her. That's not just a 'freak out', its insanity, its dehumanizing, its hell on earth. Its the reason most people would kill themselves.

JLo was always famous, but she never had the same reach as Britney, and the quality of her music took a huge dip (and thats saying something), Christina was always on someone else's coat tails, and the same thing happened her: she released two terrible albums. Mariah's voice is incredibly damaged from overwork (thanks to her management), and the quality of her music took a dip in comparision to her previous works (but by saying that, she did have her big singles even up to 2009). It wasn't that they didn't take risks, its that they were all too late in the wrong direction.

Circus was safe, Femme Fatale was even more so, Britney Jean was her big flop album (which was bound to happen and rightly so) and Glory was a step in the right direction, but I think the GP are waiting on something far more personal, but its clear that Britney does not want this, and is happy to stay out of the spotlight as such.

Taylor Swift refused to let anyone stream her music, let alone stream it. People were forced to buy it. Beyonce is riding on trends (come on, I mean 2013 was all about feminism, 2016 was about racism, however she has never made a single statement herself), and the album suprise releases make the album a novelty, rather than good. 

If she wants to be bigger, she needs to scrap her team completely and/or open up about issues, but she won't, she's moved on and has found a happy medium.

[prettylittleliar_2214]

It's her stupid team. People in the younger generation know Britney but they don't know that she has no music because her team treats her like she's 60 and not making new music. They market her as a legacy act with nothing to prove and nothing new to bring to the table. She needs to go the Beyonce route and focus on creating a strong image and albums. I think she can have success with singles of course but they don't make a solid effort. They blew it with Glory with losing momentum from the BBMAs, the single coming later, poor visual for the lead single, second single release taking FOREVER, unnecessary or poorly managed collaborations, etc. with radio paying her dust it doesn't make sense for them to not do more to promote her with streaming services. I say they release a third single with a good video then start really preparing for a B10 strategy. They need to make use of the 20th anniversary, revamp her image and choreography, get the Super Bowl and be ready to tour. 

[youWantaPizzame]

I agree with the points in the article. 

This article to me also relates to Gaga and her potential downfall in pop music. She's been in the game much younger than Britney, Mariah and JLO and her recent albums are getting nowhere with the GP. Yeah, she's promoting using performances but no one I know (GP) even cares or knows about Joanne

[Soni]

1 hour ago, Orlando. said:

The problem is not the music, it's all about the brand. Maroon 5 and that Ed Sheeran guy both released tropical house singles recently and see successful, no one says they're untalented and chasing the trends. The **** is this? How dare you come after Glory just because it's not commercially successful? So suddenly it's a trend chasing album that doesn't deserve recognition and success? It's one of the best pop albums in 2016 for ****'s sake. I'm so done.  

I don't disagree with the last paragraph though, it's all about the brand and image.

it is kinda different with males imo..I think many male artists did the same thing and have success..but it is expected from a woman to always deliver and to prove herself more than men...anyways I did not mean that Glory was bad because it chased trends

...FF was great (for a trend chaser); (I don't know if Circus was chasing trends tho/although it is great too); I am one of the few people that don't hate BJ (her team probably saw that Will.i.am was making hits so they gave him to produce it to chase the hits) and Glory is the most obvious trend-chaser...is great!(duuh)

don't get me wrong but we all know that when she experiments, she delivers (see ITZ and Blackout)

I don't think she can save herself from not flopping anymore tho ( cuz every artist starts flopping with time)

[e-mailmyheart]

1 hour ago, Orlando. said:

The problem is not the music, it's all about the brand. Maroon 5 and that Ed Sheeran guy both released tropical house singles recently and see successful, no one says they're untalented and chasing the trends. The **** is this? How dare you come after Glory just because it's not commercially successful? So suddenly it's a trend chasing album that doesn't deserve recognition and success? It's one of the best pop albums in 2016 for ****'s sake. I'm so done.  

I don't disagree with the last paragraph though, it's all about the brand and image.

Sorry I'm Portuguese my English is not the best and so I did not notice certain points of your comment, but from what I noticed in the text I posted does not say that Britney or the other artists have no talent, the point of the text is that they can not overlap with the artists of this new generation, for several reasons as it says in the text: poor career management and emotional imbalance to deal with fame and personal reasons (like divorces). These and other factors hurt the career and not everyone can always be at the top decade after decade like Madonna and Beyoncé.

[e-mailmyheart]

1 hour ago, Spearsfan said:

Britney isn't in with the  new generation because they don't get her music to them. 

That is the only problem. They gave up on that which can be very crucial for her career. 

It's how Madonna survived so long getting the young generation. It's how I got into Madonna through the 2003 Kiss. 

 

But nowadays it is not only with the type of music that an artist has to worry to reach a younger generation, but also with the image and the social networks, a singer with 50/60 years for more music and appealing sounds that does to please this generation can not please in a social network like Instagram for example, where they put their images and things that they like and the young people who love a song of yours or even an album will not identify with it because she is not from her generation, does not go through the same experiences that they and an enventual love relationship would not also get their attention as a Selena Gomez and a Justin Bieber for example.

[Dynasty]

It's a vicious circle only Madonna SOMEWHAT survived, and no other female pop rnb star. Even Madonna didn't do it as successfully but just barely enough to keep herself relevant, and the biggest stars of today, taylor ariana Selena beyonce, will be irrelevant in 10 years even more than we think, new ones keep coming, fresher, younger, better, prettier etc. Pop industry is not much different than fashion industry tbh, its very vile and evil.

[e-mailmyheart]

2 hours ago, ICouldntThinkOfOne said:

I don't agree with the first paragraph at all. Madonna rose to fame during a time where people had word of mouth and general media (Newspapers, and TV). She has said herself that she had the space to make mistakes without the world watching. Britney didn't have this at all, when Britney was at the age where she could (legally) go out and party, she had hundreds of press on her. That's not just a 'freak out', its insanity, its dehumanizing, its hell on earth. Its the reason most people would kill themselves.

JLo was always famous, but she never had the same reach as Britney, and the quality of her music took a huge dip (and thats saying something), Christina was always on someone else's coat tails, and the same thing happened her: she released two terrible albums. Mariah's voice is incredibly damaged from overwork (thanks to her management), and the quality of her music took a dip in comparision to her previous works (but by saying that, she did have her big singles even up to 2009). It wasn't that they didn't take risks, its that they were all too late in the wrong direction.

Circus was safe, Femme Fatale was even more so, Britney Jean was her big flop album (which was bound to happen and rightly so) and Glory was a step in the right direction, but I think the GP are waiting on something far more personal, but its clear that Britney does not want this, and is happy to stay out of the spotlight as such.

Taylor Swift refused to let anyone stream her music, let alone stream it. People were forced to buy it. Beyonce is riding on trends (come on, I mean 2013 was all about feminism, 2016 was about racism, however she has never made a single statement herself), and the album suprise releases make the album a novelty, rather than good. 

If she wants to be bigger, she needs to scrap her team completely and/or open up about issues, but she won't, she's moved on and has found a happy medium.

Every artist has his prime and the hunger that feeds his ambition to want to be at the top and to be the best does not last a whole career, except for Madonna (so far and about Beyonce is still early to speak, I'll give her another 15 years to see if she's going to be like Madonna in terms of reinvention) and from the moment they're moms their priorities change, at least in the case of Britney that's noticed, but now that their kids are more older and her life in the media is stabilized she returned to have interest in his career. Mariah and X-tina may not have had a successful album since 2010 like they have in the past, but there's one thing that they have and Britney does not have about the GP: respect! And look I'm saying this but I'm a Britney fan but I can see the reality! If she wants to be on top as in 1999-2004 (which I do not believe she wants because she got that prime with a lot of effort and work that does not happen 2 times) she has to evolve as an artist and start singing a song or another live to attract the attention of the GP again, because if not every time she launches a new album people will say: another tour in playback and an album with the vocals all changed in studio!

[e-mailmyheart]

1 hour ago, youWantaPizzame said:

I agree with the points in the article. 

This article to me also relates to Gaga and her potential downfall in pop music. She's been in the game much younger than Britney, Mariah and JLO and her recent albums are getting nowhere with the GP. Yeah, she's promoting using performances but no one I know (GP) even cares or knows about Joanne

Because this last album that she released is very different in terms of image and sound that she used to GP

[e-mailmyheart]

32 minutes ago, Dynasty said:

It's a vicious circle only Madonna SOMEWHAT survived, and no other female pop rnb star. Even Madonna didn't do it as successfully but just barely enough to keep herself relevant, and the biggest stars of today, taylor ariana Selena beyonce, will be irrelevant in 10 years even more than we think, new ones keep coming, fresher, younger, better, prettier etc. Pop industry is not much different than fashion industry tbh, its very vile and evil.

I  agree  

[PokemonSpears]

3 hours ago, ICouldntThinkOfOne said:

Circus was safe, Femme Fatale was even more so, Britney Jean was her big flop album (which was bound to happen and rightly so) and Glory was a step in the right direction, but I think the GP are waiting on something far more personal, but its clear that Britney does not want this, and is happy to stay out of the spotlight as such.

The thing is, the GP isn't waiting anything from Britney anymore.  They just don't care, even if she releases an amazing album like Glory. She's lost her space in this generation, because it's taken too long for her to release another hit. In the music industry, and in a world where now it's the kids/young teens who rule the market, more than two years without something big, is enough time for them to forget an artist. And precisely because it's the youngest people the ones that decide what's good and what's not, the preferences will change very rapidly, unless the artists stay current. Like Rihanna, she hasn't stopped since her first album, so she'll keep being considered cool, even for the new generations of listeners that keep coming. But if she dared to stop releasing her stuff for let's say, 2 years, 3 years. And comes back with something that is so-so, without much promo, like BJ, then it would be the end of her fame and success. The youth would forget about her. They would suddenly believe that she, at her 30-something is too old to keep releasing music, because they would only knew her older hits.

Britney should've kept trying with more BJ singles in 2014. I think it was the first huge mistake, leaving that whole year without releasing something. Then in 2015, Pretty Girls wasn't the best option, and even less featuring the most hated artist of the moment. And that video Tom's Diner could've gained her a little bit more respect from the audience, but I think a standalone single should've been produced by no other than Max Martin. Like 3.  Then they waited too long to release Glory, til the second half of 2016. And the messy circumstances under which Make Me... was released...

What can we consider her last huge, relevant hit? Scream & Shout? That was more than 4 years ago, and it wasn't a single of hers, and it wasn't precisely her most characteristic song. She isn't cool anymore, she is something from the past already, at least in the US. In the rest of the world she's still respected for her trajectory, but her team, they won't care about the international market, so...

[ifuseekari]

I think Britney is not trying to be successful in the game in terms of sales and #1's, 

She's at this point her in her career where she just wants to make music and perform for her fans especially those who have been with her since day 1. Therefore, we have the residency.

If she wanted to be at the top again, she would have been doing intense promo and marketing like these new artists are doing. But she's been there, done that. 

She has nothing to proof since she has already left a huge mark on the industry and the entertainment world. She's a living legend and doesn't need to proof anything to anyone. 

But what I'd love is for Britney to keep continuing making great music and experiment. We have seen that a lot from ITZ , BO, and Glory and I hope she keeps doing that in the future <3

[Da Bubblah]

6 hours ago, e-mailmyheart said:

The reason for the blonde's career getting off the rails was her own inability to cope with being the biggest star in the world,

 

Where's the lie?