Pop Music Icons

Pop music is usually comprised of happy, upbeatemergence of boy bands and girl groups resulting in
rhythms with simple melodies and lyrics that relate tothe Backstreet Boys, N'SYNC and that fascinating UK
love, relationships, sex and dancing. It is not a genrephenomenon, the Spice Girls. Groups were assembled
that is meant to bring deep and serious world issuesmore for their looks and appeal to teenage audiences
to the fore, nor is it meant to invoke introspectionthan any real singing talent. Towards the end of the
and reflection. It's there simply to bop around to, and90s we saw a rise of bubble gum pop and aspiring
join in the rousing chorus at the top of your lungs. Itsdivas, Britney Spears and her competition, Christina
feel good music, designed for fun and lightheartedAguilera. Christina experimented and evolved; Britney
entertainment.stagnated in the sex kitten look and had a
Unlike other music genres such as rock and hip hop,breakdown. Australia's Kylie Minogue, a former 80s
where the songs are often written by the artistsicon, experienced a revival that carried her through to
themselves, pop songs are usually written bythe next century. Latin pop burst onto the scene
professional songwriters. In order to generate aswith Ricky Martin swinging his hips and Shakira
much exposure as possible, artists create musicshaking everything else.
videos and stage extravagant live performances toThe 2000s have seen a lot of artists take time off
attract media interest. Music videos are particularlyfrom their bands to record solo albums such as Gwen
important as they can enjoy international commercialStefani, while others simply left their bands to pursue
success and thus reach an extremely wide audience.solo careers like Justin Timberlake and Robbie
This has made pop, arguably the world's biggestWilliams. We've seen the rise of Teen pop, who've
music genre.been given a boost by the Disney Channel, as well as
"Popular music" has been around since the 50s, withPop Punk like Fall Out Boy and pop rock like Pink. The
people such as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley fallingpopular reality show American Idol has changed the
into the category. Pop music, as most of us know it,way in which many people achieve fame and
really came into its own in the 80s with the rise ofcommercial success in the music industry. Some
artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna.artists have proved that it is possible to successfully
Michael Jackson had nine no.1 singles in the US aloneblend pop music and R&B, artists like Nelly Furtado
during the 80s, and sold over 136 million albums evenand Rihanna.
though he only released two, Thriller and Bad. ThisSome modern day icons include:
ensured that he became the most successful artistJustin Timberlake, who rose to stardom on the tails
of the 80s and earned him the title "King of Pop".of one of the more successful boy bands, N'SYNC.
Madonna was another emerging 80s artist whoHe chose to leave the band and pursue an
reached iconic status. Widely regarded as the "Queenindependent solo career and in 2002 released his
of Pop", Madonna has experimented by blending popdebut album titled, Justified. After a break of about
with a number of other music genres and has soldfour years, in which he recorded with other artists,
over 230 million albums globally. Her album, Like abegan a movie career, started a fashion label, William
Virgin achieved Diamond status; one better thanRast, and established his own record label, Tennman
Platinum and her single Vogue is one of the biggestRecords, he returned to the studio and released his
selling singles in history. It has sold more than 10second album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. He has sold
million copies worldwide.over 15 million albums worldwide.
The 90s was not a good decade for pop. It saw the