Gravitating to pop and why others might too.

So the time has come. That is for me to talk about who has been playing endlessly in my car.

That's right.

ROBYN.

This whole thing happened on accident. Sort of. If you know of me, you know that me liking this sort of artist is extremely rare- so I'm kind of embracing it more than trying to reject it. So I was watching Gossip Girl (that's right-one of my biggest guilty pleasures) and if you're familiar with the show, at Blair's birthday party a couple episodes back, Robyn makes a guest appearance and performs. I thought her music was more mellow at first because of what they played on the show. I got her album and went to go play "Hang With Me". Super pop sounding, techno-y beats, wasn't really my thing. Bummer. So the other day, my iPod was hangin out in shuffle mode and "Hang With Me" came on while I was driving and this time I was completely receptive to it and was enamored by how much I loved it and felt the urge to repeat it over and over.

This song acted as musical nostalgia for me. It made me have a perfect image of what this song was supposed to encompass. "Hang With Me" reminds me of times where telephones still had chords (that you would twirl around your finger in the midst of conversation), scrunch socks made an appearance over your leggings, over-sized everything, and you were rockin' a crimped hair while singing in a hairbrush. Everything late 80's/early 90's. It puts me in a "Am I smack dab in the middle of a 90's sitcom?" daze.

So while listening to other tracks on the album, I reallyreallyreally like another one and it's one of those songs that I am shocked I like it as much as I do. It's called "None Of Dem". This definitely makes me want to move every fiber of my being-I lose myself in the music. I would love to dance to this in the appropriate setting. I'd imagine the perfect one being full of strobe lights in every colour and a few shots of Vodka to go along with it. I like how this song makes me feel so differently from the other one. 90's idols melt away into strobe light fantasies and dancing in minimal clothing (wait whatttttt?!?) So it struck me with this realization.

This realization of maybe why people like Madonna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spearks, Katy Perry, & Beyonce are so overwhelmingly popular among teen girls and well, just girls in general. The kind of music they produce is almost made to make you feel sexy, girly, or feminine. It may be more of a stretch clumping Madonna in with these other pop stars just on a note of her music being more accepted by a wider audience? I could be wrong on that. In the end, girls need someone to look up to, someone to make them feel sexy. At ages 13, 14, 15, & 16 most likely a boy won't be fulfilling that role. It's a lot to ask of a teen boy. Since you don't necessarily have someone at that age to instill that in you and you're probably not confident enough in yourself yet to find it and own it, your music takes that place -temporarily. A young girl doesn't realize this-she may never realize it. It's not necessarily just "pop" music, but rap/hiphop can also fill that role of making a girl feel "sexy" even with demeaning lyrics (& no, the lyrics don't bother me).

I feel like when a girl reaches sexual maturity (17, 18, 19, 20) she tends to ditch the pop music and starts to explore other venues. Some girls don't never stop listening to music favoured by teens which goes against this idea (can you smell my music snobbery??). I feel like these people become musically stunted- slaves to stations like B96 and KISS FM their whole lives, just waiting to hear the same song 30 times a day. At some point, you don't necessarily need your main source of music to be making you feel sexy or feminine anymore because that role has been filled; either by your own self confidence or a partner, but let me tell you, it's good to blast in your car once in awhile with the windows down-girl power style.

I have never connected with any of the pop stars from the 90's, sure I enjoyed the music, but I never felt a connection to any of the artists whose albums I owned. I don't like the music of Lady Gaga or Katy Perry or ::insert other pop artist here::. & Then there is Robyn; a kind of anti-pop star. She doesn't really conform to the ideals of American stars and being that she isn't American, she shouldn't. It's ironic that Robyn is actually opening for Katy Perry although she doesn't particularly like her music. She is just different. And Funky. And I can dig that. But the thing about Lady Gaga is that I really like HER. I know I would be very similar to her if I were a pop star too. I'm not against anyone here. It's just nice to have a pop star around where I like both the music and the person.

This just proves my theory that music is supposed to come to you at a certain time. When I get certain CDs, there is most likely a song on it that I enjoy. When I get the album I normally go straight to those songs and skip around and welcome in others. A few songs get completely skimmed over. That is until I somehow come across them at the time that is right-like the stars align for that song. Heh, does anyone know what I'm talking about here? Robyn didn't just appear recently. She already made her debut years ago with the hit "Do You Know (what it takes)" back in 1997. She's no newcomer, but she still rocks.

-Tessa