In Defense of Pop Music: How Misogyny Contributes to Society's View on the Artform
I will passionately defend pop divas until the day I die.
Here’s something that recently crossed my mind: During Michael Jackson’s lifetime, he was hated, ridiculed and mocked. His name was fragged through the mud. After he died, everybody magically loved him. But beyond the hatred, his music always stood strong. No matter what the headlines said, his music proved to be louder than the critics’ hate. This thought lead me to how is it that pop music is so popular and yet it doesn’t get respect?
Pop music, especially when made by women, is generally seen as “manufactured”, “soulless”, “vapid”, “throwaway”, or “selling sex” within the male gaze of music fans. Genres such as classic rock, metal, alternative, indie and post-punk are seen as “serious” music or “authentic” music. Perhaps this sentiment is often held because rock music is made with “real instruments”, while pop music is more electronic based and focused more on vocal performance, choreography and showmanship. Traditionally, rock has been a bastion of traditional masculinity, and hip-hop culture is infamously homophobic. While pop music isn't typically critical of society (with some notable exceptions), it's long been a platform for artists challenging gendered norms and expectations, whether it's Cher, Boy George, Madonna, Lady Gaga, or Lizzo. The main reason to this sentiment is because media that is traditionally geared towards females is seen as inferior as opposed to media geared to men. Somebody generally may not like the sound of the music, but a lot of people are just averse to anything associated with women. That’s why the word “feminism” is so unpopular with them, they don’t want to be part of a movement with “fem-“ in the name. Pop music’s fan base is predominantly made up of females, the queer community, and other marginalized people. How did music that was originally made for the masses become mostly consumed by minorities? (Yes, women are still minorities).
The male dominated music industry has made recent strides, whether it was Taylor Swift winning ownership of her masters to the percentage of women in the music industry increasing. But the numbers are still low, especially when it comes to producers, record executives, and management. As a 35 year old woman, I don’t know what kids like these days by any means, but from what I see on the internet among pop music fandom is that nothing has changed. Female pop starts are still hated by cishet men. They are only seen as eye candy for them, while for young females and queer people they are worshiped and idolized, or what is now known as stanning—extreme fandom whose members fervently support their chosen celebrity, often demonizing anyone opposed to their source of devotion.
I was a kid in the 90’s. I’m not quite old enough to remember Madonna’s glory days; my all-time favorite, go-to pop diva. I obviously remember the height of Britney Spears’ fame. Cishet men and boys drooled over her while she danced in a school girl outfit at the tender age of 16 while she sang “I’m not that innocent”, even going to the extent of marketing herself as a virgin. I can speak on experience that since I lived as a boy at this time, my male friends had no problem admitting that she was “hot”, but they would call her music “fake” or “garbage” and accuse her of lip-synching. It is 100 percent factual that every female and queer person my age worshiped Britney Spears. I am ashamed to admit that since I was assigned male at birth, I assimilated into gender roles, so I was not a Britney fan until her 2011 album “Femme Fatale”. At this point, I knew I definitely was queer, but was still navigating my identity and understanding what that meant. I did have my guilty pleasures. In 1997 when “MMMBop” by Hanson came out, I became a Hanson stan. But despite the bullies, I was a proud Hanson fan, often wearing their shirts to school. The other boys made fun of me, calling me homophobic slurs, while I befriended the girls as we bonded over our love for the pop band.
Madonna was the first pop diva who I fell in love with. Madonna has been around my whole life. She has taught me how to love myself, embrace who I am and not be ashamed of myself. She was my gateway to my love for female pop divas and queer culture. I was 10 years old when her groundbreaking album “Ray of Light” was released. The moment I saw the music video for “Frozen”, my life was forever changed, but I kept my fandom for Madonna under wraps until I was in high school. This was when I was realizing that I was queer and I came out as a Madonna diehard, going as far as attending her “Confessions on a Dancefloor” Tour in 2005 and writing an essay about her for my English class senior year. Prior to this, I didn’t pay much attention to Madonna. I do remember sneaking around to watch the music video for “Justify My Love”, but for the most part the music I listened to artists that my brother or my father approved of , i.e. male artists with guitars.
The misogyny towards female artists is that what has been deemed good is also perfectly aligned with what is masculine. Being a fan of Madonna or Hanson or Gwen Stefani as a young boy felt wrong to me, like something to be ashamed of, despite the fact that my bedroom walls were plastered with Gwen Stefani’s face.
A common argument against female pop stars being overly sexualized is “Look, my favorite artist doesn't have to show his or her body to sell music. This makes him or her the better artist.” This makes the artist’s music devalued in the eyes of men because “she’s trying to be sexy and that's how she gets fans." This of course is a illogical argument, considering male artists sell their bodies constantly. But when a male artist sells his body, nobody bats an eyelash. It is deemed natural and expected. But as soon as a woman artist does, they are either called a “whore” or “she’s hot, but her music sucks.” Either way, women are objectified and not seen as serious artists. Women are most frequently the trendsetters in pop music and that femininity, along with the themes related and relevant to it are part of why it is dismissed by people who argue to be the arbiters of good taste. When “good music” is so frequently associated with classic rock and male led indie groups, it’s not really a surprise that other creative output often isn’t taken seriously.
Pop music speaks to the queer community for many reasons. One, it is visually appealing. The hair! The makeup! The lewks! The choreography! It has fun, heavy beats that distract us from mental health issues; the culture and fanbase is more accepting than rock or hip-hop; the DRAMA that is stemmed from it; the lyrics don’t take themselves too seriously and can be ironic, satirical or campy. The fact that so many gay men idolize female pop stars is both fascinating and perplexing. On one hand, gay men worship any strong confident independent woman, but on the flip side it is as if they expect female artists to objectify themselves. This phenomenon needs to be studied by scientists.
Contrary to popular belief, pop music is not only an artform, but it is also a science. It doesn’t matter if you are team Taylor, team Gaga, team Lana, team Ariana, team Britney, or simply a pophead like myself. Pop music is never feeling like your true self until you are behind closed doors with your headphones on, singing into your hairbrush. Pop music is summertime with the windows rolled down, the wind blowing through your hair. Pop music is licking the tips of your fingers after eating cotton candy. Pop music is getting drunk with your girlfriends, dancing like an idiot and then crying at the end of the night. Pop music is about pleasure and puts melody ahead of everything else. Pop music has acted as a safe space for queer people. It has helped us discover ourselves and build confidence. Pop music is universal and brings people together. Above all, pop music is forever and I will never stop defending it.