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I wholesomely agree with this article and i love the angle that she took with it. I agree that women in the industry are pitted against men and it is a women jobs to look as they state; "Girls are allowed to be sexy, but not too sexy. Pure, but not a prude." In addition women or girls are only portrayed as long as they look 'pretty' or from the industries point of view perfect! That is why this article compares the treatment of men against the mistreatment of women in the industry and why there is a unbalance of expectations.

Here is an interview that questions whether there is gay artists in the music industry and more specifically the 'rap game' as the interviewed calls it. But can be considered as controversial is that he states that there is a 'gay mafia' and that they are controlling the hip hop scene. For instance he refers to Lady Gaga and how she is running with the gay community and she is winning!

Camille Paglia argues that the problem with Cyrus's performance wasn't that it was "disgusting," but rather that it was unsexy ("atrocious"), and that subversion and sexual liberation need limits and can't rely just on shock.

I might add that I think Paglia is largely right, but then again, wrong: Isn't she mis-identifying Cyrus? Cyrus was out for shock, not sexual liberation (in my reading). She's not trying to be the next Madonna. (If you read other Paglia arguments, a recurring theme is: "This new artist isn't Madonna.")

Camille Pagila is at it again! Although our class discussion is currently focused on Lady Gaga, I found this article Pagila wrote about Miley Cyrus interesting. Pagila does mention the focus on sex in the music industry and credits Madonna as the executive of such an image, in the most positive way possible. Pagila described Gaga as the striking end of sex and gender. Here, Pagila claims that pop music/culture itself is on the exponential decline. Don't forget to read the comments, they're quite amusing, actually!

An awesome feminist critique of the pop music industry by Lily Allen.

The video and an article on Billboard about Lily Allen's new song. The video is really interesting and relevant to what we've been discussing as Allen calls out industry sexism in the lyrics and has a reference to Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' video.

I love this song and video, when I saw it I though Lily's back!! It seems she has taken a few years away to really see the industry for what it is and has come up with this song that addresses everything thats wrong it. My favourite line is 'if you can't detect the sarcasm then your misunderstood!'. I have so much respect for Lily Allen as an artist because her songs always tell it how it is, and she doen't feel the need to take her clothes off ( eg Miley Cyrus).This song reminds me of The Fear when she sings 'i'll take my clothes of and it will be shameless, because everyone knows that's how you get famous".

I thought this was an interesting article in relation to pop culture and how authentic things have become, especially with the introduction of new technologies such as auto-tune and music sampling and editing. The article goes deeper into these. Thus those who want to make a imprint on the industry as the article states is going to be increasingly difficult because ''even the most sincere expressions of self will have to be multiple and complicated''.

Today, Amanda Palmer, will.i.am, Zoe Keating, Imogen Heap, and Scooter Braun(creator of Justin Bieber) with addition to music platforms Spotify, Vevo, Songkick, will be debating if technology has killed the music industry. 

This is one of P!nks early video. She's singing about wanting 'real love', which is very different to her more recent music. Her image here is more mainstream and it appears her 'real' image was not presented until she became more popular in the industry. This could perhaps be compared to Miley Cyrus' recent transformation however P!nk was arguably less shocking and more mature.

This is an article from the British magazine "Look", Its dicussing how Adele turned down an 12 million pound deal to replace Cheryl Cole as the face of Loreal. Adele says no because she doesn't want to be associated with a brand for fear of 'selling out'. I though this went well with our discussions of authenticity; unlike other artists Adele money comes 100% from the sale of her music which I think is both impressive and admirable.

I thought this was interesting because by adressing the idea of "selling out," Adele demonstrates what she considers "fake" about other pop artists. It gives insight into how we see authenticity as opposing commercialism and supporting brand names in the music industry. It also shows another dimension of why the public considers Adele an authentic artist.

This long - over an hour - but Dr. Dines discusses rape and porn culture and it's affect on society and the impact it has on women. I particularly thought her discussion of the Paris Hilton sex tape was relevant to our discussion about Miley Cyrus. She encourages people to "think about the trauma of being nineteen years old and that is circulating everywhere. Just for a moment what it must have felt like, and then, like most women who are traumatized," she had "two choices" to either "hide" or "decided...to embrace that trauma and 'own' it as your own....if you're going to call (Paris Hilton) a slut, then...(she'll) be the best slut you've ever met in your life". This all or nothing attitude that women in our "image based" culture must have to survive. Granted, this talk is about the porn industry, but I think a lot of it can also be used in discussions of women and pop music. Be warned, though, it does include some pretty graphic language. EDIT: Around 45 minutes in she talks about Miley Cyrus's photoshoot for Vanity Fair and the hypersexualization of young girls. It takes place before the VMAs, but she still talks about the transition from Hannah Montana to Miley Cyrus.

It's interesting that so many people in the industry supports Miley Cyrus. This version is actually quite enjoyable. Check it out!

An article/interview that explores Lorde as The Next Big Thing. I think it's interesting to see the constant parallels that the industry draws between new and old artists. For me it shows illustrates the culture that we live in and the need for something and something shocking.

Did you ever hear a lyric and be like, "Wait, what did they just say?" Shockingly, only about half of these are from Nicki Minaj. This is a comical look at some lyrics in songs that the lyrics make no sense. I think there is something for almost everyone (genre) in this post

This is an interesting find, when you read the lyrics you realise how little sense they make. Perhaps this demonstrates how its not just music that is important for an artist to make it in the industry. Rihanna for example could sing anything and still make hits perhaps this is because or her risqué performances and outfit choices. It is interesting when you said have you ever listened and thought "wait what did they say" in all honestly I don't I just sing the song without questioning the lyrics, perhaps because the song is in the charts by a popular artist therefore it must be good!