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I found this Facebook page made especially to shoot down lady gaga and show all the ways in that she has 'supposedly' copied other artists images. At face value when looking though the collective photos that people have added to prove so, it is quite astonishing at the resemblances between lady gaga and other artists before her.

I came across this article and it reminded me of the discussion in class where gender is fluid, it changes and what the meaning's on gender and sex were. According to article it describes a culture in Mexico where there are ''Muxes'', these are Zapotec indigenous men who dress and behave in ways associated with women. But Muxes are most commonly known as a third gender, rather than a sexual orientation. It is interesting to see that in the article the muxes aren't ridiculed in their hometown, but actually celebrated, for instance they have a party, and to the muxes themselves they see that it is ''important to have this party to rescue our culture, to rescue who we are and show the rest of the people in this city how we live our sexuality, how we exercise our rights''. On the other hand, mothers in the Juchitan area of Mexico encourage their sons of the muxe leanings because their think the ''Muxes are a blessing from God because their look after you when your sick.....''. All in all this culture in Mexico is very different and when many others see this type of identity as unusual or even disgraceful especially in more conservative places in Mexico.

Here is something to consider, are artists today becoming products of cultural thievery? From Madonna to Lady Gaga their use of clothing such as scarfs covering their faces, essentially mimicking certain cultural religions. For instance Lady Gaga's recent fashion statement is reminiscent of the Burka which is religiously worn by Muslim and Islamic females. She even has a song called 'Burqa', whether this is offensive or artistic is yet to be determined. On the other hand younger generations like Miley Cyrus appropriates the black culture and Selena Gomez is inspired by the bindi wearing, arabian dress look. <br /> Are these artists using other cultures for attention and promoting their fame or is it just a gimmick?

A student at U of Western Ontario explains how white men in her mostly white college town fetishize and objectify her as a black woman, drawing on bell hooks' theory of "eating the other" -- this might be useful for anyone writing about race and sexuality.

This tumblr blog post contains images of various female artists who have appeared nude in their videos, noting the reaction to Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" has been different than to other artists' nudity, who have been called "artistic," "beautiful," "cute," and "sexy," while Cyrus gets shamed as "slutty."

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.

Best Trailer Ever! This video is a parody of the Hunger Gamer and made it into the Hungry Games.  This video can relate to the black culture discussion in class. The video uses black stereotypes and takes the mick out of what is considered 'black culture', whether it's attitude, music, style etc. Although if say a white person did this wouldn't there be backlash, so how is it okay for african americans to satirize themselves but not others?

Kornhaber discusses how media outlets often respond to Fiona Apple by alluding to insanity: calling her outbursts crazy. However, this is a mechanism to raise sensationalism and not actually address issues (and even to dismiss them); if we look at Apple, she has very clear rational reasons for her behaviors, and her "outbursts" are often very rational, even if emotion-laden. Kornhaber then extends his critique, showing how often this sort of "reading" happens to other artists, including Kanye and Sinead O'Connor.

On her show, Wendy Williams discusses racial appropriation, and how Miley Cyrus and others, have "picked up" black culture in order to be cool and make money, and then have the privilege of putting black culture away and return to whiteness when they're older.

I thought this was interesting because Fall Out Boy is creating music videos for all of the songs on their new cd and they are all supposed to be connected as one story. At the moment 6 of the 11 have been made. This is the first.

Wow, that's really neat that they're making videos for all of the songs. I don't know of other bands that have done that before... but maybe I'm just out of the loop, haha. Anyway, I also like how the videos are all connected; that's something I'd like to see other bands and/or artists do!

I love that FOB is making a mini movie out of this album. I would say one of the most successful comebacks in awhile!

Miley Cyrus continues to show her interest in other sub cultures that has influence her persona as a performer.

Just thought that it's interesting that many celebrities/stars dress up as other celebrities for halloween.

Interesting tumblr postings.  It seems that the author of this certain tumblr doesn't support Lady Gaga and other divas.  An interesting viewpoint, especially from Jennex's article.  

I read about this too while writing my position paper! I totally agree how it's kind of the total opposite of what Jennex said in his article!

I think this tumblr is brilliant - why should all gays be categorised into liking Gaga, like they advertise; they can see through the marketing machine,and they do not want to just settle for being a target market for artists to try and conquer as if the LGBT community is something that needs to be won!

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!

Though perhaps this video will never exceed the others viewed in this class in overall complexity, I figured I had to introduce you all to this as it is on its ways to becoming a pop culture phenomenon much like Psy's Gangnam Style. That and it's also legit and sounds awesome. Enjoy!

I saw this circulating on Facebook earlier this week. So strange!

Saw this video yesterday for the first time. I have to say it is very catchy and I agree how it is like Gangnam Style and becoming suddenly popular! Thank you for posting this!

Miley Cyrus is featured in Mike WiLL Made-It's new music video for "23." Caught my attention because someone posted this on Facebook, saying the following: "Miley Cyrus... No one wants to 'get like you.' Sorry sweetheart."

Ha! I love how much I agree with that person. I watched this video the other day and found it just awful. She says how she wants to shock people and I think with every video that comes out, she does shock that little bit more. But the shock isn't a positive thing. People are starting to get irritated with her more than anything, I know I am and eventually, the shock and irritation will make people lose interest in her. It is likely that people would have got bored of her had she stayed her usual Hannah Montana self, but at least she wouldn't have been irritating. No matter how hard she tries, she's always going to have a part of her Disney past to her name, similarly, no matter what she does, these publicity stunts she keeps pulling are going to be with her for even longer. The person she is now, she isn't going to want to be her forever and one day she will wake up and realise what an idiot she's made of herself. She'll also realise that this 'reckless persona' that she's made is going to be MUCH harder to shake off. Sorry, that turned into a little bit of a rant. I just have a lot to say on Miley Cyrus!

I agree with you Gina, but i think what the problem is, is that despite people becoming bored and irritated by her people want to see what see does next. Is it going to be more outlandish or shocking than the next? And that is what i think Miley herself counts on. Like she said in her new documentary trailer, she'd rather be talked about for two week than two seconds. So in turn i think that she see's any publicity, even if it's bad publicity, is better than no publicity at all.

Ke$ha just recently posted some photos on instagram of her booty but I found it interesting she isn't really scrutinized like some of the other performers we've talked about in class. Does anyone think that she isn't scrutinized due to the fact that she's been a party girl since day one?

Very good example fo how Gaga uses others originality in her videos

Hello friends, I had a flashback of this gem of a music video the other day and thought I would share it with you all. I am aware it falls outside the pop music genre, but it is quite interesting and well produced all the same. I'm curious to hear your reactions to it.

An interesting video where, as the video says, old people react to Justin Bieber. Towards the end, they discuss not only Bieber, but the path that other young stars take.

And the follow up episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyYGAqmzi4E

Katy Perry recently sign to be the new face for CoverGirl Cosmetics. In this article, Katy Perry claims that beside music, make up is an avenue of self expression. She continues to motivate others with her personality and values.