Critical Approaches to Gender and 21st Century Pop Music

Similarly to the Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' ban at a Scottish university an American university have removed a sculpture of a wrecking ball due to many parodies of Miley's now infamous 'wrecking ball' music video. Although it is noted that this was because of wear and tear of the structural cords.

Too many people were making Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball parodies, so Grand Valley State University had to take down their sculpture. They are calling it a safety hazard. Do you think it is because they don't want the attention due to Miley's video drawn to their campus?

This article gives insight into the search for the "real" Lady Gaga, and discusses how she is a manufactured performance artist. The story adds some depth to Paglia's article and discusses Lady Gaga's references to Madonna as well.

This is a short article I found about how Elton John has expressed concerned about the two aforementioned stars. I thought it was very interesting because he compares Miley's recent stunts to Lindsey Lohan, claiming that she is a "meltdown waiting to happen." (There's also an expanded version of the article available.) Thoughts?

I think this article shows Elton John as a supreme authority on female pop artists and enforces the idea of them as "meltdowns" and people in a mess. He uses his masculine power to downgrade female artistis. At the end of this article, I thought it was interesting that he discussed privacy of celebrities in the media. He considers this a detriment to celebrities and neglects to acknowledge how fan connection and participatory culture can be meaningful.

Here is a compilation of Lady Gaga quotes. Most of them are pretty interesting. Are we supposed to believe any of these quotes? Do they help us understand her, or just confuse us?

This post shares images from Project Unbreakable, an exhibit of photos that feature people holding signs with words their rapists said. The signs show a lot of similarity to Thicke's lyrics.

A youtube news show about what the song "We Can't Stop" is really about. Has quotes from Miley in it from interviews

I found this article really interesting because it gave an insight into Miley Cyrus herself and how she feels about her transformation rather than the hundreds of articles judging her without any context of Cyrus' intention. I liked the quote, where Cyrus stated that changing her hair effected everyone else more than her, I think it put the media fascination in an interesting light.

Another take on Miley Cyrus and ratchet culture. Although it's clear Charlamagne's trying to be funny at points, he does raise some interesting issues concerning Miley (though, in my opinion, he's rather ignorant in the way he explains himself). He also mentions Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake in this video.

The article discusses the impact of hyper-sexualisation in music videos and magazines and the negative effect they have on teen girls confidence, education and employment. The article also refers to 'video-vixens' such as Miley Cyrus and Rihanna who can be seen as 'toxic role models' according to writer Liz Jones.

British Radio One DJ creates a parody of Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball. An interesting way of subverting the message of Cyrus' and its use of nudity.

Personally, I think Miley Cyrus' video is very powerful, and this parody reinforces my feelings about that. It's definitely interesting to see a guy in her position, I won't deny it. I understand where everyone is coming from with the complaints about her nudity, but in my opinion, there's a much deeper meaning behind it.

It's interesting how we had discussed in class what is of value and what is junk. This journalist insisted to report 'real news'.

I also liked this video, i thought it was obviously a story in which the reporter didn't want to cover. But i would love to see her full reasoning behind why she refused to do so.

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.

I thought this was especially interesting, since we had been talking in class about the similarities between Lady Gaga's performances and Miley Cyrus's at the VMAs.

A satirical critique on the news coverage of Miley Cyrus's performance.  It's more about using pop culture as revenue than the actual performance.

Lady Gaga's personal assistant is suing her for missed wages after working serious overtime and long hours. Gaga's response is that the luxuries provided make up for pay. (Note: This Mail Online article is more interested in the tit-for-tat and drama of it all rather than the legal issues involved.)

This post includes a file with all 150 of the complaints sent by viewers of MTV's VMAs about Miley Cryus's performance. These complaints focused on the sexuality of the performance and often express being "traumatized." Unfortunately for the complainers, the FCC does not fine or regulate cable television like it does broadcast television.

A video of two Irish guys taking the mick out of Miley Cyrus' video. With this video Miley wanted to be taken seriously but instead has been mocked many times over!

Amanda Palmer performing and speaking about Lady Gaga. Ends short, but I found it interesting hearing Amanda Palmer speaking about someone we are studying so heavily right now. 

This video discusses an interesting metaphor about gender and sex, from the movie "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."

This is Steve, by the way.

A 2009 interview and cover shoot with Elle, which reflects on Gaga's art, her sexuality, and her relationship with her father.