We Will Never Go Down

If you wanna have an honest moment…

I don’t think Madonna is the Queen of Pop anymore. There was a time when she had these great songs that were so unique to the time period and they just revolutionized pop music.

But her trendsetter days are long over. If you listen to GMAYL, it totally sounds like something she pulled out of her ass from her 60’s Surf Pop era, with a mediocre dubstep breakdown thrown in. And the only thing that sounds individual in the song is Nicki and M.I.A.’s verses. And if it wasn’t for her unique voice, her latest song, Girls Gone Wild, kind of sounds just like any other club banger on the charts right now.

If you look at the other “Queens” in that picture, Britney was the one that brought the whole Dubstep trend into mainstream music this past year, and now it’s all over the radio. And at 30, she’s still making teen Bubblegum-Pop one of the most popular genres.

When ‘Lil Kim, Missy, and all the female rappers suddenly disappeared for a bit, Nicki came in with a debut single that became #1 on the Rap charts, the first in a long time for a female. Instead of the redundant old school Hip-Hop raps, she gave catchy, polished raps like Super Bass, which also crossed over to the Pop genre.

GaGa kind of just appeared out of nowhere and threw out a string of hits, most going to #1 on the charts. Her first album brought the Madonna Dance-Pop trend back, but then with her EP, she brought together Rock, Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop and even a bit of Country to make a masterpiece. Her new album might not be the most original thing, but it had great uses of Electro-Rock/Pop. And she really is the artist that started the anti-gay bullying trend; after her BTW announcement, there was Firework and Fucking Perfect and all of those songs. Furthermore, she popularized the New York Broadway scene to mainstream pop, and her musical theatre training is easily heard when she belts out ballads like Speechless and Y&I, emphasizing the fact that she is a great singer live.

Now Beyoncé, mother. fucking. Beyoncé. Threw out an album with a machine gun of R&B/Hip-Hop hits. Followed by three more albums, which were all fantastic. She still has one of the greatest voices ever, and is known for how she can dance like no other singer (see: Run The World.)

Now, I’m not that big on Katy Perry’s vocals, but she did throw out lots of Bubblegum hits like Hot ‘N Cold and I Kissed A Girl, that embraced Britney’s Circus’ Electro-Pop sound and gave it a Rock Pop twist and a sassy edge.

Lastly, Rihanna. Umbrella is already crowned one of the Greatest Songs of all Time by Rolling Stone, which is certainly no simple feat. In addition, merging Pop music with Reggae, Dancehall, Hip-Hop and influences from her hometown of Barbados. 

Madonna will always remain in music history as a founding mother in Pop. Her effort to make a comeback is great, with a new top ten hit under her belt. But sometimes, someone new needs to be Queen.