“It’s a more mature sound for me”

Suomi

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Recently I sat through Jesy Nelson’s iconic Jingle Bell Ball performance of Boyz*, a performance so reminiscent of that period in pop history where formerly bubblegum popstars would return with a sound they claimed to be “mature”, “the real me” and “a little bit RnB”

I think this period in music history is specifically between 2000-2006 but I may be wrong. Please can we fill this thread with examples of this incredible phenomenon, because if anything Jesy Nelson is single-handedly resurrecting a time period that brought so much joy to tens of homosexuals.

*trigger warning: tongues


My first suggestion is of course one of the greatest examples
 
Eternal focusing on serious social issues, such as nans and scientists facing a street execution when they pop to Tesco. It was clearly an attempt to show that Esther had read about Criminology on Encarta 95 and demonstrates a more academic and socially concious side to their work. Sadly it failed and nans and scientists are still dying clutching loaves of bread.

 
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Of course Mel C's whole solo career was her rocking out like she was supposed to, being a serious singer/ songwriter/ entrepreneur. Who can forget the time she solved homelessness from her gilded throne, through the trauma of misplacing her Nokia?

 
I loved them more than ever with this...the performance on 'Wogan' was outstanding!! Sadly, it was just me and my neighbour Karen who actually purchased this.
I have to say I abandoned them at this stage, my pocket money could only stretch so far but I bought the Cherry Red reissues so made up for it.
 
CoCo Lee of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ditching her Mandarin/Cantonese ballads in favour of late 90s RnB inspired pop when trying to launch her (ill-fated) career in the West:
 
I want to mention Rachel Stevens and her first album, but 'Come And Get It' restored my faith that people and production teams were still out there making practically perfect music.
 
In an example of "going for a younger sound" (at the time), Lara Fabian deciding not to singing another depressing ballad about loneliness and dreaming, and going full on clubbing:
 
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I know it's not 2000-2006 and I know it doesn't quite fit the brief; but this is surely the alpha and omega of all ex-bubblegum pop stars going for a more 'mature sound'.



*mic drop*
 
I know that more *ahem* mature things were to come, but this was a watershed moment in Madame X's career:

 
Also, while she would more successfully follow the R&B/hip-hop model with Bangerz, Miley initially tried to shed her Disney pop princess tag with this tinny electropop banger which asks the question "what if a bird could be a slut?"

 
Xtina’s watershed moment in her transformation in… her debut album?

Confused Thinking GIF
 
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I seem to recall this was supposed to be a more mature Britney:




…and then later that year this happened with her having a more ”mature” sound:

 
Yeah I don't think the "a little more R&B, a little more URBAN" talking point became a trope until right after "Slave".

"I'm Not a Girl..." was the more calculated "this is a more mature sound" move to me.
 
You had two options :disco:

mature
edgy
urban
showing navel and getting implants could also be part of the package



OR
real music
synthetic guitars so it would be acceptable with the lads
heartfelt lyrics "I write lyrics every day on my diary, you know, so these are deeply personal songs for me"
not showing your body cause fuck society

 

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