New popstars of the 2020s

Zu said:
I hear that new Polydor signing JENNIFER SMYTHE is one to keep an eye on :disco:
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And you know Polydor are going to make as much publicity capital as they can out of her feud with new BMG protegé MAVIS WILTON
 
lolly said:
Isn't it way too early to expect the decade to have produced global pop stars defining the decade, anyway? We're barely a third of the way into it. So most people who have attained that level of fame now will be a carry over from the previous decade. It rarely happens after one album - and didn't for any of those listed for the 2010s.
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Precisely this.

None of the named 2010s examples were really blowing the world up only 3 years into the decade. The Weeknd was still pretty niche, Sam Smith was a guest vocalist on one dance track, Dua didn't exist, Harry was becoming more notable as a tattoo artist's doodle board, and Ariana was titting about with sodding Jessie J.

Let's review in a few more years. I hope we won't be discussing Tom Grennan.
 
I find a lot of the big plop girls indistinguishable nowadays due to that tiresome affected singing trend which brings to mind Diana Vickers suffering from varying degrees of constipation and also THIS:



God be with the days when were were treated to to a lovely LARA MCALLEN vocal.
 
Zu said:
For myself I look at the parade of dullards who pass as pop stars du jour and I ask myself, are they as good as Modern Talking and I’m afraid the answer is generally NO
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KING WITHOUT A CROWN Thomas Anders still showing up these dreary no marks in 2023 with his honeyed vox and interpretive freestyle choreo.

 
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Shoat said:
Precisely this.

None of the named 2010s examples were really blowing the world up only 3 years into the decade. The Weeknd was still pretty niche, Sam Smith was a guest vocalist on one dance track, Dua didn't exist, Harry was becoming more notable as a tattoo artist's doodle board, and Ariana was titting about with sodding Jessie J.

Let's review in a few more years. I hope we won't be discussing Tom Grennan.
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Point kind of taken, although Sam Smith had already scored 3 number 1 singles and Ariana was smashing with Problem and Break Free by this point in 2014! Ed Sheeran and Lorde had also released hugely successful debut albums by this point in the decade too.

Dave, Lizzo and Doja Cat are probably the best examples of new(ish) acts blowing up this decade I suppose.

I think my point was that it genuinely seems harder for new acts to breakthrough this decade, and there seem to be less 'pop megastars' coming through the ranks. Perhaps that's due to streaming allowing greatest hits to clog the charts. I thought I'd have a go at posting my forst thread on here, perhaps it wasn't a worthy topic for discussion though! 😔
 
passthatdutch said:
Point kind of taken, although Sam Smith had already scored 3 number 1 singles and Ariana was smashing with Problem and Break Free by this point in 2014! Ed Sheeran and Lorde had also released hugely successful debut albums by this point in the decade too.

Dave, Lizzo and Doja Cat are probably the best examples of new(ish) acts blowing up this decade I suppose.

I think my point was that it genuinely seems harder for new acts to breakthrough this decade, and there seem to be less 'pop megastars' coming through the ranks. Perhaps that's due to streaming allowing greatest hits to clog the charts. I thought I'd have a go at posting my forst thread on here, perhaps it wasn't a worthy topic for discussion though! 😔
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I think you have a point about the charts slowdown making life more difficult. It's definitely harder for anyone who isn't already an established megastar, or a faceless lucky dance act, to break though.

Dave I'd probably count as 2010s, but Doja isn't a bad call. Lizzo probably needs a couple more hits to her name - she's built up a lot of goodwill and respect as a performer, but isn't quite an unstoppable chart force yet.

(You really don't need to question yourself for posting this topic. If it wasn't worthy you'd have no replies whatsoever.)
 
passthatdutch said:
I thought I'd have a go at posting my forst thread on here, perhaps it wasn't a worthy topic for discussion though! 😔
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Even if I don't quite agree with your conclusion (and I'm only one poster!), I do think you make a valid wider point in terms of the new big stars, as Shoat says. And please don't second guess yourself when starting posts.
 
Central Cee? Although a rapper, not pop star. He’s released lots of music since 2020 and most of the songs have charted within the top 40.
 
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Attention spans, innit? Lots of meme songs but few careers.

It's an interesting inversion - in the 80s and 90s, you had bands who would get loads of press, curiosity would drive some sales but it would all fizzle out pretty quickly. Now, you have the 'viral' hit that everyone recognises but no-one can tell you who actually performs the thing and, two weeks later, it's "cringe" to even mention it.

There's a mid-point somewhere...
 
octophone said:
Now, you have the 'viral' hit that everyone recognises but no-one can tell you who actually performs the thing and, two weeks later, it's "cringe" to even mention it.
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examples? :D most viral hits don't burn out quickly. I can only think of ABCDEFU by Gayle.

I don't think there are many meme songs or artists really. is it that weird that the 20s haven't produced any new superstars yet, except Olivia? these things are cyclical...
 
Jark said:
examples? :D most viral hits don't burn out quickly. I can only think of ABCDEFU by Gayle.
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I didn't say it "burned out", I said it became "cringe". Two weeks was an exaggeration for effect. And I can't give you that many examples because I don't know who the artists are either.
 
Pipo said:
Conan Gray
Dove Cameron
Sabrina Carpenter
Madison Beer

spring to mind. They might have started earlier but they definitely had their breakthrough after 2020.
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Where are the HITS though? Conan Gray, Madison Beer and Dove Cameron have only had one UK top 40 single apiece. Sabrina Carpenter has had two with neither bothering the top twenty.

I know it is ill-advised to judge things by the charts these days but I think it hard to call someone a world-conquering star without some level of chart success?
 
I do think that's more of a problem of the charts than the pop stars though. Those artists all have multiple songs witn 100m+ streams, so they are objectively popular.
 
lolly said:
Are they globally popular?
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some of the most globally popular acts barely register in the UK, especially Latin artists like Bad Bunny (who has seemingly never charted a single in the UK, but who has at least 6 songs with 500m+ streams), and not much K-pop either. so what is globally popular?

any song with 200m+ streams has to be somewhat globally popular since a small handful of markets won't be providing those numbers.
 
Jark said:
some of the most globally popular acts barely register in the UK, especially Latin artists like Bad Bunny (who has seemingly never charted a single in the UK, but who has at least 6 songs with 500m+ streams), and not much K-pop either. so what is globally popular?

any song with 200m+ streams has to be somewhat globally popular since a small handful of markets won't be providing those numbers.
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I'm aware of Bad Bunny and the Latin artist situation, and certainly the UK doesn't have to be part of the equation.

I was just wondering if any of those acts are very heavily dependent on the US for the bulk of those streams, because if the success outside of the US is minimal, I wouldn't personally call them globally popular. This is perhaps just a personal thing, but to me that implies thriving transcontinentally, and possibly across language divides.
 
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It’s not uncommon these days for songs to get BPI certifications without charting at all. You have to assume that's measured by UK streams only.

Examples from artists mentioned thus far.

Conan Gray - Maniac [SILVER]
Madison Beer - Home With You [SILVER]
Madison Beer - Dead [SILVER]
Bad Bunny - MIA [GOLD]
 
SystemAddict said:
which brings to mind Diana Vickers suffering from varying degrees of constipation
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Diana Vickers didn’t sing with an inflection, she sang in the ancient language of Calaughish, a language from the island of Sealand, lost after years of British Invasion. She would throw in a few English-y sounding words and phrases, but essentially she was making an heroic political point with every performance, like this one here, Corned Beef

 
VoR said:
It’s not uncommon these days for songs to get BPI certifications without charting at all. You have to assume that's measured by UK streams only.

Examples from artists mentioned thus far.

Conan Gray - Maniac [SILVER]
Madison Beer - Home With You [SILVER]
Madison Beer - Dead [SILVER]
Bad Bunny - MIA [GOLD]
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I'm sure it must be UK streams only. And I'm fairly sure I've seen at least one example of a song going platinum without charting. Which is only going to get more frequent, particularly for acts who have albums that stream well.
 
Suomi said:
View attachment 20428

Diana Vickers didn’t sing with an inflection, she sang in the ancient language of Calaughish, a language from the island of Sealand, lost after years of British Invasion. She would throw in a few English-y sounding words and phrases, but essentially she was making an heroic political point with every performance, like this one here, Corned Beef

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How can this simultaneously make me thank fuck X Factor has fucked off, yet also make me miss those days horribly?
 
Pipo's 1 out of 4 prediction is better than anyone else's attempt anyway!
 
Suomi said:
View attachment 20428

Diana Vickers didn’t sing with an inflection, she sang in the ancient language of Calaughish, a language from the island of Sealand, lost after years of British Invasion. She would throw in a few English-y sounding words and phrases, but essentially she was making an heroic political point with every performance, like this one here, Corned Beef

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What an AMAZING post :D
 
There are certain times (now) that make me miss what might be Zu's unstable take on Thomas Anders's reimagining of Modern Talking hits.

 
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