Pop music | Ramblings of a Misguided Blonde

I won’t be around until this evening. I’m hoping to then finally get caught up on the April 2012 A to Z Blogging Challenge. The posts centered around the Beatles themselves, along with those who were closest to them, are the most difficult to write and put together. There is just so much to say.

I ended up getting sucked into watching the Wingspan documentary on YouTube last night, all 1 hour, 45 minutes of it. I left with a much greater appreciation of what Paul and Linda McCartney did with Wings, and I was already a fan. More on that later. Happy Sunday everyone. I’ll leave you with one of the most beautiful voices ever in pop music.

Taylor Swift at the premiere for Hannah Montan...

Image via Wikipedia

The Anchoress | The Sexist Dreams of Little Girls

The article above makes the case that young girls and teens love a good love story. They want to hear about princes, princesses, and drama. Instead of necessarily thinking about a future career, etc., they dream about falling in love, getting married, having children. Is that necessarily a bad thing? I don’t think so.

As I child, I admit that I loved those same things and couldn’t wait to grow up and have children. I also valued education and independence. As a result, I recognized the dilemma of many women early in life. What should come first? Marriage, children, career? How do you make it all work? While I received the message that I could have it all, there was always the caveat that I couldn’t have it all at once.

This is where Madonna and Lady Gaga come in. The messages in their music and acts couldn’t be more different from those of Taylor Swift. While Taylor Swift is all about relationships with men, Madonna and Lady Gaga make a point of putting themselves first. There is value in both messages.

It is important to know who you are before you commit yourself to a long-term romantic relationship. This is what I think is missing from Taylor Swift, Madonna, and Lady Gaga. In the case with Taylor Swift, one might get the impression that there isn’t more to life than romantic relationships. Unfortunately, many teenagers might not see that there is so much more than high school relationships.

Madonna and Lady Gaga have the opposite problem. Their message of independence at all costs fails to recognize anything outside of themselves. No one can go through life completely alone. Everyone has the desire to love and be loved. In many cases, that message is missing from their work.

There is an overarching idea here that society should address. Why do we as a society insist that pop singers, particularly female pop singers, be role models for our daughters? Just like everything else in life, there are both positive and negatives to any message. This pressure we put on female pop singers results in the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

By they way, I love much of Taylor Swift’s music. I admire most of Madonna’s early catalog as well. In fact, I grew up with it. I think that they are both wonderful songwriters. As for Lady Gaga, I’m not very familiar with her work, and I am happy to keep it that way.