Two acts is a coincidence, three is a SCENE!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

So...

Gwen Stefani
Robyn
Fannypack
Annie maybe??

sure there must be others* - acts making pop music with i) a fair degree of autonomy, ii) a confident consciousness of it BEING pop music rather than s'thing more 'authentic', iii) an immersion in / borrowing from 'street-level' genres. And the examples I can think of are all women, which may or may not be significant too.

This strikes me as

- a good thing! (cos I like them all)
- an interzone between the 'pro-pop' and 'hipster' fields
- a potential way to talk about MIA which both sidesteps and explains the boring disdain for her from Certain Quarters. (NB I still don't like MIA, but I like the MIA-hate arguments less.)

*OK the moves all come from Madonna, but Gwen is maybe more important because after No Doubt she COULD have gone 'serious' for the solo career and went in the exact opposite and much more fruitful direction.

taking sides:

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

Mercury Music Prize:

Bloc Party – 'Silent Alarm'
Hard-Fi –'Stars Of CCTV'
Kaiser Chiefs – 'Employment'
MIA – 'Arular'
The Magic Numbers – 'The Magic Numbers'
Coldplay – 'X&Y'
The Go! Team – 'Thunder, Lightning Strike'
Antony And The Johnsons – 'I Am A Bird Now'
KT Tunstall – 'Eye To The Telescope'
Maximo Park – 'A Certain Trigger'
Seth Lakeman – 'Kitty Jay'
Polar Bear – 'Held On The Tips Of Fingers'

vs

PopJustice £20 Music Prize

» Basement Jaxx 'Oh My Gosh'
» Charlotte Church 'Crazy Chick'
» The 411 'Dumb'
» Girls Aloud 'Wake Me Up'
» Goldfrapp 'Ooh La La'
» Kaiser Chiefs 'Every Day I Love You Less And Less'
» Mylo 'In My Arms'
» Rachel Stevens 'Negotiate With Love'
» Shapeshifters 'Lola's Theme'
» Uniting Nations 'Out Of Touch'
» Verbalicious 'Don't Play Nice'
» Robbie Williams 'Radio'