What qualities do you look for in a pop star?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Obviously musical/singing ability is required (well, most of the time) but what else?

- Eccentricity?
- Frivolousness?
- Dancing ability?
- Number of white towels in their rider?
- Appearing on Saturday morning kids' telly/Christmas specials?

Phrasing the question slightly differently: What makes you think an artist is 'pop'?

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

In films I like to use the somewhat ambiguous phrase "creating knowledge" (nicked phrase); I think pop is similar in that it can create knowledge about a person (or persona), about itself, or about ME.
Meaning it draws out feelings that I have to constantly reevaluate before I can settle on a general opinion beyond "any good at all." (Ashlee does 1 and 3 more than 2, except now when she's doing 2 at the expense of 1, Britney's new one introduces 1 into the equation across a whole album rather than in fleeting glimpses.

So maybe that's a way of putting it: aspires to be something beyond "any good at all." This is what's disappointed me so much in a lot of the music (pop and semipop and indiepop and whateverpop) I've been listening to to catch up; the stakes are so friggin' LOW that when they hit their marks you kind of want to pat them on the head, but you don't want to invest yourself in them or what they do. They tell me nothing (interesting) about themselves, or about their music or anyone else's music, and they seem to ASPIRE to do this. Yr Panda Bears and Battleses and the list goes on. I'd probably put Girls Aloud and Sugababes and Roisin Murphy in this category, too, to be honest.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Second criterion there should be "about itself as MUSIC," for stuff that's incredible even when the sense of the person isn't what you'd call "pop star" -- Kylie doesn't tell me much about herself, but she's been so strong with the music for so long, she sort of becomes one anyway.