Normani: “Why Does Pop Have To Be So White?”

Ake1725

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Could it be that our music is too risqué? I find myself, especially when I have little ones around or elders, having to turn off the black stations because the music has just gotten too vulgar. What I end up turning on is some white “safe” pop station or some jazz, blues, etc. What R&B artist out is not explicitly singing about sex? What hip hop artist is not talking about sex, drugs, and illegal activities? Sometimes it could be too much and I don’t want the younger ones consuming all of that. I’m not familiar with Normani. But even the first video you posted is too risqué if I have little ones around and we’re watching an award show and this is her performance.
Ariana Grande is equally risque. Even Britney Spears and them were also back in the day:patrice:.
 

Ake1725

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Could it be that our music is too risqué? I find myself, especially when I have little ones around or elders, having to turn off the black stations because the music has just gotten too vulgar. What I end up turning on is some white “safe” pop station or some jazz, blues, etc. What R&B artist out is not explicitly singing about sex? What hip hop artist is not talking about sex, drugs, and illegal activities? Sometimes it could be too much and I don’t want the younger ones consuming all of that.

I’m not familiar with Normani. But even the first video you posted is too risqué if I have little ones around and we’re watching an award show and this is her performance.
:mjtf:Please tell me this ain’t the case. I do remember thinking these groups were imitating black boy bands...didn’t know about blk producers.

Timbaland and the Neptunes
 

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She's bad. :ehh: she rap?
No. I first learned about her from Dancing With The Stars and realized she was in a girl group Fifth Harmony. I started keeping up with her after learning all the shyt she went thru in the group. To date I think her hits with Khalid and Sam Smith have charted.
 

Taadow

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:feedme:Could u elaborate? I know very little about the music industry. Just stuff I observed growing up and a shift I can’t quite put my finger on. I thought blk music was selling hella good.

From Mariah Carey, hell SWV was like 9 weeks at number 1, R. Kelly, Silk, Escape, hell 112 was like 10 weeks #1

So where did this idea that a blk sound couldn’t make money come from. Meanwhile, Ariana music reminds me of nothing but blk R&B.

I be so confused!!!

AirPlay does not equal sales.

It's not that Black doesn't make money, it's that it doesn't make Pop money.
The Music business is just like any other business; you sell the most when you appeal to the most buyers.
That's why the highest selling MC of all-time ain't even a rapper (shout out to MC Entire, ROFL).

R&B/Pop is stylistically the same thing. "Pop" is only short for "popular". That's why if you turned on Mickey Mouse Club in the 90s, them li'l White boys and Girls (some of whom are Popstars now) would be singing covers of R&B songs. So yeah, if Ariana Grande was a Black girl nobody knew making the same songs, she'd be called R&B.

It was always fascinating to me to go Back in history to see (1) two different artists releasing the same song, but styled differently, and (2) how many songs were given to R&B artists who turned them down, only to be given to other folks and become huge Pop hits.

It just so happened that back in the day, an R&B song would be so undeniably good/catchy that it would "cross over" to the Pop charts. The best R&B artists were good enough to have this happen more than once. But that's lowkey the reason you might've heard somebody call someone a "One-Hit Wonder", but you be like "...but wait, they had a few more hits, didn't they?" The OG true definition of a "hit" is one that hits the Hot 100, which is the original Popular Airplay chart.

It used to be about the songs - now the game is artist/image driven. I guess I coulda just said that. Lol
 

Wear My Dawg's Hat

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The Land That Time Forgot
The pop radio audience has always been white/white female driven.

Carole King, Barbara Streisand, Madonna, Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette were products
of pop radio.

Young white males had rock/AOR radio to hear Van Halen, Springsteen, U2, REM, Green Day.

We had r&b radio from the 1940s up until the early 2000s which gave black artists a great foundation to "crossover"
from, to the white pop mainstream for additional exposure and sales. Luther Vandross, Freddie Jackson,
Frankie Beverly could sell millions without having to get played on pop radio.

Radio consolidation and the rise of Hip Hop/Rap radio in the late 1990s to the 2000s suffocated
r&b radio and r&b love.romance culture, essentially killing black r&b as a leading genre.

The success of rap in the 2000s, especially as it has become more drug trade and sex/stripper-oriented (no
more "One Love" by Whodini or "I Need Love" by LL Cool J), has led to the mass abandonment of black
r&b.

So, white pop iHeart Radio and its mostly white female demographic became the remaining destination
for youth-performed, popular r&b music, except it has to cater to the tastes of its audience (white young females).

138-9.jpeg
 

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AirPlay does not equal sales.

It's not that Black doesn't make money, it's that it doesn't make Pop money.
The Music business is just like any other business; you sell the most when you appeal to the most buyers.
That's why the highest selling MC of all-time ain't even a rapper (shout out to MC Entire, ROFL).

R&B/Pop is stylistically the same thing. "Pop" is only short for "popular". That's why if you turned on Mickey Mouse Club in the 90s, them li'l White boys and Girls (some of whom are Popstars now) would be singing covers of R&B songs. So yeah, if Ariana Grande was a Black girl nobody knew making the same songs, she'd be called R&B.

It was always fascinating to me to go Back in history to see (1) two different artists releasing the same song, but styled differently, and (2) how many songs were given to R&B artists who turned them down, only to be given to other folks and become huge Pop hits.

It just so happened that back in the day, an R&B song would be so undeniably good/catchy that it would "cross over" to the Pop charts. The best R&B artists were good enough to have this happen more than once. But that's lowkey the reason you might've heard somebody call someone a "One-Hit Wonder", but you be like "...but wait, they had a few more hits, didn't they?" The OG true definition of a "hit" is one that hits the Hot 100, which is the original Popular Airplay chart.

It used to be about the songs - now the game is artist/image driven. I guess I coulda just said that. Lol
:ohhh::dwillhuh:
 

CarmelBarbie

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because Beyonce and Rihanna are the immovable objects and unstoppable forces ...

Ask Ciara, Keri Hilson, Tinashe, Ester Dean etc.......

To be fair Tinashe is bland asf, not very talented and that’s probably why she can’t seem to get a core fan group. She’s an example of what I meant when I talked about all these untalented artists out here today. She does not stand out.

Keri could have went way further had she not she decided to come for Beyonce when she was still a newer artist building her fan base. It was a dumb move that cost her.

Ciara did fine for what she was, for a good minute, she stopped making music/making it inconsistently. She was similar to Rihanna. You know how many females l know that loved dancing to Ciara’s songs: like a boy, 1 2 step, body party, ride, never ever, oh, can’t leave em Alone, etc. She chose to stop making music and I believe she models. Rihanna stopped and does make up.

Tinashe, ester dean, how many hits they have? They Not talented enough.
 

Elle Driver

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At the beginning of mean streets
Just to follow up the "masking vulgarity" argument. Imagine my surprise when I finally realized what this song was about.



EDIT: Watching the video is :mjlol: and :dame:

I only knew of this song because my dad got mad at my brother for playing All About U and played the original. :dead:
 

CarmelBarbie

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Dudes gassing up Summer Walker (who I also find sexy but) over THIS chick is WILD to me

Summer walker isn’t even that talented. She’s okay. But she can’t blow. All her songs sound alike. And I’m sorry but she’s not cute at all. I’m not sure what the hype is. It reminds me of boo thing and Ella MaI. Mediocre talent being hyped up.
 

Taadow

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Britney and Justin were the first artists to do it, if I'm not mistaken. They both went to the Neptunes. White artists weren't really collaborating with black producers before that,

Whoa whoa whoa, I gotta stop you here.

Madonna first came out blowing up working with Chic...and then went with Babyface & Dallas Austin for Bedtime Stories - which is also the album she had the Tupac feature on.

Paula Abdul was trying to get L.A. and Babyface, but couldn't.

New Kids On The Block had the same team New Edition started out with...
and Color Me Badd got the BBD team.

Backstreet Boys biggest hits was written and produced by Full Force.




Britney & Justin was just continuing the tradition.
 
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