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

[KingJay]

she's sure of her birthcontrol.
she throw that p*ssy like it's no
question she's covered.

This nikka

 

[Mickey Kane]

Is there an argument to be made that fans of R&B, especially Black ones have contributed to letting the genre down?

 

[Cynic]

But if your auntie, mother or grandmother still have their vinyl albums or cds, you will find in their collections an extensive variety of female singers: Aretha, Whitney, Chaka Khan/Rufus, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Roberta Flack, Janet Jackson, Donna Summer, Cheryl Lynn, Melba Moore, Me"Lisa Morgan, Dianne Reeves, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight/Pips, Mariah, Lauryn Hill, Cherrelle.

It would have been unimaginable to previous black generations that just two singers would be dominant
for close to 15 years.

Hell, everyone who appeared on Soul Train had a hit on the radio. 40 episodes a year, two artists on each show meant we saw 80 top SOUL (emphasized for purpose...) artists each year.

That Beyonce and Rihanna are "the last ones standing" is a sign of the slow death of singer-based black music, when compared to the abundant past we once had.

ALL those women had less leverage as artists and it was a different era.

Rihanna had a while bit of a sophomore jinx on her way to where she is now.

My only gripe is if H.E.R. turns into Janelle Monae and never truly blows up

 

[Michael's Black Son]

First off, Raw & Regret.

Second, i don’t think I’ve heard a single song from this chick.

 

[Will Ross]

I don’t get what she saying pop music now is nothing more than our style done by whites and light skin latinas.
I think her issue is she does not have a black female fanbase

 

[Mike the Executioner]

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.

I meant more on a widespread scale, where white artists were seeking out black producers for multiple songs, collaborating with rappers/R&B singers.......that wasn't the trend back then like it is now.

New Kids on the Block had Maurice Starr, but as far as I know, they weren't marketed to a black audience and didn't make New Edition-type music. They were pop artists. They were marketed to white people who probably never bought a New Edition record and became the biggest artists of their day.

Full Force wrote and produced "All I Have to Give," but I don't know about any other songs they did for the Backstreet Boys. Definitely not "I Want It That Way," which will always be their biggest hit.

Not discounting anything you're saying, but I feel like there was a shift in the early 2000s. It started becoming what many white pop artists were doing, even if they weren't making that kind of music originally. Britney went to the Neptunes, Justin went to the Neptunes and Timbaland, Pink went to Dallas Austin, Christina Aguilera had Redman on a track and worked with DJ Premier. These artists were deliberately making music with more of an R&B flavor. It's like if New Kids on the Block went to Teddy Riley or Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and all of a sudden, they were making the exact same records as Bobby Brown and Janet Jackson.

I feel like at one point, it was more of an exception. Now, it's standard for every pop artist to make more hip hop/R&B-oriented music and work with people from those circles.

 

[Astroslik]

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.

Tinashe is extremely talented... not her fault the gatekeepers aren’t letting her breakthrough

 

[YAYU]

I don’t listen to her music but she’s a dime and is absolutely one of the baddest women in the game.

shes fine af!

she had alot of promo in the city when her album dropped n i saw a pic of her on a cab w her jeans low n her hips were glistenin

 

[mson]

N'Sync and Backstreet Boys were some of the first ones who were by all accounts 'wiggas'

But when white pop artists started having more black producers and black rappers on their songs it was a wrap

So Neptunes era.

Their sound kinda paved the way for most of these white pop artists to use that sound.

We could go back to New kids on the block.

 

[CarmelBarbie]

Tinashe is extremely talented... not her fault the gatekeepers aren’t letting her breakthrough

I guess it’s subjective. I’ve downloaded her music here and there and I’ve liked some songs but they didn’t touch my soul and weren’t memorable enough months later to even tell you what they sounded like.

I’ve never met a Tinashe fan. I’m not even sure who her fan base is, I’ve always believed that was her biggest problem, I don’t know many women that love her, and that’s the type of support she needs. I know more men that really like her than I do women.

 

[Paper Boi]

*exits thread*

 

[JerseyBoy23]

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.

You raise an interesting point. I watched the Soul Train Awards with some older people and they were not fans of new songs.

I remember they were hyped when they heard the Can You Stand The Rain sample then they were very disappointed once K Michelle started singing "Make me over flow, can you make it rain?".

Older R&B would be about the same topic but it would at least be more clever than that. I blame all the R Kelly clones who wanted to replicate his music. It took a while for it to surface in female R&B but once Nicki came through talking greasy it was over.

 

[O.Red]

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.

You didn't know?

Timbaland, who is on the Mount Rushmore of 90s rnb producers, ran to pop music with a huge smile on his face

You don't remember him showing all his teeth Timberlake and Nelly Furtado in tow?

He's the main culprit, but a few producers from that era either priced themselves out the game(big 90s/early 2000s money drying up in subsequent years) or found somebody white and famous to produce for

 

[seabreeze80]

She should fire her whole team. She would be a lot more successful if they knew what they were doing.

 

[seabreeze80]

A lot of music played on pop radio stations is written or produced by black artists. Pop became white because black artists sold out.