At the time of year when the festival season is littered with guitar wielding superstars dominating various headline slots up and down the country, recent times have shown that organisers are prepared to chance their arm at allowing ‘pop acts’ to take the lime light ahead of traditional bands.
The two biggest pop acts in the world trusted with such stature this summer were Beyonce and Lady Gaga.
So between them who is the best? As per usual with any debate I’ve ever aired on the radio this all began with a few cinzano’s and a packet of dry roasted nuts.
In no way am I a lover of what would be referred to as pop music but I am a fan of the records these two heavyweights have recorded. However, comparing melody and lyrical content is nonsense because different songs appeal to different people. With this in mind I have turned my attention to judging them on four different categories. Firstly, each individuals bid for ‘indie cred’. Ludicrous accoutrements follow and their stab at being political. Finally what cultural impact have they had on the future generations?
Gaga, signed to Def Jam at 19 years of age crossing boundaries into the world of Hip Hop. Kudos points have to be deducted though as she later recorded with Michael Bolton and at recent UK gig she did an ode to Wills and Kate. Whilst LG was performing at Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Beyonce was prepping for her groundbreaking Glastonbury performance, the first female solo artist to ever headline the most famous festival in the world. For those that saw her, she made a lot of new friends, who hadn’t had a wash for four days, want to put a ring on it.
However Knowles has recently been spotted with a chromed ‘bionic’ glove giving her the Robocop-Wacko Jacko vibe. In the ‘mother monster’ corner of ludicrous accoutrements, meat dresses, facial horns, and 12 dozen Kermit the frogs sellotaped to her body. Lady Gaga makes Elton John in the seventies look like a leather elbow patch wearing geography teacher.
Beyonce recently visited a school in her home town of Housten, Texas to persuade obese kids to lose weight by dancing to RnB. Major political points! If this child of destiny can’t make fat kids stop loving cake then who can? However, Sasha Fierce has been top trumped by Miss Germanotta who is a vociferous campaigner on behalf of the gay community. Not only that, she upped the human rights ante with her song Americano by tackling Arizona’s immigration laws.
Finally we go to the cultural impact. Having seen the word Bootylicious (adj. having curvaceous buttocks) enter the Oxford English Dictionary Beyonce’s impact has resonated via a woeful attempt for one to shake ‘what their momma gave them’ on various dance floors up and down the country. Gaga’s influence stretches as far as aristocracy and the world of soap opera. Did you see Princess Beatrice’s ‘calamari’ head piece for the royal wedding and Phil Mitchell’s indignation when his lad, Ben, dressed up as his female hero on ‘stenders?
Argument sorted, Gaga wins!