What’s with all these young fries getting record deals? Some I am just unable to comprehend as to how they got signed, such as the terrible Miley Cyrus (Sorry to any Hannah Montana fans, if there are any). She’s just so whiney and weenie, and I don’t care if some kids show catapulted her to fame, not every Disney channel star has to make an album. But at the other end of the spectrum, there are amazing “child” singers, only classed so because of their age, such as Lil Mama, Keke Palmer, Jojo and two in particular who I think deserve special mention; Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown. These artists are basically changing the status quo within the music industry, with age no longer being a factor. With all of these musicians being under 20 years old, it has started a signing frenzy, not only in the pop area, but young bands such as Enter Shikari and Arctic Monkeys have too been signed while still quite young. What does this mean for the future of music, and are older musicians possibly in danger? (Watch out Madonna, just because you produce a song with Timberlake doesn’t guarantee you’ll still be the “shit” tomorrow).
If you don’t know who Jordin Sparks is, then where have you been for the past year? She was the winner of the last American Idol contest, beating out thousands of others, including my personal favourite Blake Lewis. She was even the youngest winner so far, only 17 when she claimed the title. But even though her album hasn’t been released here, and even though her singles are getting hardly any airplay on television and radio (come on NZ!), she’s still huge around the world and online. It is insane. Countless websites are dedicated to her every move, the press go nuts over her and her non-stop sellout tours around America are so successful, she probably needs to book some more dates to satisfy the raging crowds. She even got to work with Chris Brown, something little girls around the world envy her for. No Air is climbing it’s way up the NZ digital charts, currently sitting at number 6. It’s definitely one of those songs you should keep an eye, or an ear, out for as it will become one of those things you can’t avoid. You will find yourself helpless as you sing along to it, but do not fear! It is completely normal. What will shock you, however, is the realisation that you experience when you remember that this song is sung by a 17 and an 18 year old. Huge vocals, for people that young. Paula Abdul usually says that someone that age needs more time to develop. You are wrong this time Paula, but you can redeem yourself by complimenting their clothing (ever noticed that on Idol?).
That nicely links to the next youngin’ i’m going to mention: Chris Brown. Hailing all the way from Tappahannock in America obviously, he made his first impression on the music industry with the very successful, very pop, single Run It which had little fifth formers around the country crumpin’ and poppin’ till they could pop no more (trust me, people had it playing around my entire school at the time). Chris has shown his diversity with his second album, Exclusive. A very mature mix of RnB and Hip Hop, with something for everyone, from the highly catchy Wall To Wall to the pop love ballad With You. Don’t deny your love for this song, you know you love it. With all this said, you would expect this amazing product to come from someone a bit older, such as Pharrell or Lionel Ritchie (lulz) but Chris is only 18 years old! Surely the music being produced is trying to tell us something, right? Such as the trials and tribulations of teenage-hood and the fact that kids are just growing up too fast these days, yes?
We’ve already been digesting music from these young folk for the past couple of years, but I believe there is plenty more of that to come. These emerging artists definitely have talent, are recieving recognition and shows like American Idol are developing that talent into incredible things aka Jordin Sparks. It seems older musicians may be screwed in the Pop genre stakes, to be honest. Better luck next time, Madonna.
Date Published: TBA
[Has been published, just I cbf looking up the date of the issue it's in]
Tags: 2008, article, AUT, Debate, jess, jessums31, jordin, journalist, magazine, ones, over, pop, sparks, taking, young
