I’ve written about the singers amongst the starlets featured on this page before. Now that I’ve listened to more of their music in total I see a problem; not with their singing abilities but with pop music in general; it really has become a mass product.
What I mean by that is that 90% of pop music just lacks an identity of its own; you wouldn’t even notice if someone else was singing the song. In the past you could tell what band or artist was doing a song by listening to a song for about thirty seconds, that’s something rare these days. The explanation for this is quite simple looking at the singing actresses; they don’t write their own music. The music is written for them and in some cases even by the same people. I’m not judging the singing ability in this editorial; all of the girls mentioned can sing (or can be enhanced electronically enough). I’m just looking at the music itself.
Just look at the discography of Kara DioGuardi there are dozens of artists she’s written for on it. For this site the two main examples are Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan for who she took care of the bulk of the writing for all their albums. Kara is an incredibly talented woman, I doubt anyone manages to write that many successful songs but her success is also the problem. All songs might be different but most of the songs have a similar style which is just noticeable at times.
Vanesssa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale of course know each other from High School Musical but are signed to different record companies. I still think their case is the best example of how interchangeable music is; they both try their hand at a pop sound with a little R&B mixed in. The voices are different but the general sound of the album is the same. This all just means one thing; they’re lacking their own music identity.
It’s still not the most generic music out there; I would have to say that that’s the music by Mandy Moore. I’ve listened to her music and there are maybe one or two songs that I like the other songs are just boring. You can listen to Mandy Moore music all day and at the end of the day you wonder what you’ve been listening to. I also wouldn’t be able to tell you what a typical Mandy Moore song sounds like, it’s just too generic. The best analogy I can think of is elevator music (Mandy Moore fans are probably going to hate me for that comment); you can listen to it all day without really hearing anything. Mandy has five albums out now and she only co-wrote multiple songs on the last one so she’s quite late with trying to develop her own sound (though I can’t really hear a big difference to her earlier albums).
Of course it’s not easy to find your own musical identity, a while back Emmy Rossum released her first video clip and I thought this might be someone with their own identity. Now that I’ve listened to her entire album I can say that I was wrong, it might not be the most generic pop sound it’s still nothing special. The single featured in the video clip probably is the best song of the album which would explain why it’s the first single.
I actually had some hope when I heard that Emily Osment was starting to sing (even though only on the soundtrack of one of her movies). When talking about her favourite music she talks more about music like AC/DC so I figured she would have a different sound. Though it was not to be, the soundtrack to her movie is pretty much generic pop. That is a bit weird really; seeing she plays a gothic girl in the movie.
Miley Cyrus hasn’t really managed to find her own identity yet either, both the Hannah Montana soundtracks are songs that she didn’t really have a lot to do with. They were written to fit the show and are only performed by Miley. Her own album is different however, she has written the bulk of the songs on it (though with help from the Hannah Montana songwriters, Miley only plays the guitar and just guitar and song don’t make a complete composition). For the people that are going to say that she’s not being credited with the songs; the official credit is to Destiny Hope Cyrus, her actual name.
The difference with other people besides the writing of the songs is that she’s experimenting, not the entire album is one specific sound. Most of it is pop but there’s also a bit of dance, a bit of rock, even a very little bit of rap (what was she thinking) and an attempt of a song with a bit of a reggae sound. This means she’s experimenting; she’s looking for her own sound. I don’t think all of the songs turned out as she hoped, she even says herself that she can’t rap. Some of her songs might even be considered by some people.
Now I’m going to say something that will sounds strange; that’s a good thing. It’s not a good thing that some of her songs are bad but it’s a sign that she’s willing to experiment and willing to take risks, something most current artists aren’t really willing to do. Hilary Duff has completely changed her sound from one album to the next she’s now trying to profile herself with dance music; which isn’t a good idea either if you ask me. If she really wants to find a sound of her own she should experiment more with different genres like Miley does. The fact Miley is also one of the few that actually seem to know how to play an instrument is also a sad thing. I’ve never seen anyone else with an instrument anyway, let alone on stage (Miley Cyrus again is an exception, she plays her song I Miss You accousticly as an encore at her concerts).
Most of them really only sing songs that are written for them, to be a real musician you also have to be able to make music. Not that I blame them for signing record deals, it’s a good source of income. I just wish that some of them would make more of an effort of creating a sound of their own.
Tags: Ashley Tisdale, Hilary Duff, lindsay lohan, Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens
