Rihanna: She's just as fabricated as Katy Perry yet she gets half of the flack for it.
Her albums are not cohesive. They feel more like an excuse - her label puts three-four obvious smash hit singles +
bunch of filler + she works with current hot producers + hair dye = bam, a Rihanna album
era. She's an authentic person but you can tell "her" music is not very close to her heart. The "Rih! HBIC! 13 1#S! 150 million records sold!1" #*****urfave" #clapback is just a distraction from this situation, as if numbers make anyone an icon.
She's pretty and succesful but that's it. There's nothing groundbreaking about Ms. Fenty and that's alright.
Taylor Swift: I could say "there's nothing groundbreaking about Ms. Swift and that's alright" but that's not
quite accurate. Taylor is a true artist, however her songwriting talent doesn't match the praise it gets. She's a walking Relatable Teen / Nutella twitter account. Also, no one acknowledges the fact she uses gimmick as much of any
of the "trashy" pop tarts. Her gimmick it's just different than theirs and appeals to another audience.
She's VERY smart and calculated, though hence why she was able to put the worth of her music to a higher pedestal that
it really should be. Smoke and mirrors but I take her seriously because at least she
tries.
One Direction: Their appeal is heavily based on their appearance / personalities rather than their material.
They're cute, talented and majorly successful but there's nothing honest about their brand. After the teen heartthrob cutesy wears off and all you have left is guilty pleasure bops.
However, I enjoy all of their songs, so they're
winning .
P.S I don't know why people would mention will.i.am., Iggy, Pitbull, J. LO, Jason Derulo, etc.
They're pretty straight forward with their goals - they want a quick hit and some $$$, every once and then. They get that same treatment by the critics and the GP as well, so there's nothing wrong with that imo
.