You know I actually find Lady Gaga pretty much manufactured, and although I completely love and adore her, Katy Perry too. Nicki Minaj has become more and more manufactured as well!
I honestly don't think Katy is manufactured. I think she is responsible for a lot of the input, and I think she knows exactly what she is doing. Not too sure about Nicki though.
Anyway, the most manafactured are...
Rita Ora
Alexandra Burke
Conor Maynard
Cheryl Cole
Rihanna (kind of)
Katy, Gaga and Beyoncé are all equally manufactured.
I agree as they are all not as much manufactured as Rihanna. I mean Rihanna has writing camps she's not even part of while Beyoncé's label had no idea how many and what kind of songs Bey recorded for 4 before the album presenation
Anybody sane would comprehend that Gaga's BTW image was not what Interscope wanted but she was too big of a star to defy her.
To be manufactured in this context, the popstar needs to be a product created and controlled by their label.
Lady Gaga was Lady Gaga before Interscope came along, so even if one considers her persona fake and contrived - she isn't "manufactured" in this respect. Her creative control over the music and image is further testament to that.
Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry aren't "manufactured" either, they just sold out, and I'd say Rihanna is more of a cash cow label puppet than she is traditionally "manufactured".
I'd say Britney began as "manufactured", along with a slew of other 90's acts, but she moved into cash cow label puppet territory with brief moments of creative freedom.