^I was talking in the context of this day and age. Michael's music spanned across decades, and this discussion is about today's artists, which Michael obviously does not fit in with. My comments in my previous post are relevant to this day and age, and in the context of our times, artistic things are seldom, if ever, popular.
Yes, I think gaga is the most overrated musician of modern times. People seem to have some sort of amnesia over all the acts she's blatantly and shamelessly copied. Then of course, more bothersome, are all the lies she tells to get people to buy into her whole "artistic and misunderstood" persona, which is a total fabrication. She claims she was teased in school for being/dressing different, etc. and that she's struggled real hard when she's naught but a poor little rich girl who went to the same school as the Hilton sisters, and by all evidence was fairly popular, "normal," and well-liked in High School. She even made an appearance on some MTV show [obviously staged too lol, although comically so] complaining over some food she ordered. Oh and curiously enough she was dressed normal at the show, and in all the old photographs there are of her--you could have picked her off the Jersey Shore cast. She also seems fairly friendly towards Paris Hilton, who was fairly well-liked in school, despite claiming she didn't hang out with all the "popular" girls. If she really was bullied in school, like I was for pretty much my entire stay in The System, there would be no sum of money sufficient enough to justify pretending to be on civil terms with one of the people who either bullied you or did nothing to help you cope with it/stop it. Yet the disgust is obviously not there, for all she claims the alleged bullying affected her... Weird, huh.
Her parents also love her from the looks of it and her father even offered to pay for her apartment while she was pursuing her act. Therefore, she had everything in the world she could possibly have, every luxury and privilege at a time in this country's history when houses were being foreclosed left and right, and people were losing their livelihoods, etc. Nothing in her life was f-cked up like, say, Eminem's life, where he really had it tough being raised by a single [and psycho, it seems] mother in a really sh-t part of the country, and really being teased in school for being an odd duck, and then of course the fact he did not exactly fit in with his preferred genre of music--THAT is an uphill battle. (Of course Michael also had several uphill battles and was also from a poor dysfunctional family in a bad part of the country, and had to really struggle and work hard for what he wanted).
So I really don't see where she's getting all her misunderstood and struggling crap from, and why everyone laps it all up like it's the gospel when an examination of her life proves everything false.
Her lyrics are also shallow and without artistic quality, even going as far back as her pre-Gaga work. Some of them are cute, but they're juvenile and the reality of who she is really fails to live up to what she claims she is, hence overrated.
I think it's shallow of the media to compare her to Michael simply because he dressed in an unusual way and she [like others] does the same in a now lame and beat-to-death attempt to get people's attention. Musically, they can't even begin to be compared--Michael was a genius and had great vision and artistry. Gaga is of average vocal talent and at least can play an instrument, but others (such as Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee) leave her in the dust as far as vocal talent, lyric quality, and instrument performance are concerned. They're just not as popular because they don't sing catchy music about boys or partying.
I'm not denying Gaga has talent--she does, and she deserves to have a record deal. What I have a problem with is this inflated image she, the media, and her dumb fans have of her. It's laughable, really...but it is also starting to fade, and fast. Her singles are no longer selling because she's doing the same trick over and over again, and it's getting boring even for the so-called "little monsters." Only the really die-hard ones support her flop after flop, but what she needs is the support of the general public if she wants to keep spending money the way she does.
What I would suggest is for her to finally drop the dumb act no one with an IQ above 70 believes, and to go back to where she came from, which is the whole ballad song/piano playing combo. That's what she does best, and if she can really pen down some sincere lyrics instead of all that pseudo-rebellious/artistic crap she insists on putting out, I think she could make a good place for herself in a more permanent way.
It's obvious from her dwindling sales something needs to change, and fast. Those who don't evolve get left behind.
As for the others, they're not as overrated as Gaga is. They've been around longer [with the exception of Swift] and so at least have some sort of history of previous success to justify a solid fan base. But I don't know anyone who is claiming Rihanna is the next Michael Jackson, or comparing her to anyone really out of her league--she usually gets compared to Beyonce, and that's it, so that's a bit overrated since Beyonce is obviously the better choice, but it's not a ludicrous comparison. She has gotten pretty annoying with her whole faux bad girl act, though, and that song "S&M" was a crime against humanity for which she should never be forgiven.
Beyonce I honestly have never heard much said about in regards to comparisons to singers way above her league, at least not from the general public. I think some delusional fan of hers once made a blog entry where he tried [and failed] to argue Beyonce was the best diva of all time or something, but like I said that wasn't a media-approved/dispensed POV so it can hardly count as her being overrated. She has a very good voice, though. She sang Ave Maria, and I recall it being very good (although not as good as Tarja Turunen's take on the song, not that most people know who that is).
Swift I think is at least honest in her song-writing, and while it's not that great, she's also much younger than most of the people on this list, so I think it would be unfair to compare a novice like her to near veterans like Britney Spears and Beyonce. They're also not even in the same age group as her, and yet Swift can out-write every single one of them lyrically, not that this is too hard to do. I personally find her music to be somewhat annoying, and I only like one song of hers [if only for the Shakespeare and Hawthorne references]. Otherwise, I think she's pretty mediocre and somewhat overrated, but no one's claiming she's the next Tim McGraw or Dolly Parton[I hope], so she's not as grossly overrated as Gaga is.
Yes, this is one Hell of a post, but I thought it necessary to thoroughly explain my views and why I hold them.
