Who is the pop queen from your country?

[Andrenekoi]

^I never really got deep into the taiwanese music market... I know Jolin because she is notorious among jpop fans due to her "copying" ayu, but that's it. I'm aware of several big stars from several countries, but I can only talk about the markets my country is exposed to (brazilian and anglophone) and to the markets I know for a long time (I listen to jpop since 2003), but most of the women I listed I came to knew through recomendation and without much context... I know they are big because I checked their numbers, but I'm not aware of their cultural impacts. That's why I only listed Jolin ^^

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by SayukiChoco

I think it's definitely worth a listen. I'm not her biggest fan, but there are two, three songs which are quite beautiful and nice to listen to. You should give it a try!



Andrea Berg omg But you're right, she has high sales too. I also agree with you guys that Schlager is NOT Pop music. There's just this difference that I can't really express. Maybe it's the beat like Chibi-Chan said.
Anyway, I also can't really think of someone else as a Pop queen apart from Sarah Connor... Maybe Jeannette Biedermann or Yvonne Catterfeld?

Ok, I will then! =)

Ah Jeanette and Yvonne! I totally forgot about those two! If they would have stayed relevant after the beginning of the 00's they would have had the potential to become some kind of pop queen. I don't know, are they still active?

[Yoake]

In Belgium we don't have the notion of pop queen. But If I have to choose recent Belgian singers that are famous, it'll be:

Selah Sue




And Alice on the roof




I would say that pop is more a thing of the past here. Old singers that could be in this category are :

Axelle Red




Laura Fabian (she is Belgian-Canadian and was born in Belgium)

[attractive nausea]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Between Lorie, Alizee and Shy'm, who has the strongest career?

I'd say it goes Alizée < Lorie < Shy'm

Alizée was only popular for like three years but as it was already said, as soon as she stopped working with Mylène she died for the general public, and she was never considered a "queen" since she had that childish image (well she was 16 at the time iirc). She didn't really have a huge impact on french music. She's still making music i guess but nobody cares lmao
Lorie was really huge in the early 00's, she sold "a lot" of CDs (8 millions according to wikipédia) and her concerts were known to be good shows, but she's totally over today. I'd say her career was a "phenomenon", little girls were CRAZY about her, you know, kind of like the "Tokio Hotel"/"Justin Bieber"/"One Direction" phenomenon.
Shy'm became huge in 2006 with "Femme de couleur", she really was into r'n'b and she has evolved through the years, her sales are seriously declining and she's not as well liked as before but she's still there, in the public eye.

You can check out Louane, she's a 20 yo singer who's really popular in France at the moment, Marina Kaye who's 18 is popular too. But they're far from falling into the Madonna/Ayu category. I just wish we had singers like Koda Kumi or Beyoncé in France! I'd worship them so much. But it seems french singers are not into overly sexy songs and performances.

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

^I never really got deep into the taiwanese music market... I know Jolin because she is notorious among jpop fans due to her "copying" ayu, but that's it. I'm aware of several big stars from several countries, but I can only talk about the markets my country is exposed to (brazilian and anglophone) and to the markets I know for a long time (I listen to jpop since 2003), but most of the women I listed I came to knew through recomendation and without much context... I know they are big because I checked their numbers, but I'm not aware of their cultural impacts. That's why I only listed Jolin ^^

I had the same impression of Jolin until she did MUSE. That is a record even Ayu couldn't compete with. But I think your list is great. I think you should totally dig into Taiwanese music sometime! Elva Hsiao, aMEI, A-Lin, Sandy Lam, Stefanie Sun, and Angela Chang are all tremendously talented and might have something you'd enjoy. My personal favorites are Elva Hsiao and Angela Chang, Elva being very similar to Jolin and Angela being more pop-rock oriented. Angela's 5th Season album was amazing. For Elva, I would start with Miss Elva.

[Corvina]

Originally Posted by SayukiChoco

Andrea Berg omg But you're right, she has high sales too. I also agree with you guys that Schlager is NOT Pop music. There's just this difference that I can't really express. Maybe it's the beat like Chibi-Chan said.
Anyway, I also can't really think of someone else as a Pop queen apart from Sarah Connor... Maybe Jeannette Biedermann or Yvonne Catterfeld?

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Oh god please, don't ever again call Schlager pop music. lol It simply isn't. xD Schlager has this Schlager beat which somehow people who aren't from Germany don't seem to notice or at least it doesn't bother them that much. Schlager is fun when you're drunk, but otherwise... god it's just horrible and I still don't get why people, who aren't from Germany, often like it. Bad music and Schlager basically can be used synonymously. lol
But then again people outside of Germany also seem to like those horrible dated 90's trance sounds like the "vogue (Groove Coverage Remix)". The remix is fun but trashy as hell.

Well, a lot of Germans like to differentiate Schlager and pop music, but actually Schlager IS a form of pop music. It's mainstream (meaning simply built) pop music with kitschy (love) lyrics in German basically. And especially nowadays the border between these two gets smaller. Don't confuse Schlager with Volksmusik (which is something like Enka in Japan, regional based music mixed with traditional instruments).
If you like to want a read (in German):
http://www.platinnetz.de/magazin/ges...n-und-dasselbe
So of course for foreigners Schlager doesn't sound too different to other pop music.

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by Corvina

Well, a lot of Germans like to differentiate Schlager and pop music, but actually Schlager IS a form of pop music. It's mainstream (meaning simply built) pop music with kitschy (love) lyrics in German basically. And especially nowadays the border between these two gets smaller. Don't confuse Schlager with Volksmusik (which is something like Enka in Japan, regional based music mixed with traditional instruments).
If you like to want a read (in German):
http://www.platinnetz.de/magazin/ges...n-und-dasselbe
So of course for foreigners Schlager doesn't sound too different to other pop music.

I know that Schlager and Volksmusik are different.^^ What I wanted to argue is that Schlager has this distinctive beat which is just HORRIBLE and always the SAME. I don't know, maybe people from Germany are so traumatized regarding Schlager (or at least I am) that they can't stand it. lol

[Andrenekoi]

@Yoake
Lara Fabian actually has some hits here in Brazil and even recorded some (one?) songs in Portuguese!^^ I will check the others out!

@attractive nausea
I do like the stuff Alizee did with Mylene, and her more alternative releases were surprisingly good, but every time she goes pop again a unicorn dies. Lorie... I listened to some of her stuff and felt 2nd hand embarasment @_@ I really like Shy'm and was obsessed with her last year... Sad to hear her sales are falling, she is an amazing performer and her music is pretty good too. First noticed her because everytime I searched about the french acts I liked there were always photos and news of her. Now I'm knowing Olivia Ruiz (a big friend of mine loves her and made me curious) and Indila (my crush sent me some of her songs and I liked them). Listened to lots of Emilie Simon some years ago, but I don't know if any of those are considered pop stars over there^^

@orbitalaspect
I don't love Jolin, IMO she either has AMAZING material or really forgetable-but-catchy stuff... I never got the whole "she copies Ayu" thing as I don't think their music, style or public image is anything similar. I will check out the other stars you pointed out^^

To French people in general: I noticed that Mylene is getting A LOT of attention lately on pop music related sites and blogs written in English, she also has been mentioned a lot in the portuguese pop media for the last 2 or 3 years... How does it feel for you guys to see the biggest pop diva from your country getting worldwide recognization after her 50's? xD

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by tsumekaze_

I'm Italian and I guess that for us the pop queen would probably be Laura Pausini. She's known worldwide, she's talented and has been on the industry since '98 I think.

I was extremely angry at how Laura was treated over her only English release back in 2002. I loved Surrender and the whole From The Inside album was a beautiful direction for her into English music, but I agree it should not have been sold as a teen pop album.

At the same time, Laura would have been edged out within 5 or 6 years because she's a rocker. She's never been one of these EDM-dance-pop prissy things, and I think she would have hated making anything close to that.

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

And finally, 2 popqueens from Lebanon:

Spoiler:

Nancy Ajram is a huge seller arab pop singer, having also the most viewed arab music video on Youtube, the most followers as a female arab pop singer on Facebook and the most number 1 hits on the history of modern arab music market, Nancy is considered the biggest pop icon of that market from the 00's. (those data are from wikipedia, they may be wrong xD)


Haifa Wehbe, a sexy symbol and controversial popstar, Haifa uses sexuality on her career, both on her lyrics and on her style on a way that wasn't done before over there. She has several hits under her belt, and is considered one of the biggest stars of her generation.

Arab Pop is so complex, but I'm throwing my two cents into this one because I think, like you, this is some of the best pop music in the world:

Nancy is a massive success, but is only recently to the status of Nawal Al Zoghbi, Elissa, and Najwa Karam. Najwa, I think, is the voice of Lebanon and its people and still scares off big releases when she releases a new album. Najwa has never not had a number one selling release in her career, and around 15 years ago her annual sales in Lebanon alone were enough to outsell every global release from Rotana, which is the largest record label in the Middle East.

A lot of people mention Feirouz in her own category, because like Iraq's Kathem El Saher, she may be the highest selling artist from her country, but she did it with Jazz music. I don't think of that as the same thing as Nancy, Haifa, Nawal, or Elissa.

Haifa was joined by another singer named Nourhanne, whom I loved, when she first came around, but managed to weather the storm and become a huge success. I think Haifa's career is perplexing to everyone. Her image is so sexual, her clothing so provocative, and her attitude so Western, but she is an idol to young women and even respected by young men. I remember when Haifa first debuted and she was slammed on TV across the ME as a bad role model. When her second album came out, it bombed it's first week and fans somehow organized a huge movement to force her album into the media so it would sell. Haifa proved you can be risque and be a success, and I think that's why people now respect her even if she is very sinful to a lot of people.

There are other divas out there, but I want to throw a quick mention to Thekra (or Zekra), who is Tunisia's only entertainer to successfully crossover to international stardom. Her last album was released in 2003, three days before she was murdered in a dispute with her Egyptian husband where he demanded that they live together and he be given a prominent role in managing her career and image. I still miss Thekra, and I still think of her amazing talent. She did what no one else from her country had been able to do, and it was cut far too short.

Originally Posted by nalini-dahlia

I think in America, a lot of people think the pop queens are Madonna, Britney Spears, and Beyonce but let me tell you something...

Mariah Carey is definitely at LEAST one of our pop queens. If you just read about how many freakin' albums that woman has sold and her level of influence...it's astounding.

In the her own words, "Who?"

Originally Posted by Aderianu

Hard question. They need to be well known, rignt? So if I don't know them, they can't be named "queens" xD So I chose Valeriya

Valeriya, if she had ever crossed over to the US, would have been a diva here. I have no doubt about that. I first heard of her over 10 years ago, had never heard a damn song of hers, and still recognize her when mentioned today.

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Oh I didn't noticed this thread before. Well in Germany we have no pop queen that would be as big as Mylène, but when asked about a german pop queen people would name Sarah Connor I guess.
She debuted in 2001, was very popular for a few years and is still regularly releasing music until now.
I would link to a few songs, but I don't have a computer atm. She got popular with the song "Let's get back to bed - Boy!" and became famous all over Germany with her ballad "From Sarah with Love". I guess everyone knows that song. A favourite of mine would be "Under my skin". It's an aggressive pop/dance tune with very explicit sexual lyrics. I also like the video to the song. It's not a masterpiece or something, but I like her attitude in it.
I think she has a great voice and she's also a great singer.

Originally Posted by Uknow!

^ Oh, I know Sarah Connor because Under my skin is the same song as Mirotic from DBSK. (I think Sarah Connor was the first to released the song. I liked her and the music video (so cool) but stupid kpop fans criticized her.

From Germany I love so much Cascada, but well, I suppose she doesn't fit with the "pop queen theme".

Originally Posted by SayukiChoco

I'm so glad you didn't say Helene Fischer
But I do agree about Sarah Connor. She is singing in German now and I think I like it a little bit more than her singing in English. But both is fine, she has such a good voice.

I was going to ask about Fischer... but I can tell she's a little more of a national embarrassment than a treasure...?

I do know Juliane Werding though. Is she Shlager?

[attractive nausea]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

@Yoake
Lara Fabian actually has some hits here in Brazil and even recorded some (one?) songs in Portuguese!^^ I will check the others out!

@attractive nausea
I do like the stuff Alizee did with Mylene, and her more alternative releases were surprisingly good, but every time she goes pop again a unicorn dies. Lorie... I listened to some of her stuff and felt 2nd hand embarasment @_@ I really like Shy'm and was obsessed with her last year... Sad to hear her sales are falling, she is an amazing performer and her music is pretty good too. First noticed her because everytime I searched about the french acts I liked there were always photos and news of her. Now I'm knowing Olivia Ruiz (a big friend of mine loves her and made me curious) and Indila (my crush sent me some of her songs and I liked them). Listened to lots of Emilie Simon some years ago, but I don't know if any of those are considered pop stars over there^^

To French people in general: I noticed that Mylene is getting A LOT of attention lately on pop music related sites and blogs written in English, she also has been mentioned a lot in the portuguese pop media for the last 2 or 3 years... How does it feel for you guys to see the biggest pop diva from your country getting worldwide recognization after her 50's? xD

Lara fabian is super well known in France! Well that's because she sings in french haha.
Yeah Lorie songs were mostly popular with children, it's not to be taken seriously
Olivia Ruiz was well known in like 2005-2009 with "J'traîne des pieds", "La femme chocolat", "Elle panique" i was like 10 at the time and her music made me feel sad so I hated her. She totally disappeared from the public eye today though
I fell in love with her 2013 song "Volver" though, but that song went unnoticed.
Indila's first album got SUPER popular, her first song has 280,147,608 views, which is really huge for a french singer. Her lyrics are really well written and her voice is A+. But i don't know what she's up to now though. My favourite song of hers :


As for Emilie Simon i don't know her haha.
Check out "Christine and the queens", popular here, her lyrics are similiar to Mylène's, in the sense that they're really hard to understand, lots of metaphors and stuff



Najoua Belyzel had so much potential to become a pop queen, but only her first album in 2006 got popular, she's totally dead for the genral public now, i don't even think people remember her.



Sofia Essaidi could have become a pop queen too, but her popular songs were for a musical comedy about Cleopatra. Femme d'Aujourd'hui is an A+ feminist song
"I live without making any compromises. My heart is mine only, and my body is not submissive"



About Mylène, i think her sudden popularity abroad might be because of her featuring with Sting with "Stolen car", but we french people don't really know that she's getting more popular abroad because no media really talks about Mylène here. She doesn't really do any promo, she relies on her fanbase a lot when it comes to album sales. But her tours still sell like crazy because everyone knows no one can compete with Mylène when it comes to shows.

[Andrenekoi]

That friend of mine lived in France during 2004 or 2005, so, during Olivia's peak xD Emilie Simon is more of a indie/eletronic musician (there is a TV live her instrument was a bowl full of water and she used the sound of the water splashing as a beat xD). I didn't follow her latest releases because they were hard to download at the time, but I really loved pretty much everything she did I got to listen

[orbitalaspect]

I just downloaded Indila's Mini World album.

This is one hell of a record even for 2016. I think the only thing keeping her from a #1 in France is that her songs are similar to each other. But fuck me if she isn't one of the most talented vocalists I've heard in years.

I wish we had pop music like this in the US.

[Yoake]

Originally Posted by attractive nausea

Najoua Belyzel had so much potential to become a pop queen, but only her first album in 2006 got popular, she's totally dead for the genral public now, i don't even think people remember her.

I remember her so well. I didn't stop to listen to Gabriel. It's so nostalgic to read her name.

I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mention Jenifer. Not that I'm a fan but as I can hear her songs at the radio, I suppose she is still somewhat famous?

[SayukiChoco]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Ok, I will then! =)

Ah Jeanette and Yvonne! I totally forgot about those two! If they would have stayed relevant after the beginning of the 00's they would have had the potential to become some kind of pop queen. I don't know, are they still active?

I don't know about Jeanette, but Yvonne still is. Though I always was more a "fan" of Jeanette's music because I think she kicks ass Yvonne bored me to death.

Originally Posted by Corvina

Well, a lot of Germans like to differentiate Schlager and pop music, but actually Schlager IS a form of pop music. It's mainstream (meaning simply built) pop music with kitschy (love) lyrics in German basically. And especially nowadays the border between these two gets smaller. Don't confuse Schlager with Volksmusik (which is something like Enka in Japan, regional based music mixed with traditional instruments).
If you like to want a read (in German):
http://www.platinnetz.de/magazin/ges...n-und-dasselbe
So of course for foreigners Schlager doesn't sound too different to other pop music.

Yes, I guess you're right. There is a big difference for me though, but I agree with you that Pop music and Schlager probably do sound the same for foreigners.
Thanks for the article! It was interesting to read

Originally Posted by orbitalaspect

I was going to ask about Fischer... but I can tell she's a little more of a national embarrassment than a treasure...?

I do know Juliane Werding though. Is she Shlager?

I wouldn't say Helene is a national embarrassment. More a love it or leave it thing. She was annoying for quite some time because of her being so overly present in the German media. But it's ok at the moment.

I think Juliane Werding did Schlager. Though her texts had much more depth than Helene's.

Originally Posted by orbitalaspect

I just downloaded Indila's Mini World album.

This is one hell of a record even for 2016. I think the only thing keeping her from a #1 in France is that her songs are similar to each other. But fuck me if she isn't one of the most talented vocalists I've heard in years.

I wish we had pop music like this in the US.

I love Indila! Her voice is so awesome

[Zeke.]

This song pretty much says it all. Lol.

[AyuWorld]

See this thread and would love to share this since I came across this vid after so long



She is Siti Nurhaliza the ultimate Malaysia's songstress diva, I said ultimate because shes such a phenomenon back then, across the South east asia, for exemple in Indonesia people went crazy for her. Her voice is powerful and she has a really good image.

She began to gain her popularity at the same time as Ayu, she even been comapred with Britney Spears for her popularity xD

The video above, was when she performed in Japan for the Asia Film Festival. I even always imagine if she and Ayu would have met at that time. Both are my idols xDD



this was during the MTV Asia Award in Thailand 2005. one of my favorite performance from her, her smile <3 and loved the cheering crowds <333. Guess Namie was there also.



Featuring Gareth Gates at MTV Asia Award 2004 Singapore.

[Tomoyo]

when i think of pop queens from Russia. The first name that comes to my head is Tanya Bulanova, my mother listened to her when I was a child and I know she was insanely popular.

This is one of her newer Songs, It released in 2015.



This song is older it came out in 2004.



Another one I think of is Alsou, I use to listen to her in when I was a kid, although her albums are not near as good as they use to be.




Others I can think of that are newer, probably Yulia Savicehva, Maksim, and I think Sogdiana, I don't know how popular Sogdiana is, She's from Uzbekistan but she sings in Russian most of the time so I think she still counts.

Yulia Savicheva



Maksim



Sogdiana

[Heavenly]

Originally Posted by Yoake

I remember her so well. I didn't stop to listen to Gabriel. It's so nostalgic to read her name.

I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mention Jenifer. Not that I'm a fan but as I can hear her songs at the radio, I suppose she is still somewhat famous?

The fact that Jenifer was a The Voice's coach isn't a sign of popularity though XD Here are the only songs that I like from her :



Actually, I think French singers are like popular for a few years then disappear... The only emale singer that lasts is undoubtly Mylène Farmer. As someaone said, she can sell tons of records and concerts tickets without any promotion, just counting on her fanbase. No other artist can do the same.

[Miku]

Another queen in my opinion for sweden is Robyn, she's been active since 1997 ^^
She has released 7 studio albums, her genres is: Electropop, dance-pop, Europop R&B and wonky pop

some songs I really enjoy listning to
Hang with Me:

Dancing on my Own

With every Heartbeat with Kleerup

[Aderianu]

Originally Posted by Tomoyo

and I think Sogdiana, I don't know how popular Sogdiana is, She's from Uzbekistan but she sings in Russian most of the time so I think she still counts.

never heard about her...