Who is the pop queen from your country?

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

I talked about German music with Noidea several times, and he also said he couldn't think of a German pop queen, even if he liked Sarah Connor. I never gave her a try because I don't like musicians based on non english speaking countries singing in English, but I wanna give her a try some day.

Her last release was a German album called "Muttersprache" (mother tongue), I didn't listened to it so I can't say anything regarding this album, but maybe you can give it a try and tell us if it's worth a listen?

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

He talked a little about Nena (who seens to have somewhat this status at least to some people, considering she was the voice actress for Princess Selenia on the German version of Arthur and the Invisibles, dubbed by Madonna and Mylene Farmer in English and French), but he didn't consider her because he said she was basically a one-hit wonder who was able to capitalize more than once on the same song.

Well Nena can't be considered a pop queen simply because she never made pop music. Actually Nena was a band which became popular in the 80's with the anti war song "99 Luftballons" and they made pop/rock music in the German new wave style and their genre therefore would be what we call "Neue Deutsche Welle" (German New Wave).
Later Nena became a solo artist but actually all the songs which made the band popular are still her only hits. She rereleased them with a more poppy arrangement in the 00's and one of the songs was also redone in English together with Kim Wild. I really love "99 Luftballons", "Nur geträumt" und "Irgendwie, irgendwann, irgendwo" (this one especially, it was the one redone together with Kim Wild as "Anywhere, anyplace anytime").

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

He also hates schlager (and I kept telling him there should be anything interesting or worth of note on the genre before listening to it myself :V), talking a little about Helene Fischer and Andrea Berg. Helene is a really good performer and I listened to the whole Farbenspiel A LOT during 2014, found it to be a really well crafted pop album, but I don't know if she has what it takes to produce more interesting tracks. Andrea Berg felt like a sad, ugly Seiko Matsuda with very bad music, but I don't know if I just listened to the wrong tracks. @_@

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.

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Not a popstar, but I found Nina Hagen to be amazing xD We have a very pathetic musician over here who loves her, and I never gave her a try because of him, but damn, she is good!

Haha yes she's fun. Sadly she seems to have taken to many drugs and is out of her mind and just emberrassing in public today, but she used to be a great artist.

[SayukiChoco]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Btw, I haven't listened to Sarah's new german album yet. Is it worth a listen?

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!

Originally Posted by Honey_Jae

My first tought was Helene Fischer or Andrea Berg as well for Germany xD I don't like both of them. But a Pop-Queen...don't know if we ever had one?! Most of German people listen to english music if they don't know asian music or like it. But I agree with you all and would say that Sarah Connor is the one you can mention in this case. We had No Angels and other but these were 5 girls so not a Pop-Queen. And from the other actual German singers there is no one in my mind who deserves this titel.

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?

[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?

[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

[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?