Who is the pop queen from your country?

[Andrenekoi]

I'm really obsessed with pop divas, mostly those who are able to become the "queen" of their markets, women who are known for having a fame that transcends generations, who spam hits for far longer than most people on the market do and who become cultural icons and living legends... Women like Ayu herself, or Madonna, and I really like to get to know new musicians who archieved that... So, do your country have someone who archivied this status? Who is she?

Those are some I know... The position of some are open for discussion , and as I know most of them from the internet, maybe what I read don't really fit the reality of their careers on their own countries, so, I also find it would be interesting to know what the natives think about them:

Spoiler:

Ayumi Hamasaki - Japan
The best selling solo act ever in Japan, often called the empress of jpop, Ayu at her worst is still able get a level of attention most won't get at their best.


Namie Amuro - Japan
The current queen bee of the jpop market, Namie had an almost impossible 2nd peak on the very unforgiving japanese market, and even if she is almost on the 40's on a country most idols won't go past their 20's, she still is able to top the charts.


Madonna - USA
The best selling female singer ever in history, pretty much every female popstar who came after Madonna took something from her. Madonna is an integral part of the world's pop culture, and most likely nobody will ever get a career as glorious as hers.


Beyoncé - USA
If any popstar who rose to fame after the 90's is firmly positioned as a cultural icon, that's Beyoncé. She released her fair amount of songs, music and videos that determined what pop culture is nowadays and can be easily considered the lastest long therm world popstar the USA produced.


Ivete Sangalo - Brazil
Ivete's name is so big in Brazil that even people who dislike her body of work bow down to her career. She has the best selling live dvd ever released over here and is frequently selling out stadiums and arenas around the country more than 20 years after her career started.


Mylène Farmer - France
Mylène is around since the 80's and unlike most women on this list, her album sales still do give younger popstars a run for their money. She also sells out her tours in minutes. She also has the record for the most consecultive #1 singles in France.


Uhm Jung Hwa - South Korea
Also called "the sexy queen", Uhm Jung Hwa raise to fame in the 90's and is considered a major influence for the korean entertainers, having a successful (and much awarded) career in both singing and acting.


Kylie Minogue - Australia
Even if often called a pop princess, I do think the title don't do her justice both in age and success... Kylie may never really reached the same level of fame of Madonna, but she is around since the 80's as a major force in pop culture.


Thalia - Mexico
Thalia became a worldwide diva during her career as a telenovela actress, but her music career (that is far longer) can't be ignored either... She is spaming hits for almost 30 years and shows no intention of stopping.


Faye Wong - China
Faye may not really fit the usual pop queen image of having big broadway-like dance driven concerts, but with her own style of performance, she is a legend of her own.


Jolin Tsai - Taiwan
Even if often being seen as a lesser act by the western fandom of jpop and kpop, Jolin has been consistenly spaming hits year after year and keeping her name and image around as a pop icon on the chinese market.


Monica Naranjo - Spain
To be honest, her sound is not really my cup of tea, but she is huge on the spanish speaking world and has one of the 12 best selling albums in Spain. She as been around for years now and is a recordist World Music Awards nominee from her country.

[DestinyWishes]

I guess for the UK it could be argued that the pop queen is Adele considering her recent sales records?



But I think only time will tell if she will transcend generations, after searching on the internet I think it could be Kate Bush. She's much more alternative/experimental than mainstream pop though, but Wuthering Heights is pretty iconic and the tickets for her latest tour sold out in 15 minutes.

[indigochild]

I'm from Canada so... Celine Dion?? I guess...

[Uknow!]

Interesting thread.

Well, we haven't a lot of real divas here and yes, I think Monica Naranjo is the one most important (I don't like her). Our music is different... hahaha.

Other candidates can be:

Spoiler:

Marta Sanchez.
She has sold more than 8millions copies internationally.


Ana Torroja
She's my favourite. She was in the pop band Mecano and she has a soloist career too. They are really famous.



Malú
Her music is less pop but she is really famous and is a coach on the voice (Spain).

Edurne
She went to eurovision and I like her a lot so I put it, but she is not that famous in order to be our diva haha

Ruth Lorenzo
Went to eurovision too and she is less famous than Edurne in my opinion.

Other important names:
Chenoa. Paulina Rubio, Melody, Roko, Angy. (The last two are newcomers)

[visionfactory]

Yuri


She is the most famous Mexican singer in my country, also her concerts look very ayu-ish

[JackieRos]

I'm not sure if this singer from France is a pop queen but I do know that she's super
popular and very succesfull in France and my other countries.

This song is one her most successful yet, she was 15 in this video.


This one is my most favorite songs of her



I'm not from France though, I couldn't care less about American music.

[Andrenekoi]

^Alizee was Mylene Farmer's pupil, selected to be trained by Mylene and Laurent Boutonnat and having her first 2 albums produced by them... The partnership she had with the veterans ended before the 3rd album and I don't think she ever archieved the same status after that... But I'm not french either, so I may be underestimating her post Mylene x Laurent fame.

^^ Woah! That's a flashy concert! The aesthetics reminded me of Koda... I'm curious to listen to more of her stuff! Any recomended album?

^^^ I really liked Ana Torroja's first song you posted! I had heard of Marta Sanchez before, but still have to listen to any of her tracks.

[Uknow!]

^ Ana Torroja's first song is Hijo de la Luna (Original version) and is one of the most iconic songs of Spain. The song was covered for a lot of singers around the world.
If you are interested, here you can find a list of others versions.

And for Korea, Lee Hyori is a pop queen too, while BoA was more known in Asia, Lee Hyori always had the throne of Korea.



10 Minutes was a big hit, and she won the daesang for best artist (When this prize was more important...)

[Sandy]

I don't think Finland really has a "pop diva", but if you'd ask me, a Finn, the first name that comes to mind is Anna Abreu. She is half portugese. She sings in English, at least 98% of the time. I don't follow her, but she is very popular so you just know when she releases new music because it's everywhere and a lot of people are talking about it She's also know to be very sweet and not really a "diva" at all. Her image changed a little some years back to more, in lack of a better word, mature.

From her latest album...





And something older (from 2007), this song made it big...



A few other artists come to mind, but they just don't really fit the "diva" part or what in considered "pop-music" at the moment, but I feel I need to mention them because they are more popular than Anna...

Jenni Vartiainen (sings in Finnish)



Chisu (sings in Finnish)

[Andrenekoi]

@Uknow!
I knew I had heard it before! Sarah Brightman had covered it!

And I had read that Lee Hyori is a whole level above BoA in Korea, too... Funny enough, she and Uhm Jung Hwa shared the stage on this fairly curious performance, and they are said to be really good friends:


@Sandy
Woah! I loved Chisu's sound! :0000 I will definetelly check out more of her stuff! Jenni Vartiainen is really nice too, but not really my cup of tea. Anna Abreu is catchy as fuck! xDDD

I know she isn't a popstar, but how is Tarja Turunen image in Finland nowadays? I know she was really popular when she was a Nightwish member, but I don't know how she is performing after she left the band

---

Another brazilian popstar who is getting tons of attention is Anitta... She hit it big with Show das Poderosas back in 2013 (and this is one of those songs that become instant classics, and the 2nd brazilian video to hit 100 million views on youtube), and she had more moderate hits until this year where she had another smash hit with Bang (that will hit 100 million soon)... Now even the haters don't put her on the one hit wonder category anymore:

[JackieRos]

Yes so glad Lee Hyori was mentioned, I don't listen to her but I always hear
about her in Korean media, not recently though.

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

^Alizee was Mylene Farmer's pupil, selected to
be trained by Mylene and Laurent Boutonnat and having her first 2 albums
produced by them... The partnership she had with the veterans ended before
the 3rd album and I don't think she ever archieved the same status after that...
But I'm not french either, so I may be underestimating her post Mylene x
Laurent fame.
.

Oooooooh I see, she may not be a queen but her music is excellent.
You should listen to her.

[Andrenekoi]

^As a Farmer fan, I did listen to her Farmer produced stuff (the ones you posted are among those^^)... And to her post Farmer stuff to know what she was doing... I really like Mademoiselle Juliette among her post-Farmer tracks, and I must listen to her latest album because it has several tracks written by Zazie, that is a singer-songwriter that I really like.

Also, Alizee will always live in my heart because she has this live that is so hot that even my gay mind find it to be hot as fuck:


A more recent french popstar that I really like is Shy'm:

[mizuki-7]

I'm French and I can assure you that Alizee is REALLY from the past ... and she has never been considered like a queen but more like a pop sensation of a moment! She was a big deal with her first singles/albums but from the moment she decided to stop working with Mylene Farmer she was over for the general public ! More she incarnated the phenomenon of singer for children in france and it's something not popular in my country since the early 2000 !

The only singers in France with the true "Queen" like statut are Mylene Farmer and Celine Dion (despite she is from quebec) !

Mylène Farmer is our equivalent of Madonna she was very creative and surpassed all boundaries for a french female singer in the 80's/90's ! Today even if she still sell it's more thanks to her great fanbase than anything ! She pop-up only when she releases an album gives an unique interview and that's it !




I think I don't need to explain who is Céline Dion to anybody XD ? When she come in France all the medias unwraps her the red carpet !!




Patricia Kaas is a great contender too (personnal favorite)She was really big in the end of the 80's and the 90's and sold millions and millions of albums at that time ! She is a very strong vocalist and seems to have some great success in the countries of Eastern Europe for a french singer ! Today She did a lot of concerts around the world and is not really present in the french media but is still considered like one of the best french voice !

[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.

[Mirrorcle Monster]

Isn't IU the real queen of Korea? Basically everything she releases flies to #1

[Surreal17]

Originally Posted by Mirrorcle Monster

Isn't IU the real queen of Korea? Basically everything she releases flies to #1

Agree, but he probably means singers that have had more longevity and who have influenced various generations. IU is still too young, although what she has accomplished in these 8 years is no joke. I have always considered her to be the young Ayu of Korea. Technically, she is the "Digital Queen of K-music", with over 60 million digital sales

[Uknow!]

Originally Posted by Mirrorcle Monster

Isn't IU the real queen of Korea? Basically everything she releases flies to #1

Yes, she has succeeded but she hasn't had the influence and prestige of Lee Hyori. Moreover, with her recent scandals she is far away from the title, now Korea hates her and I think they won't forgive her.

[pimenta]

I would have chosen Elis Regina for Brazil to be honest... I mean, sure she's not a living legend, but she is a legend, one of the biggest ones, even so many years after her death. She died so young, but is still regarded as one the greatest artists of the country, I think she should be included in this list.




(got two popular ones, but she has so many amazing hits)

[Andrenekoi]

^Well, she was popular enough to be openly against the dictatorship and still untouchable! If she was alive, she would be my first choice^^ I wonder how a Elis concert would be with our current technology, as she had some complex spetacles back in the 70's

@mizuki-7 I wasn't aware about Patricia, gonna check her out! Didn't mention Celine because I see more as a voice diva (as Mariah, Whitney and such) than as a popqueen. But of Course, anyone with the best selling album of the country in history is a living legend. BTW, Shy'm seens to be really big (not Mylene big, even because she is around for only 10 years, but bigger and aging better than Alizee), but I don't know French or ever went there to actually have an idea of her position on the market... What is your opinion about it?^^

@tsumekaze I though about putting Laura, and she is huge over here (and also a close friend of Ivete), but I was insecure about it because I read sometimes people saying she isn't taken very seriuosly in Italy, and I didn't really had the means to read what natives though about her. I love her version of Io canto!

@Mirrorcle Monster, Surreal17, Uknow! Yeap, I mean women who showed longevity, influenced many and changed the music industry, women that everyone that came after them were compared to them, and 8 years isn't long enough for that. Uhm Jung Hwa is an icon that still crosses generation and you can find several current big acts paying tribute to her all over YouTube, while Lee Hyori was a choice based on the AskAKorean blog special about kpop... ^^


edit:

Now that Pimenta mentioned Elis, I think it would be interesting mentioning 3 older pop queens that are still alive and our most famous one worldwide, that is already late:

Spoiler:

Gal Costa was together with Elis and Maria Bethânia (the next one) the biggest singer in Brazil at that time, being "who is the biggest" a recurrent theme of discussion. She experiements a lot with her sound, having a electronic album (and a very good one) released at 66.


Maria Bethânia is called Queen Bee, and she is as respected as she is feared as the true diva she is. She is the 2nd (ignoring Xuxa, as you should) best selling female soloist in Brazil and is well known for mixing erudit, pop and folk music with theater and poetry at her concerts.


Rita Lee is the best selling female soloist in Brazil, and calls herself "dinosour of rock" or "grandma of rock". Even if she is old, she is a ridiculously steady hit maker, spaming huge hits that become staples among teenagers at almost 70. Rita is retired from the stages since 2012 (she actually had some performances here and there after that), and her final show at the time ended in controverse after she told police officers she felt were being aggressive to her audience to fuck themselves (yeap, this is the word she used in portuguese) and, as the rockstar she is, was arrested after the concert at 65.


Carmen Miranda, the most recognizible brazilian popstar in history. She also had success in the USA e at some time, legend says she was the best paid actress in Hollywood. Everytime some one wears a hat of fruits to represent Brazil, they are imitating her.

Also, these 5 very influential ones from jpop, one late, another one retired, and 3 already active:

Spoiler:

Seiko Matsuda, the eternal idol and the ultimate responsable for the nowadays kawaii image jpop stars are known for. Most of the time Ayu was trying to break a record, it was a Seiko record. She still releases music, even if she only her fandom is paying attention, and still sells out arenas all over the country.


Akina Nakamori, she was Seiko's rival during the 80's, having a darker, more mature image. Her albums also are better received (both by critics and the public) than Seiko's nowadays, releasing songs on several genres, even Enka, over the years.


Matsutoya Yumi, the 2nd best selling soloist in Japan, after Ayu. Her career is decades long and she is one of the most acclaimed female musicians in japanese history, also well known by her elaborated and extravagant concerts. Still give young girls a run for their money tour wise.


Momoe Yamaguchi had a 10 years long music career because retiring to become a house-wife (that was a thing in Japan back them), and even if she retired back in the 70's, the media and the public still are interested on her and on her personal life, ever wishing for a glance on her personal life or even better, a comeback.


The French have Edith Piaf, Brazilian have Elis Regina, Chinese have Teresa Tang, and Japanese have Misora Hibari, that singer that was the ultimate voice of the country, a voice nobody will ever come even close to surpass. Hibari wasn't a more popstar, she was the voice of Japan.

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.

[mizuki-7]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

@mizuki-7 I wasn't aware about Patricia, gonna check her out! Didn't mention Celine because I see more as a voice diva (as Mariah, Whitney and such) than as a popqueen. But of Course, anyone with the best selling album of the country in history is a living legend. BTW, Shy'm seens to be really big (not Mylene big, even because she is around for only 10 years, but bigger and aging better than Alizee), but I don't know French or ever went there to actually have an idea of her position on the market... What is your opinion about it?^^

In fact we don't have a lot of Pop Queen aside of Mylène Farmer they all vanished in the end of 80's lol Now we have some pop stars but nobody not even the media consider them like Pop Queen because their sales are quite weak we are a little like Japan only veteran singers sell a lot lol sometimes young singers will sell a lot of their first album but they disappear quickly !

Shy'm was big 2 or 3 years ago but now she is pretty hated because she was overexposed and is not seen like a bright singer ! More people think she is using her advantageous curves to sell ...


This performance is what ended her great success ... it was seen like a blatant try to be like Rihanna and inappropriate for a prime time show (too much suggestive) since then she struggle a lot and a lot and honestly I think it will be difficult for her in the future ! She is defintly not at the same level as Mylène farmer !!