Is Pop Music Losing Its Creative Edge?

I’d like to take a moment and discuss the creativity of the pop music industry, and let me tell you something: it doesn’t exist. Modern artists are simply playing a game of copycat to see who can promote individuality in the best way.

Lady Gaga emerged on the pop culture scene and exploded into a phenomenon by expressing herself through various forms of extreme clothing. I’m relatively positive no one has been able to shake the image of Gaga coming out of an egg out of their head. I wonder if she woke up one morning and decided: I think I want to hatch today. Her latest single, Born This Way mixes heavy dance beats with inspiring lyrics that almost seem to be an apology for being an individual. 'Rejoice and love yourself today, ‘cause baby you were born this way,” Gaga belts out in the pop-ballad. She’s certainly promoting a message that teens today need to hear, but so is everyone else.

Ke$ha made her way into modern pop-culture with her single Tik Tok and “trashy” outfits, if you know what I mean. We R Who We R, the singer’s electronica based single that seeks to let her listeners know it’s okay to be yourself, was actually released last year, before Gaga’s Born This Way, and just days after Katy Perry’s Firework hit radio stations. Firework’s catchy beat and memorable lyrics advise listeners to start being the person that they want to be and showing the world what they have to offer. Although Perry isn’t known for going overboard with her personal attire, (she hasn’t had the guts to wear a meat dress to an award show like Gaga) she’s doing a pretty good job of promoting individuality with just her voice. She even landed herself a spot on the Van’s Warped Tour back in 2008, an event known for it’s influx of alternative and pop-punk groups.

Just months after the release of Firework, Pink’s Fucking Perfect began its course on pop radio stations across the United States. The melancholy track promotes a message of ignoring what others say about you and realizing that you’re a perfect person just the way you are. The lyrics 'pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel like you’re less than, less than perfect,' resonate in listener’s heads, it’s almost like Pink is begging people to be okay with themselves.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all for the self-empowering song that lets kids know we have to be ourselves, accept our flaws, and do what we want to do. But, the truth is, we really don’t need every pop artist on the radio telling us the same thing. Where’s the originality in that?