Grown Up Girls: Newspaper Reviews of Ageing Women in Pop

Abstract

Pop music is the most youthful of music genres: conservative in style and form, produced on a massive scale, dominated by young pop stars and designed to appeal as widely as possible. Its apparently simple and repetitive musical styling, coupled with its commercial intentions, makes pop appear for the large part dépoliticised and benign. In a society that claims to place a high value on protecting the presumed innocence of youth, these factors make it perfect for a younger audience who likes to bounce around to it, buy stuff associated with it and belong to its associated popular sub cultural groups. Seemingly superficial and immediate, pop is as much about the visual style of belonging, conformity and the adoption of fashions as it is about musical prowess. The appearance of youthfulness is therefore crucial in pop as it delineates its form, stars, target audience and market.