The New Goddesses of Pop
A middle-aged dad on Rodrigo, Roan and Carpenter.
To every generation, heroes are born. Each claims their hero as unique and innovative. This isn’t true. Each is an echo of the last. The latest trilogy to catch the zeitgeist -Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan - are cousins to those that came before (Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Katie Perry) and before (Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Pink) and before again (Madonna, Janet Jackson, Cyndi Lauper).
You can spin them however you want: there’s either been a disastrous lack of feminist progress in female pop or a blazing explosion of it. Comparing the artists to one another is good intellectual navel-gazing but diminishes the power of each of them individually.
Let’s just say this: they’re good. I love them all - and they have no interest if they appeal to me, a 37-year-old white guy (and isn’t that progress anyway?). The sheer sound diversity is perhaps the 2024 thing about them. Carpenter channels Ginger Rogers, Dolly Parton and Johni Mitchell. Chappell Roan emulates Kate Bush, Lady Gaga and Stevie Nicks. Rodrigo summons the spirit of Joan Jett, Alanis Morissette and Debbie Harry.
They are united in their fuck-you attitude. If there’s any unifying theme between them, it’s that men suck. Something we can all get behind.
Olivia Rodrigo
The voice of Gen Z, Rodrigo gained fame as a Disney kid but has managed to avoid the trappings of her corporate overlord that have claimed some of her predecessors. She is young. Her first single, Drivers License (which I would say is perhaps one of the greatest ballads ever written), was released when she was seventeen. Her first album, SOUR, is chock-full of teenage angst. Her follow-up, GUTS, shows more…um, guts. The starting track, All-American Bitch, is a thesis statement for her brand. Young, privileged, pretty, and pissed off.
Sabrina Carpenter
Being the support act for Taylor Swit’s US Eras Tour launched Carpenter into the stratosphere. She’s another Disney kid and has been realsing music for a decade. But her latest album, Short N Sweet, has become trapped in almost everyone’s head over the last few months. Her two major hits - Please Please Please and Espresso, are vintage pop songs, but the album points to a surprising comfort with country.
Chappell Roan
Roan split from her record label and established an independent brand: something that proved to be the right bet. She’s exploded in 2024. Each song or talk show appearance is a piece of camp performance art (‘I’m your favourite artist’s favourite artist’). Pink Pony Club became a queer anthem, but her work is littered with viral, funny anthems (Feminomenon, HOT TO GO!). Not for nothing, her vocals are blistering. Her last single, Good Lucky, Babe (a love song about a lesbian trying to pass as straight) broke her straight into the mainstream.