Acknowledgements

I was very afraid of doing the Research Work because its mark is very important in this course. I think that all of my classmates –and I’m generalizing-, or most of them, were afraid of it too, like me, and we felt like if we weren’t able to do it until the end.

I’d like to thank some users from www.mjhideout.com for the videos that they showed me about Janet, performing or even giving a message concerning her music and Madonna’s, and for giving me their opinions about the questions that I asked them about her.

I also would like to thank a friend of mine, Kevin S. Rodríguez, who has always given me support and strength even when I was very tired and who made me laugh sometimes, to encourage me.

The most important contribution to this work has been from Beatriz Papasseit.

I was very lost at the beginning; I didn’t know how to construct or progress with the research work until Bea started to give me comments of it, questions, advices and some ideas.

I think –and that’s obvious- that there weren’t any work without Bea. I’m very grateful to her, so, Bea, thank you so much for all the work that you have done correcting, reading and thinking how to help me.

Conclusion

We have seen three types of women, two of them are very similar and one is the most differentiated.

On one hand, Madonna and Janet are chameleonic, they have used the trends of pop culture and women image in their own gain, to sell and keep being as famous as before. They also use their sexual bodies to attract the viewer’s attention, particularly the male, who may see them as sexual objects not as working women. For normal women or especially young girls Famous female singers are idealized, they have fame, money, and, for sure, a man. Besides, they are beautiful and they have a perfect body. Famous women are stereotypes to follow for young girls and that’s not good because in spite that they think that those women are perfect, they aren’t, they have had to use some things to keep looking young and gorgeous, for example, Botox or plastic surgery. And as for the music, it’s all about trend, girls, boys, women or men, all of them buy the music that is most played in the radio, clubs, or TV, they follow the wave of fashion.

Janet and Madonna, both of them ‘sell’ their bodies to not lose followers, to keep being on the top. They have reinvented themselves for that.

Janet Jackson

The last singer I want to talk about is Janet Jackson, who is closer maybe to Madonna in the use of her body to attract the male viewer but who also has quite a good voice.  

As Madonna, she has reinvented herself through the years to adapt herself to the trends of pop culture and femininity. She had a big influence from her big brother, Michael Jackson, from who copied some dance’s moves and some clothes style, like the big belts in some performances.

Michael also created the expectation that gave her the fame. So, we can say that she was famous –at the beginning- because her brother was Michael Jackson, and because she is a Jackson.

She also attracts the attention of the public with her talent as a dancer. When Janet dances, she uses a lot of energy in her moves. Before she used to do more masculine choreographies, but now she’s more feminine.

Whitney Houston

The second woman that I am going to analyze is Whitney Houston, whose voice captivated the audience because of her powerful pitch.

In my opinion, Whitney Houston’s fame is the result of her talent, not of her image, so the things that made her famous were the quality of her music, style and voice. From the very beginning, when she was singing in a church, everyone was focused on her, but her mother didn’t let her becoming a singer until she finished school.

She hasn’t changed her image too much, before becoming a star she was one of the first African American women that modeled for the Seventeen Magazine.

(Seventeen Magazine, May of 1983)

Madonna

In this section, I’m going to speak about Madonna’s style and her capacity to be totally chameleonic through the years. I’ll compare her previous works and fame to the current ones and say how she has managed to be famous and to maintain her fame.

Why have I chosen Madonna? She has always been a controversial and an important character in pop music’s world. She started her career with an air of pioneer, she knew from the very beginning how to make people notice her, she was sure of manipulating what critic Laura Mulvey called the Male Gaze. According to Mulvey’s definition we’re talking about the Male Gaze when the image of a woman is destined to be seen from the perspective of the –heterosexual- male as object and sexual object or ornament rather than as subjects.

Janet Damita Jackson

   Singer, songwriter, actress and a business person, Janet was born May 16, 1966, in Gary, Indiana. She is the youngest of nine child born from Joseph  Walter Jackson and Katherine Jackson, she grew up under the influence of a business family.

   Janet’s brothers –Michael, Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Jermaine- signed up a contract with Motown Records in 1968, they ruled the charts with hits as “I want you back”, “Stop, the Love You Save” “ABC” and “Dance Machine”.

   In 1969, Katherine took her daughters Rebbie, LaToya, Janet and her youngest son Randy to join Joseph in Los Angeles to further The Jackson Five’s career.

   The Jackson’s children were raised in the Jehovah’s Witness faith, as her mother, who was baptized as a Jehovah Witness in 1963. LaToya Jackson famously told in her biography about the physical and sexual abuses by Joseph Jackson. When Michael Jackson became a superstar in the early 70’s, the tensions within the family increased a lot.

   Her first appearance was in April 1974 in the Jackson family’s Las Vegas act. She also appeared in the summer replacement television show The Jacksons in 1976. She called the attention of a producer and he hired Janet to play Penny in the TV comedy series Good Times since 1977 to 1979. She continued working as an actress in the short-lived A new Kind of Family (1979-80), Different Strokes (1981-82), and the teen drama Fame (1984-85).

   Unlike many of her siblings, she went to a school in Encino, California, before switching to Valley Professional School, from which she graduated in 1984. In September of 1984 she eloped with DeBarge band’s musician, James DeBarge, the family disapprove this and the marriage was brief, she requested an annulment in January 1985.

   With the guidance of her brother, Michael Jackson, she was able to release her first studio and debut album in 1982. It had three hit singles, including “Young Love” and “Give your love to me” The album sold 250.000 copies. In her second album, Dream Street, she included Marlon, Jackie, Tito and Michael’s contributions.

   Janet’s first major success was with her third album, Control (1986), released on the A&M label. It sold eight million copies worldwide and had two No. 1 singles “What Have You Done For Me Lately” and the title track. Janet won two awards in American Music Awards.

   What made her become a star was her new sexier style, stage presence, and her dancing ability, and were all showcased in her videos.

   Janet’s next album Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 put her as the first artist to have seven top five hits from a single album. The album had some hit singles, including “Black Cat”, “Miss you much” and “Escapade”, and it sold around eight million copies again, and it was her most socially conscious album. Janet started her first Tour, in support of the album, in the spring of 1990.

   Her contract with Virgin Records was at the time the largest recording contract in history, signed in March 1991.

   Janet released her fifth album, Janet (summer 1993) at the same time of her first starring film role, in the drama “Poetic Justice”, in which Jackson received an Oscar nomination for “Again”, which she performed on the  movie’s soundtrack. She sold more than six million copies and she featured “Any time, Any place” which was her 14^th gold single, becoming like this as the female solo singers with the most gold singles, like Aretha Franklin. Furthermore, “That’s the Way Love Goes” earned a Grammy nomination for the Best Rhythm & Blues Song.

   The Velvet Rope (1997), her sixth album, put her sexually suggestive to a whole new level, that generated some critical and it didn’t reach the quantity of sells of her previous albums.

   She continued performing with a costarring role with Eddie Murphy –who worked with her brother Michael Jackson in 1993- in “The Nutty Professor II” (summer 2000).

   She released All for you, another smash hit album, which put Jackson squarely back on top of the pop world. She won an award for favorite female pop/rock artist in January 2002.

   She had several problems with her appearance in the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004. During a performance with Justin Timberlake her right breast was exposed during a ‘costume reveal’. That’s why she didn’t appear at the Grammy Awards and she denied her collaboration to play Lena Home at the elder actress’ request.

(Extracted from © 2009 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved)

Whitney Elizabeth Houston

American singer and actress. Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in 1963, on August 9, in Newark, New Jersey U.S.

   Her mother was Emily “Cissy” Houston –whose vocal group, the Sweet Inspirations, sang backup for Aretha Franklin-, and her cousin Dionne Warwick.

   Whitney Houston started to sing as a child in a church. While she was in the high school she sang backup for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls, she also modeled for fashion magazines.

   In 1983 Clive Davis –the president of Arista Records- was taken to a New York’s nightclub where Whitney was performing that night and she signed with Arista Records. She delayed two years to release her first and debut album, Whitney Houston (1985), but it was worth it. She launched the Arista’s second decade, and yielded some hits like “You give good love”, and three first singles, the Grammy-winning “Saving all my love for you”, “How will I know” and “The greatest love of All”.

   The album not just stablish her as an important new singer, but also it sell over 12 million copies in the U.S. This LP reached the record as the biggest selling debut album by a solo artist.

   Whitney released her second album titled Whitney so soon, in  and she got the Grammy-winning “I wanna dance with somebody (who loves me)”, “Didn’t we almost have it all”, “So emotional”, and “Where do broken hearts go”. Whitney beat the Beatles and the Bee Gee’s records and she became the first female singer with seven consecutive first hits.

   She released her third best-selling album “I’m you’re baby tonight” in November 1990. While she set the sale records again, the album became a multi-platinum best-seller to the tune of 8 million copies worldwide.

   During her first years on the air, she finally made her movie debut in The Bodyguard (1992), in which she co-starred with Kevin Costner. The movie was as successful as the soundtrack album. The first single that was released, “I will always love you” became the biggest selling commercial single in history and it won Grammys for Record Of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal. She also continued working as an actress with Waiting to Exhale (1995). The soundtrack of the movie also released three new Whitney’s tracks.

   She sang lead vocals for her third motion picture’s soundtrack album, The Preacher’s Wife (1996), including “I believe in you and me”, “Step by Step” (written by Annie Lennox), etc. She also appeared in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella’s motion picture musical in 1997.

   Eight years after her last album, she finally made “My love is your love” (1998) which was produced with Clive Davis. She proved that she could stay contemporary since first single, “Heartbreak Hotel” featuring Faith Evans and Kelly Price. That was the beggining of loads of gold and platinum hit singles from the album, nearly a year and a half. The success of this album was very beneficial for Whitney, who shared stage with stars like Cher, Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, etc. Whitney finally became a star.

   Because of her success in every corner of the globe, Whitney started her first World Tour, which ended in Europe in November.

   At the 42^nd annual Grammy Award in February 2000, Whitney won her sixth career Grammy, Best Female R&B Vocal, for “It’s not Right, but It’s Okay”, a category that included Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Brandy, etc.

   She also was named Female Artist of the Decade at the Soul Train Music Awards, one month later.

   In 2000 she released a compilation of her best past songs in “Whitney The Greatest Hits”, in addition to some duets with Enrique Iglesias, George Michael  and some more artists, she included some unavailable remixes and bonus tracks. The week after the release of the CD, she appeared in a program of NBC television to make a tribute to Clive Davis, her discoverer.

   She and Arista Records agreed to donate royalties and net proceeds for the New York Firefighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund. The affected families were to benefit for the sales too.

   Whitney released “Just Whitney” in 2002, her first new millennium’s album. It included diverse ballads like “Try it on my own”, “My love”, and a powerful remake of “You light up my life”.

   In 2003 she released her sixth album “One Wish: The Holiday”.

   In 2009 she has released “I look to you” after her troubles with drugs, she’s finally rehabilitated, the prove is the amount of CD’s that she has sold since the album is on sale.

(Extracted from Copyright © 2009 Sony Music Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.)

Total Eclipse of the heart

A friend of mine showed me this video and I though it’s funny!

They do the macarena but I’m still not impressed!(8) hahahaha lol

Get out of my way I’ve gotta peeee!

OMG! LOL

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone

Madonna

 

 

 (Madonna performing at her highest grossing Sticky & Sweet Tour in 2008) 

   Singer, performer, actress. Madonna was born as Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone on August 16 of 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. His father Silvio “Tony” Ciccone who was the son of italian immigrants was the first of his family to go to college and he got a degree of engineering,  and her mother, Madonna Fortin, was a Ray-X  technician and former dancer, with French and Canadian roots.

   A heavy influence on Madonna was the diagnosed breast’s cancer of her mother during her youngest sister pregnancy. At the age of five, Madonna’s mother died being a thirty years old woman.

   She was an A’s student, a cheerleader and a disciplined dancer who graduated from high school before than her classmates. At 1976 she was studying modern dance, then she moved to New York City in 1977. She paid her rent with an amount of odd jobs, including nude art modeling, serving at the Russian Tea Room, etc. Thanks to Dan Gilroy, she went to France to a vaudeville review in Paris. There she fell in love with dancing and singing. When she came back to the States, at 1980, she began to be a part of Gilroy’s band, she finally became the lead singer. She made some bands like Madonna & The Sky or Emmy.

   In 1981, she decided to go solo and hired her manager Camile Barbone of Gotham Records, to help her with her career. A madonna’s friend wrote “Everybody” her first hit, then she used her brash business style to get the recordings of the DJ and New York music producer Mark Kamins. “Everybody” became the hit number one of the dance-charts in 1982.

   With her first debut, Madonna convinced Sire Records to record a full-length album, which was Madonna in 1983. The album was a success and it had hits like “Borderline”, “Lucky Star”, or “Holiday”. Soon, girls all over the country were imitating her distinct sense of fashion like fingerless gloves or large crucifix necklaces.

   Madonna’s next album, Like a virgin, reached number one on the Billboard Chart and it became Platinum within a month. She also starred “Desperately seeking Susan” in 1985. The single “Crazy for you”, which she performed for the 1985 film Vision Quest, became an instant number one. She started her first music tour, The Virgin Tour.

   On August 16, 1985, she married Sean Penn and co-starred with him in the film Shanghai Surprise (1986), she also took part of some more movies like Who’s that Girl? or Bloodhounds of Broadway. She produced four hit albums: True Blue (1986), Who’s that girl? (1987), You can Dance (1987), and Like a Prayer (1989).

   She had several problems. First with a performance of Like a Virgin in 1985, on MTV Music Awards which had writhing aroung suggestively onstage in a wedding dress. Then her marriage with Sean Penn which was marred by reports of domestic violence, he even spent a month in jail because he assaulted a photographer. And to end, as a result of the video Like a Virgin, The Pope John Paul II urged the fans not to attend the concerts in Italy.

   Despite all of that, Madonna became more popular than ever.

   She did “Truth or Dare” a documentary about her Blonde Ambition Tour. She then published Sex in 1992, a soft-core pornographic coffee-table book. Despite its controversial nature, Sex sold 150,000 on the day of its release in the USA. It finally became the most successful coffee-table book ever released. Her album “Erotica” was unveiled at the same time and it was a success too.

   In 1996 she won a Gold Globe for the Best Performance in Evita, the movie. Madonna also became a mother that year, giving birth to her daughter Lourdes Maria (Lola) Ciccone Leon, whom she had with her lover and personal trainer, Carlos Leon.

   When she married Guy Ritchie in 2000 she had her son named Rocco John Ritchie. With her album Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005) she became the artist with the most gold certified singles in USA, beating the Beatles record.

   She had some problems with the adoption of his new son, David Banda, whom she had been raising since 2006. In 2009 she decided to adopt another kid from Malawi, Mercy James, who’s custody was granted.

   She has a H&M clothes line, a deal with NBC to air concert footage, and her Confessions tour. She continues to sing, act and manage some business interests, sharing her time between UK and USA.

   Considered to be one of the most influential women in contemporary music, Madonna has been known for continually reinventing her music and image and for retaining a standard of anonymity within the recording industry; she is recognized as an influence among numerous music artists.

(Extracted from: © 2009 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved)

Introduction

According to Jay Warner the most characteristic things in eighties are the technological changes, and the new types of music: techno and electro-pop.

Rock and pop were still the main forces in popular music, and many rock bands featured female vocals lead. In the eighties the R&B launched a lot of new generation’s divas such as Whitney Houston Jennifer Holiday or Janet Jackson, but some truly notable pop stars and superstars too, like Madonna, Paula Abdul, or Cindy Lauper. (Warner, p.221-222)

In this research I am going to look at the biographies and the work of Madonna, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson for several reasons. First, because they have led different kind of lives, second they have become very famous nowadays, so they’re known worldwide. Third and most important they’re characters that appear in television, advertisement etc, almost everyday, they “are” the example that a lot of women could follow or at least, would like to follow because they would like to be like them. They have influence on the population.

I have also tried female singers because women have always had a lot of pressure in their shoulders. First of all, the male chauvinism, the fact that we have always been considered less than men, and that we are whores if we express our sexual desire in anyway.