A Royal History: The Pop Dynasty, A Chrome Legacy
"Pop" is a word that pops off the tongue like a bubble of chewing gum. It’s a concise, all-encompassing way to describe a genre for which there’s no exact definition. It’s the word we use to describe everything and nothing. Popular, catchy, mainstream music. But saying that doesn’t really tell us much. Try to give a clear definition of pop and its origins—your neighbor might say the exact opposite.
And yet, pop music has been resonating everywhere for decades, like that unchanging presence that’s been in our AirPods ever since the age of the Walkman. When we look beyond the music scene itself, pop music—despite its drum-machine-like qualities—may be speaking to us about a social need to exist. Just as rock did in the 1950s. In fact, before Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, pop was rock.
Who represents this kingdom of the people? Who are its princes and princesses?
What has pop music always been about?
The kingdom crowned its first—and, until then, only—king in the 1980s. A young African American became the greatest pop star ever recorded by singing about racism, fame, women, love, crime, and even natural disasters (because why not?), and by turning a horror song into his biggest hit. In any case, one of them. Is pop music really that broad? Do we even have a subject to study?
Around the same time, a blonde bombshell with a gap in her teeth was proclaiming her love for New York’s queer community, even though she’d left everything behind at age 20 to live in run-down apartments in the City of Night while waiting for fame, dancing with wide splits in fishnet stockings and talking about sex.
All around them, an ecosystem of chrome and leather has flourished. It’s the African American community, the queer community, women, the marginalized, and above all, many young people who gather around their records.
It’s not easy to pinpoint a birth date for pop music. Defining it in a single sentence isn’t much easier (and even an entire article might not cover it all). But when its banner bears the initials of MJ—a Black man accused of bleaching his skin over the years, when in fact he simply had vitiligo—and Madonna, a woman, among so many others and all those yet to come, the tone was set as early as the 1980s. Pop music claims to define identity, makes us dance in rebellion, gives drag queens the lip-syncs of a lifetime, and gives teens posters full of dreams.
A sense of déjà vu? Rock ’n’ roll certainly paved the way for him.
Today, there are plenty of princes and princesses. There have also been claims to the title. From a historical perspective, there have been various stages.
Sex on the Beat
A song featured on the debut EP by the young Slovak singer Adéla, *The Provocateur*, 2025
The human body has always been a muse for art. The exploitation of sexuality in the music scene is nothing new, but pop music has had its say in the matter.
In 2002, Christina Aguilera released "Dirrty". Ultra-low-rise panties, two-tone highlights, and gleaming piercings. The icon reveals herself as a highly sexualized woman in a music video that opens with her descent—while she is in a cage—into an arena where the all-male audience goes wild. In the center of the ring are dancers. The spatial staging is highly significant: the women are at the heart of the arena, the stars of the show, objects of supreme desire. Ultra-skinny, smooth skin, glossy lips. The men are in a frenzy.
Here, the dynamic between men and women is reversed. Back in the days of “Livin’ On a Prayer,” girls would scream in the hope of climbing onto Bon Jovi’s stage and getting a kiss from the blond heartthrob with a ring dangling from his earlobe. Here, the men, like fighting dogs, are ready to jump into the ring to get to the dancers. The problem is, they can’t make it. None of these men has the privilege of breathing the same air as Christina.
Sex is once again becoming a central issue, as it has often been throughout history and across the arts. But pop icons—mostly women—have added a twist by allowing themselves to be sexualized on their own terms. Female desire is regaining a sense of identity and personal meaning.
More than ten years later, ARTPOP, Lady Gaga’s third studio album released in 2014, features a number of tracks that focus on the artist’s sexuality. This is especially true given that it is not the first time the New York-based singer, whose family immigrated from Italy, has spoken about bisexuality.
In her song “Sexxx Dreams,” she layers her singing voice over her speaking voice to express her desire for a very specific person. The tension builds; we can imagine her devotion and feel her distress. It isn’t until the pre-chorus that we realize she’s referring to a woman:
“Heard your boyfriend was away this weekend
. Want to meet up at my place?”
“I heard your boyfriend was away for the weekend
. Do you want to come over to my place?”
In fact, the song's title has three "x"s in it, a nod to the porn industry.
On the same album, in her song “Aura,” Gaga uses the term “burqa” both to offer a political critique and to create a fantasy surrounding the garment. She tackles a taboo subject:
“Do you wanna see me naked, lover?
Do you wanna peek underneath the covers?
Do you wanna see the girl who lives behind the aura?”
(Here,“aura” is used instead of “burqa”)
“Do you want to see me naked, lover
Do you want to take a peek under the sheets?
Do you want to see thegirl who livesbehind the aura?”
She doesn't say the word "burka" until the very end, allowing us to reflect on the song in hindsight.
Today, these same themes—which are found in the work of many more pop artists than before—are reflected in Adéla’s lyrics and music videos. The Slovak singer conceived “Sex on The Beat” as a way to reclaim power over her own body. In an interview with Khal Ali’s YouTube channel, she explains—referring to the work of choreographer Robbie Blue, with whom she collaborated on her music videos:“It’s very interesting—imagine putting a pop girl in that (referring to Robbie Blue’s ‘Fuck To The Beat’ music video); it’s a great representation of owning your sexuality. Yes, I’m going to be sexualized. But since that’s the case, I’m going to make you feel uncomfortable.”
Vogue
Madonna song, 1990
Madonna became a queer icon by bringing the community into the spotlight—by giving it a voice and her whole heart. In 1990, she released “Vogue,” which takes its title from the dance of the same name, voguing. In Jennie Livingston’s must-see 1991 pop culture documentary *Paris Is Burning*, we discover this art form, as well as the scenes of New York’s African American queer community. Considered underground, it hasn’t always been easy (even today) for the community to find a place to perform.
With the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, homophobia—combined with racism—reached colossal proportions. Madonna was among those who chose to step into the fray for the cause. If today Tate McRae, Sabrina Carpenter, and Ariana Grande have gay dancers on stage, it’s because Madonna did it first.
"Vogue" has become a song played just as often on drag queen stages as on fashion runways.
Women elevated by queer people. This is a phenomenon found in both fashion and haute couture. Some fashion designers are gay men, designing and envisioning silhouettes for bodies that are not their own. There is a privilege in the relationship between iconic women and queer men that is not found everywhere. Pop culture is the clearest example of this.
There are plenty of princes in pop music—whether they're singers or not.
If we step away from music to consider pop culture in a broader sense and refocus on fashion, one name resonates like that of Christ in the middle of a church: André Leon Talley. A Black, queer man and editor-in-chief of *Vogue* until 2013. Together with Anna Wintour, he built an empire. He began his career writing for *Interview* magazine. He supported John Galliano back when the designer had arrived in Paris penniless. He organized the Met Gala. André Leon Talley was a fashion prophet. He passed away in 2022.
But let's get back to the music.
Although, from a media perspective, it’s never a good idea to compare Madonna to Lady Gaga, “Born This Way” has established itself as an anthem for queer love. Stefani Germanotta, a deeply religious person, has laid a foundation that will remain solid in the world of pop culture: religion and gender and sexual identity need not automatically be mutually exclusive.
Break the Ice
Britney Spears song, 2007
When it comes to having children, Britney Spears has nothing to worry about. If there’s one thing her father, the judges, and those responsible for establishing her conservatorship in 2008 failed to take away from her, it’s the certainty that she will have children worthy of the greatest. We can already name two—very different, yet confident—and, above all, chosen by the public to embody her: Tate McRea and Addison Rae.
Britney Spears is one of those women from whom people have tried to take everything away, but pop music (much like fame itself) may have saved her. When she rose to fame in the 1990s on the Mickey Mouse Club, she was only between twelve and fourteen years old. At the time, she was America’s sweetheart. A sweet little blonde. Very quickly sexualized—while still a minor—the world began to crumble beneath her feet. She was mocked and vilified. As her career took off, an entire system of oppression built up around her. But in a way, her musical journey leaves us with a message that will prove more than beneficial for years to come.
When she released …Baby One More Time in 1998, she was only seventeen years old. She shattered the image of America’s favorite little girl. And since she had been sexualized up until then, she might as well take the bull by the horns. Ten years later, a conservatorship was established for her. Britney Spears’ music has evolved over the decades: while she’s a cash cow for those around her, churning out commercial hits and performing in Las Vegas (where she had a four-year residency from 2013 to 2017), her lyrics remind us that there’s a feisty woman behind her personas.
Pure coincidence, a conscious choice by Britney’s father who didn’t realize he was shooting himself in the foot, proof that the woman behind the product has never ceased to exist… We could go on and on.
One thing is certain: in this drive to break free from the chains of abuse and assert her independence, Addison Rae has taken note. The young woman, who rose to fame on social media with her dance videos on TikTok starting in 2019, has undergone the most striking career and image transformation of her generation. Although her success is still debatable among some of the international audience, she is increasingly earning her place. With a sultry, high-pitched voice on 2000s-inspired tracks (you can hear a strong influence from Kylie Minogue’s *Come Into My World* and *Can’t Get You Out of My Head*), she projects a siren-like aesthetic against slightly tacky backdrops (it’s still early days, and frankly, it suits her rather well).
In *In the Rain*, the 25-year-old singer describes the "Britney phenomenon":
“Misunderstood, but I’m not gonna sweat it
—isn’t it all just for the show?”
“Incomprise, but I’m not going to make a big deal out of it
—isn’t it all just for theshow?”
Then he launches into the chorus:
"So I Cry Only in the Rain"
“So I Cry Only in the Rain”
This song reminds us of another undeniably sad moment in pop culture: in 1998, when she was just 18 and starting her modeling career, Gisele Bündchen—now an international supermodel—walked the runway for Alexander McQueen in a rain-soaked scene, topless. The young woman hadn’t been warned; a makeup artist backstage, not wanting to leave her in her distress, had painted her chest to create the illusion of some sort of clothing. That day, Gisele’s tears mingled with the artificial rain of the fashion show.
We included Tate McRea on this list because she is currently one of the hottest rising stars in the world of pop music. Her music draws inspiration from R&B and trap. But Tate is, above all, a young woman born in 2003—originally a professional dancer (she danced for Justin Bieber during his 2016 “Purpose” tour, when she was just 12 years old)—who now fills stadiums by talking about her relationships, her sexuality as an adult woman, and her inner conflicts. McRea’s stage productions are always highly stylized and crafted with a team of dancers—of which she is an integral part—at the pinnacle of excellence.
