30 years ago today DL and Gay Icon Paula Abdul released her album "Spellbound."

I thought it was very bold for someone of such obviously limited vocal talent to try and cover Siouxsie and the Banshees.

It was, r1 but Paula pulled it off! Isn't that great!!!!!!

The only song I like are Opposites Attract and My Love Is For Real. Neither are from Spellbound. But I remember how popular Rush Rush was because of the video feat. Keanu Reeves.

R3 that Rebel Without A Cause video always made me cringe. They were so awful in it. Not to mention high schoolers who are pushing thirty was just too much for me to stomach.

I love Rush Rush!! People forget how big that song was. It was the song of the summer of 1991. T2 and Rush Rush are what I remember from that blissful summer of 1991.

R5, that is a touching testament to how shitty music was in 1991.

Rush Rush is a beautiful song. Paula's vocals were so lovely.

Hurry hurry lover, come to me.

So sweet.

That girl is singing off key on the record!!

The Promise of a New Day is such a bop!!

I got the cassette for Christmas along with a Sony Walkman. I was living at my dads and we slept on a mattress in the living room and had no privacy. His was the only cassette I had at the time. I'd spend hours out on the porch listening to this album. I loved this album then and still do.

It was a fun album, but it didn't match the crazy success of her first. Wasn't this her last album?

[quote] That girl is singing off key on the record!!

She sings?

Imagine with all the music out there, even if it was just music from 1991, choosing to listen to the limited vocal stylings of Paula Abdul. And then praising it!

[quote] Wasn't this her last album?

No, she put out a third album four years later called Head Over Heels. It and its first single, Crazy Cool, were massive flops.

fun!

Leave Paula alone. She ruled from 1989 to 1991. Lots of hits.

Head Over Heels came out in 1995. By then nobody cared anymore. However, My Love is For Real is one of her best singles.

I remember there being controversy because it was revealed that another singer was doubling Paula's voice.

She denied it of course. This time period was the beginning of the end of real singers, Pro Tools was already fixing voices.

Yes, Yvette Marine, who had been with the Mary Jane Girls, said she ghosted three tracks on Forever Your Girl. I remember thinking at the time- Why would you ever want to admit that horrible singing voice was partly yours??

r18 - $$$$$$$$$. I remember when she went public. It was the kind of story Entertainment Tonight went crazy over....Marine was credited as a backup singer on the album and even got the commemorative platinum records for her participation....

And Paula WON the case. You can tell it's Paula's voice on Forever Your Girl. However there is one song where it must be Yvette. But it's a shit song. I don't know why they used it or didn't re-record it.

She tried branch out out of her limited range. A few songs worked, but most didn't. Rush Rush and Promise of a New Day were big hits for her.

Then came the weight gain, not that much really, but looked bad on her short frame. And much joked about stretched out video frames of the Promise of a New Day video to make her look thinner, and shrill and cheesy performance of Vibeology, where she also looked fat. I was the beginning of the end of her singing career.

I still think her first album is a solid pop album overall though. Straight Up and Cold Hearted still hold up today.

I was there!

Plus I saw Paula live in Indio and her Las Vegas show! They were amazing!

The one ballad (Next to You, I believe) on FYG does sound like it has other voices besides Paula's blended in at times. The rest of the songs like her singing to me.

Yes, r23. Next to You is the song.

Abdul an icon?

How standards have fallen.

In Living Color rips poor Paula apart in this Promise of a New Day parody.

This was actually my least favorite of her three albums.

............

Blowing Kisses in the Wind was my favorite from the album. I played the album a lot 30 years ago. I even bought Head Over Heels 4 years later and though I liked a couple of songs on it (My Love is for Real and Crazy Cool), the overall album felt like a relic from another time. An instantly dated album.

[quote]I even bought Head Over Heels 4 years later and though I liked a couple of songs on it (My Love is for Real and Crazy Cool), the overall album felt like a relic from another time. An instantly dated album.

How the fuck was it dated? It sounded very current when it was released. It’s the album that holds up the best today.

Paula Abdul fought back when she was accused of being "dubbed" on her debut album

From 1991 - Paula Abdul appeared at a Hollywood news conference to counter claims by backup singer Yvette Marine, who alleged in a Superior Court lawsuit she had ″substantial participation″ in some songs on the top-selling album.

″This angers me,″ Miss Abdul said in her first appearance since the lawsuit against Virgin Records was filed Monday. ″I sing the lead on every single song on ’Forever Your Girl.‴

A music expert cited by Virgin Records, appeared alongside Abdul at the press conference said he could find no hint of Miss Marine’s voice on the lead tracks of the album, which has sold seven million copies since its release in 1988.

″No evidence can be found to support the contention that anyone other than Paula is responsible for the predominant sound of the lead vocals on the CD as released,″ said Fredric Lieberman, professor and chair of the Board of Studies in Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Jeff Ayeroff, co-director of Virgin Records, said Lieberman analyzed the song ″Opposites Attract″ on the album.

Adbul also fought back in court and won, the jury siding with her that all the vocals on the ″Opposites Attract″ album, were hers and hers alone.

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuv Paula !!!!!!!!

I never thought she was an amazing singer, but there is no denying her debut album was a mega hit in 1989, and the follow up did very well. The fact that she tanked thereafter surprised me. Although Janet Jackson had a longer and more successful/significant pop career, her quick downfall in the mid-2000s has similarities to Paula's sudden collapse back in the 90s. It's almost like someone decided the plug should just be pulled on both of them at different times.

R31, Madonna throwing shade at Miss Paula at 1:34.

It's too bad the song bombed because the My Love is For Real video is really good

Another vote for "Blowing Kisses In The Wind." A beautiful song.

I never understood her appeal. Madonna was at her best back then.

Spellbound was an album that changed lives. I know it changed my life.

As a 15-year-old struggling with his sexuality, Spellbound spoke to me in a way that no album did before.

The Promise of a New Day gave me hope. Rush Rush made me believe in love. Will You Marry Me made me believe that one day, I would marry a boy.

Thank you, Paula, for giving us Spellbound and for changing my life.

My fav is the song "forever your girl." It's still has bright and shiny as the first day I heard it.

OMFG! That Joey Jay dancing from Drag Race at the video at r22 starting at 1:36!!!! She's in all black and in her drag/no wig. Fab!

Not as good as, erm, Vibeology.

Rush Rush is a lovely song but can you imagine how much better it would be if someone less pitchy had sung it?

And Vibeology is great. HORNY HORNS.

The Prince song remains a bit blah.

The Family Stand had a huge hit in the UK with Ghetto Heaven, a song about an alcoholic grandmother.

I couldn’t even make it one minute into that Madonna video at R34. Wow, what a fucking obnoxious CUNT! No wonder she has no friends and has to pay people to hang around her.

I understand now why Brigitte Nielsen slapped the shit out of her back in the day.

R30, really? Songs like this just sounded tired to my ears

R34 Well, Paula's best years were at the same time Madonna was having some trouble to get hits, so i't s that rare that she was a little bitchy.

Paula was one of those cases the transition of 80's popular diva to the 90's didn't work.

She waited too much for the third album, My love is for real was risky and it didn't work on the charts.

Back then a flopped first single was something difficult to recover (now people have entire flopping eras and they are able to come back)

Paula had some good songs I liked Rush Rush and Knocked Out

At the risk of being blasphemous :

"Vibeology" and "Groove is in the Heart" sound similar.

LUVVVVV Paula!

I would die for her.

My WAY GAY manager at a music store at the time, was ready to faint when it came out. Too funny.

I was not out.

I LOVE Next To You from Forever Your Girl. My fav Paula song.

I thought Rush Rush was a beautiful song it’s the only Paula Abdul song I still listen to

yum-ooooooooooo !

R44 That was certainly a filler track, but it doesn’t mean the album was dated. Take “My Love Is For Real.” When had you ever heard a song with a middle eastern sound on American radio before? It was ahead of it’s time.

[quote] [R34] Well, Paula's best years were at the same time Madonna was having some trouble to get hits, so i't s that rare that she was a little bitchy.

Ummm... Paula had exactly THREE "best years," from late 1988 to late 1991. So let's look at those years for Madonna.

#1 album Like a Prayer, with its eponymous #1 single, two #2 hits and five top 20 singles altogether.

A huge contract with Pepsi that made her millions even after they dropped her for controversy that kept her in the headlines for months.

#1 single Vogue which also brought her a huge amount of press.

#2 album I'm Breathless.

Hit film Dick Tracy and tabloid romance with Warren Beatty that kept her in the news for the better part of 89-90.

#1 single Justify My Love which also spawned the first million selling video single after MTV banned the racy video. No one had ever come close to selling any numbers like that for a video.

Blond Ambition tour which broke records for ticket sales and was later captured for TWO different bestselling concert videos.

Hit documentary Truth or Dare which was also favorably reviewed and brought a new respect for Madonna.

You were saying?

LOL Paula was the Katy Perry of her time. She was huge but nobody cares for her 80s music now. To her credit, she seems 1000x less obnoxious than Katy.

And Paula being a female popstar does NOT make her a gay icon. It's like calling Britney Spears a gay icon.

R54, right. I can't believe someone tried to actually say Paula was popular while Madonna was "having trouble having hits". Maybe that was Janbot.

Paula couldn't and still can't sing to save her life. Madonna, Pebbles and Janet sing better than her lol. But she had a lot of good songs and was the best dancer at the time. She destroys Janet and Madonna when it comes to dance which is only natural, Paula is choreographer who decided to pursue a pop career. She had the right look and sassy attitude for MTV during the new jack swing/dance-pop era. She didn't survive the transition from upbeat dance to adult contemporary and contemporary R&B that became popular in the mid-90s. TLC, Mariah and Celine took the reigns.

R57, Paula couldn't survive the transition because she was totally manufactured. And she danced with an animated cat.

Paula's the only artist to have four number one singles from a debut album.

R54 post reeks of mothballs. And what's a video single?

R58 Of course. And unlike Janet and Madonna who had to reinvent themselves to survive. Paula failed at that too. Britney Spears came in 1998 and was her successor in many ways.

R59, that's not true. Mariah Carey also had four number one singles from her debut. And you're talking about how R54's post has mothballs when you are the one talking about how huge Paula was?! LOL. Katy Perry had five number one singles from Teenage Dream, a record only Michael Jackson had. But I think we all know Katy suffered a similar fate to Paula and won't be remembered. Hell, even her stint on American Idol won't be remembered. Paula at least has that!

Yeah, Paula was definitely a studio creation and most likely would not have had a music career if not for MTV and hopping off the choreographed dance-pop trend at the time. To her credit, she was a fantastic dancer and she cowrote Kylie Minogue's "Spinning Around". It's funny seeing how Kpop is so popular and a lot of it is reminiscent of new jack swing and teen pop of the 80s and 90s.

And at least Paula was never this desperate

My god, Promise of a New Day was such an earworm. Her last album, Head Over Heels had some really good songs on it. My Love Is For Real should have been bigger than it was. They were showing it in movie theaters before the feature.

It’s strange but I’d actually love a new album from Paula. I can’t believe she’s able to dance again - and well!

Why was the Promise of a New Day video stretched??! She wasn’t fat or anything. So bizarre.

Vanessa Williams who can actually sing had some good dance tracks too. She sort of killed her music career by insisting on doing slow ballads and jazz standards rather than the upbeat funky songs she started out with. Her first two albums are good and underlooked.

The work Paula did on The Tracey Ullman Show was incredible. She deserved her Emmys!

Vanessa’s I Got Work to Do (or whatever the hell it was called) was a great song!

Taylor Dayne was another one who had a huge career in the late 80's, early 90's. But then just disappeared.

Paula still has the most #1 songs off a studio album, not to mention her debut.

R53, I agree with you about My Love is For real. And Crazy Cool and The Choice is Yours are really good as well, but many of the other tracks on it sounded a bit out of date at the time of released. She did one song with Color Me Badd, a group that had its peak 4 years earlier but had long since been eclipsed by other vocal groups in 1995 by such groups as BoyzIIMen and Jodeci.

R69, grunge, hip hop and R&B killed a lot of that. The 90s were a great time for music. I mean you had the stoner guys, the rock guys, the rap guys, R&B, the big ballad girls, electronics, German house music, singer-songwriter female artists, the Swedes, and so on. It ended with the creation of Britney Spears. She ruined the 2000s. Manufactured crap took over. I hated it then and I still hate it now. It was marketed to my generation too.

*electronica

Paula Abdul had a big debut. So did Bobby Brown. But neither were able to really follow up with their second albums and they faded afterwards.

Madonna took some time off from 1986 to 1989 to focus on her marriage to Sean Penn, and in that time short span of time Paula became huge, with her videos in heavy rotation on MTV. So in the clip at R34, you know whom Madge is referring to when she says, "I turn my back for one minute and you find somebody else... You've been hanging out with tramps with cheap clothes and bad songs to sing." The burn!

Britney was hardly the first singer to do "manufactured crap" - and as talent-free as she is, I wouldn't even say she produced the worst music to come out of that era. I thought a lot of the frat dude rock like Creed and Limp Bizkit was worse

[quote] It ended with the creation of Britney Spears. She ruined the 2000s. Manufactured crap took over. I hated it then and I still hate it now. It was marketed to my generation too

While we had many silly, barley talented teen pop stars for decades. And NSYNC, Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys existed around that time in the 90s. All of those names only had a few years of success and fell off quickly. It really seems it was Britney's long period of success that influenced the music industry to try to create the "full package" pop star that could last for years and generate a steady stream of income due to their looks and youth.

Madonna and Janet's success was from their hard work and ambition. Madonna hustled in NYC for years to get a record deal and Janet had two flop albums and was mostly known as an actress until she fired her father and happened to meet up with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis in Minneapolis to make "Control" plus she downplayed her relationship with her brother to avoid the nepotism accusations. Paula was a choreographer for years and made her debut in her late 20s. Janet and Madonna had to constantly reinvent their sounds and looks to reflect the changing music landscape and as a result have a discography with range. Britney on the other hand, was scouted to join the The Mickey Mouse Club as a kid, planted into a girl group as a young teen until the record label decided to invest in her solo career and that investment paid off.

Now the industry tried to recreate Britney Spears success as well as Beyoncé, Usher/Timberlake and Mariah/Whitney/Celine. And they scout young kids and teens and try to groom them for long-term success and rarely has it worked except for Rihanna, Taylor, Katy and Bieber. It's becoming more and more of an industry of clones.

[quote] Madonna took some time off from 1986 to 1989 to focus on her marriage to Sean Penn,

Umm, what? Madonna released True Blue in 1986 and the album had huge singles into 1987. And in 1987 she was in Who's that Girl (the title track being a number one hit and Causing a Commotion a number two hit). She only took a break in 1988 .

[quote] Paula still has the most #1 songs off a studio album, not to mention her debut.

As stated somehwere in this thread, that is not true. Mariah had four number one singles off her debut while Katy Perry and Michael Jackson hold the record for having the most number on singles on one album (five). Although in Katy's case, it was kind of cheating with the whole "deluxe edition" thing. Michael Jackson didn't need to release a deluxe edition to achieve what she did.

The Choice is Yours and Under The Influence should've followed My Love Is For Real as single releases. Also the album should've been released 2 years earlier. Paula is not the kind of artist who can have 4 years in between albums and still have people be interested.

[quote] Madonna took some time off from 1986 to 1989 to focus on her marriage to Sean Penn, and in that time short span of time Paula became huge, with her videos in heavy rotation on MTV. So in the clip at [R34], you know whom Madge is referring to when she says, "I turn my back for one minute and you find somebody else... You've been hanging out with tramps with cheap clothes and bad songs to sing." The burn!

Sweetie, no. You've already been shot down once. Don't make us do it again. Paula was nowhere to be found before late 1988. No one knew who she was. And Madonna was everywhere in 1986 and 1987.

[quote] Taylor Dayne was another one who had a huge career in the late 80's, early 90's. But then just disappeared.

It's no coincidence the only "hit" off her third album is a cover of Barry White's Can Get Enough Of Your Love. In his book, Clive Davis talks about how Taylor really pushed to write her own songs on the third album and he bluntly told her that was not her forte. But he finally gave in and the album bombed. Like Expose, she was given a greatest hits album two years later and dropped from Arista. Taylor later sent Clive a letter saying he was right.

[quote] [R54] post reeks of mothballs. And what's a video single?

It's something Madonna invented to capitalize on the fact that MTV would not play the video for Justify My Love. She figured- well, if they won't play it for free, then I'll sell it. And sell it she did. $9.99 for the video and some extras and she sold nearly 6 million copies.

You dumb fuck.

R78, R81, Mea culpa. I was wrong about those dates. Sorry. What was I thinking?

R81, I don't think that poster has any idea what they are taking about. Madonna only took a break for one year (Madonna can never really relax which is one of her biggest flaws) and that was 1988. True Blue was busy setting the record in 1986 for topping the charts in the most countries. I think the Backstreet Boys or someone else topped her years later. And then Madonna set the record again with both Hung Up and Confessions (I don't think either record has been topped).

Yes, he's already made his apologies and has been forgiven.

And she really didn't take a break in 1988. She did Speed the Plow on Broadway and "wrote" and recorded Like A Prayer.

R87, that's true. But she really did write the lyrics to most of the songs on Like a Prayer.

Vadgebot's stinking up another thread.

Go away, Jabba, you fat gorilla.

Can we get back to the bulimic please?

Her pussy was working over time - John Stamos, Arsenio, Jackie Jackson, Emilio and that American Idol wannabe.

Instead of the body dysmorphic? Absolutely!

No one under eighty even knows what a video single even is. You might as well be talking about Victrola's.

I still would like to know about the mystery plane crash that Paula survived.

Paula's hit debut album almost flopped. The first single, "Knocked Out," only went to #41 on the Billboard chart. The follow-up single, "It's Just the Way That You Love Me," peaked at #88. It looked like the album would be a dud. Then "Straight Up" was released as the third single, went to #1, and the rest is history. ("It's Just the Way That You Love Me" ended up being re-released and did much better the second time around.) These days, if an artist's first two singles bombed, the music label would probably give up on them.

R93, sit down. You've been ended twice. No one is looking for you.

Paula is amazing!

I think Knocked Out is a great song. I was surprised to hear it just missed the top 40. Though I am surprised they didn't pick Forever Your Girl and Straight Up as the first two singles. They are the best songs on the album.

Paula's "Knocked Out" and Kylie's "Look My Way" both obviously sample the beat from The Whisper's "Rock Steady".

R92, I doubt Arsenio got anywhere near her pussy

How hilarious was her show? Jeffrey! Jeffrey! All she ever wanted was to be treated like the GIFT she is. Omg, how fucking high was she to say that? 😂

Makes sense that Knocked Out has a similar sound as Rock Steady as both were written and produced by LA and Babyface.

The first two singles may not have done great on the pop charts, but they did well on R and B radio and the videos were played a lot on BET. Straight Up was Paula's crossover hit.

Anyone got some tea about Paula and Emilio Estevez's marriage? Even as a little (gay) boy, that seemed like a slightly odd pairing.

As odd as Paula and Arsenio being a couple?

Pebbles stole Girlfriend from Vanessa Williams by giving LA Reid a Mercedes, cash and her pussy. Vanessa was recording it for her debut and pebbles showed up to the recording session and got Reid to give the track to her behind Williams and babyface’s backs.

The cash and Mercedes came from the man pebbles was still married to and who she started fucking while his first wife was dying.

Dayne should’ve stuck with Diane warren/ric wake songs and listened to Clive. She should’ve also released her 3rd album in 1991 and she could’ve had a few more hits. At one point she was working with Jule Styne on a funny girl Broadway revival.

Paula and Arsenio weren't a real couple

Taylor Dayne really did herself a disservice with that third album. She wanted to do more writing but didn't come up with the hits.

[quote]Dayne should’ve stuck with Diane warren/ric wake songs

Actually she did have two Warren songs and Wake produced a few songs but everything about Soul Dancing seemed B-side-ish. She had already proven herself with her first two albums, she really should have had stronger material.

I loathe Clive, but he was right in this instance. And she should have released earlier. She waited almost four years from her last album.

The Spice Girls were fun and were in on the joke. Britney Spears was treated like she was an artiste. It was beyond crazy and completely manufactured. The 2000s were god-awful.

[quote] It's too bad the song bombed because the My Love is For Real video is really good

r35, you’re right, that’s a great video.

Well, hell, that’s their problem.

While you're right that Paula was one of the first who released a Middle Eastern inspired tune (well, Michael Jackson did an African / Middle Eastern inspired Nigerian Girl in the 80s) The B-52's did a non-single track on their 1992 album Good Stuff called Dreamland. And Siouxsie & The Banshees released the Bollywood inspired Kiss Them For Me as a single in 1991. Though SATB are from England.

It’s always fishy when singers never go out on tour. I’m assuming Abdul never went early in her career, just like LJo generally hasn’t (she did a few concerts in Asia and Australia, I think).

Touring might have helped sustain Abdul’s career.

Was she in a car accident or something because she never dances much now. R22’s video shows her just walking around the stage while lipsynching

Wow, Pebbles sounds like a real cunt.

Pebbles sang background on Knocked Out. No doubt she was at the studio waiting to shag LA Reid, but as he was busy with the recording session for Knocked Out might as well put her to work in the studio.

TLC knew *all* about Pebbles' cuntitude.

[quote] Was she in a car accident or something because she never dances much now.

She's 58. These days, she dances in arthritis medicine commercials.

[quote]It’s always fishy when singers never go out on tour. I’m assuming Abdul never went early in her career, just like LJo generally hasn’t

Abdul toured with her second album release. Under My Spell Tour.

Madonna didn't tour til her second release either. Jackson til her fourth!

she toured with NKOTB on their mixtape tour a few years back and did some shows at smaller venues a few years back.

I wonder if Paula hooked up with Simon Cowell??

[quote]Touring might have helped sustain Abdul’s career.

Abdul was an artist on the Club MTV tour to promote her first album. She toured with her own show for Spellbound.

Paula also benefited from being racially ambiguous. She is part Middle Eastern but there wasn't much representation in the media for them back then. Some people thought she was a light-skinned Black girl because she blended in with Pebbles, Vanessa, Janet, Jody and other soft-voiced, light skinned singers at the time. Plus, Abdul wasn't an uncommon last name due to there being many Muslim converts in the Black community. LaFace producing her hits and her hip-hop style and dance routine got her the airplay on BET and R&B radio stations. She was very marketable to a wide audience because of her mixed appearance.

At her peak, Paula was bigger than Madonna and Janet. I don't know why her career ended so abruptly?

No, she was not bigger than Madonna. Number one singles are important, sure, but they don't tell the whole story. True Blue sold and Like a Virgin sold infinitely more than Forever Your Girl did around the world.

BKITW. Delish!

She had the strangest career ever. 6 number one songs in a 3 year period (and it was hard to get a number one in those days before streaming), and then she was just over. Even though her third album flopped, I’m surprised she didn’t try a few more times instead of just giving up albums completely.

R125, I know right? What a loser. 5 years is soooo much better than 3.

Madonna's main strength was that she was able to re-invent herself with every new album. Paula couldn't find that trendy style keeping her on top. As previously mentioned My Love Is For Real was a great track, just up my alley, but it didn't click with the mainstream which I think was a shame.

Her spellbound album was largely produced by the family stand with a track by don was and another by prince. She really went outside the box for album #2. Some of the songs were too much for her vocal range but it was cool she went out of her comfort zone and went with the usual hitmakers of the time.

Also between her first and second albums Mariah Carey exploded on to the scene, Janet Jackson’s rhythm nation dominated in 90-91, Whitney re-emerged on the scene and Madonna had Vogue and justify my love. I think her audience grew up and by the fall of 1991 the kids that loved forever your girl in 89 were into nirvana.

That should be she didn’t go with the usual hitmakers of the time.

[quote] Even though her third album flopped, I’m surprised she didn’t try a few more times instead of just giving up albums completely.

By the mid to late 1990s, female artists generally fell into one of two camps: the Lilith Fair/alt-rock/strong, independent woman camp: Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, Paula Cole, Lisa Loeb, etc., or the R&B/hip-hop camp: TLC, Aaliyah, Brandy, etc. Paula Abdul didn't quite fit into either camp. There wasn't much of a market for fluffy, danceable female pop songs (though that would start to change when Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera came along). Amy Grant is another example of someone who had huge success and multiple hit singles in 1991 but whose wholesome, perky pop seemed terribly outdated only a few years later.

Actually Amy Grant had a pretty strong album in the late '90s -- Behind the Eyes. Probably more in the vain of a Lilith Fair-type album with confessional lyrics. Less pop.

But, yes, Paula Abdul was hopeless outdated in 1995. Who knows if she had tried to revive her career with the pop resurgence in the late '90s if it would have benefitted her? Kylie had a hit in 2000 with Abdul's co-write Spinning Around. So maybe. Maybe not.

*vein

Paula's Vegas show was fantastic!

Paula became a very big deal again with American Idol. That show was a cultural phenomenon for the first few seasons. She still didn't have a music career, but she was a huge cultural figure at the time. I would say that more people knew who she was during that time than Madonna.

[quote] Abdul toured with her second album release. Under My Spell Tour.

Was it a real tour or just a few dates of lipsyncing?

R134, I don't think that's true. Madonna was one of the 10 most searched female celebrities during the 00s--Paula wasn't.

[quote]Madonna was one of the 10 most searched female celebrities during the 00s--Paula wasn't.

Where? In the UK? Because certainly not in America. With the exception of the Music album in 2000, Madonna was living in the UK in the 00’s and nobody was paying attention to her in America anymore.

R34 god she is such a pig, belching and farting in that video, disgusting!

When she was touring a few years back, she lip synced to heavily auto tuned, re-recorded versions of her hits. I guess her singing voice must not even be passable anymore.

R139 Let’s be honest - most pop singers who do heavy choreography lipsync. And most fans know and don’t care.

R140 That is true. Britney and Janet (in more recent years anyway) always lip sync. Madonna does at times too. But as much as those re-recorded versions were auto tuned, her vocals must've been really bad.

R1, what the fuck are you smoking?

Paula Abdul's Spellbound was a stupid song she wrote with her producers for her own album. It was not at all related to Siouxsie's classic song.

...and then she sat on human furniture in Borat

R137, it was global searches.

My bad, it wasn't a whole decade, but still. In 2010, Madonna was the third most-searched female celebrity on google. And she wasn't even releasing new music in 2010. She was Beyonce, Britney Spears, Rihanna AND miss Bieber!

that should say *she was higher ranked than....

I was blown away by the My Love is for Real but they really fucked up by overproducing it. The song is nearly a minute in before Paula sings and the last 30 seconds is filler after she stops singing

I still think Paula could've had a hit with this song if she'd done a single version that wasn't about breast cancer awareness. Probably would've called more attention to this version as well. Not sure why she didn't do an album with whatever producers/writers put this together for her. Great choreography.

if you dont want to watch the whole thing, just check out the last 30 seconds. Nobody does large dance numbers like this in music videos anymore. I cued it to the last 30 seconds here:

Okay, r142, thanks for letting me know that. I was legitimately confused. I really did think that Paula Abdul covered Siouxsie and the Banshees and wasn't joking in the least.

Who remembers this one off comeback single that she premiered on idol in 2009?

Fuck Glee! Fuck HSM!

Junior High School is where it's at!

Paula has more number ones than Gaga, Adele and Beyonce (solo).

Wasn't there a feud between Paula and Janet Jackson? If I remember correctly, Paula used to be Janet's choreographer, and when Paula started her own career and started smashing on the charts, Janet became jealous and ended their friendship.

Paula’s old nose at r152

Like Janet had anything to be mad about. Rhythm Nation came about just after Forever Your Girl and was the first album to have 7 top 5 hits, four of which hit #1 and 2 which hit #2.

In Julia Phillips' legendary book, You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, Phillips said she went out for dinner with friends/business acquaintances and Paula was one of the guests, and she was upset about Janet not giving enough credit to Paula for the videos. So, this only made Paula more determined to be a star!!!

Was Janet a good dancer before she met Paula?

Janet probably rolled her eyes and told her, "Good luck with that, honey," when Paula told her that she was starting her own music career. Fast forward a year and Paula is collecting #1 hits at a rate twice as fast as Janet ever did. No wonder she was bitter about Paula's success.

The Jacksons are a petty bunch. Paul Anka said that Michael was always trash-talking about Donny Osmond, who was his main competition at the time. Michael thought the Osmonds were terrible and far below him and the Jackson 5.

Paula is beloved.

Here you go, R158. You can be the judge. Janet on American Bandstand, 1984, pre-Paula.

[quote] Michael thought the Osmonds were terrible and far below him and the Jackson 5.

I totally prefer the Osmonds to the Jackson 5

R161, definitely not a natural dancer.

This interview is several years old, but a good one.

[quote]Janet probably rolled her eyes and told her, "Good luck with that, honey," when Paula told her that she was starting her own music career. Fast forward a year and Paula is collecting #1 hits at a rate twice as fast as Janet ever did. No wonder she was bitter about Paula's success.

Um, no. In fact, Janet was the one who suggested she should sing. Also Janet had number ones before, during, and after Paula’s short three years of hits, so WTF would she be bitter?🙄

After Paula, 49, got the boot from X factor Janet, 45, immediately put out the word that she wanted the gig. That infuriated Paula! Although Paula had insisted that she harbored no bad feelings about leaving the truth was that the former American Idol was ‘very very angry’ according to insiders.

Meanwhile the tension between the women dates back to 1983 when Janet accused Paula of being a homewrecker for dating her still-married brother, Jackie. The two had been best pals at the time, but the friendship collapsed when Paula, who was a cheerleader for the Lakers at the time, got caught in the middle of Jackie’s messy divorce.

“Janet felt responsible because it was through her friendship that Paula got to know Jackie,” explained the source. Jackie flipped for her right away and even told his family that he could see himself marrying her one day.

Things got murkier because there were rumors that Paula was dating some of the Laker players behind Jackie’s back. “The bottom line is Janet and the rest of the Jackson family thought Paula treated the Jackie pretty badly. They eventually kind of made up, but things were never the same between them.”

“Janet would give her eyeteeth to get hired by Simon Cowell, and she’s rumored to have been in discussions with the ‘X Factor’ producers for weeks,” continued the source. “But once Paula heard about Janet’s plan, it tore pen all the old wounds from the past. “Janet’s the last person she wants to see joining ‘The X Factor.’”

“Paula feels Janet is now the enemy and she’s very upset. And Janet feels she’s finally evening the score.”

Paula is definitely a better dancer than Janet though she doesn't get a lot of props for it. Janet is an excellent dancer though but the fact Paula was her choreographer says a lot. Madonna while a trained dancer but never really looks natural. As for their feud, Janet is shady. We all know this. Paula certainly isn't a saint though. Both of them relied heavily on good producers, visuals and they had industry connections. I would say talent wise they are equal since Janet at least can sing on-key and had better taste in music and fashion.

[quote] Madonna while a trained dancer but never really looks natural.

Like your grammar.

[quote] Meanwhile the tension between the women dates back to 1983 when Janet accused Paula of being a homewrecker for dating her still-married brother, Jackie.

That doesn't make any sense, Control was released in 1986. If this feud was so big, Janet would not have wanted Paula to be her choreographer.

[quote] I love Rush Rush!! People forget how big that song was. It was the song of the summer of 1991. T2 and Rush Rush are what I remember from that blissful summer of 1991.

I think about how big that song was and I can’t believe I haven’t heard it anywhere since that time. I had the cassingle. I remember when the video was brand new, I thought it was so weird that this “Keanu Reeves” guy got star billing at the beginning of it, like he was some big deal. I had never heard of him. I was 12.

[quote] I thought it was so weird that this “Keanu Reeves” guy got star billing at the beginning of it, like he was some big deal. I had never heard of him.

Keanu had already been in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" and "Parenthood" by that point, so he wasn't exactly an unknown. I'm surprised that Keanu agreed to the video. It seemed a little out of character for him. It would have made more sense if he'd appeared in a video for a rock or metal band.

Everything about "Rush Rush" was a little weird and risky. All of Paula's hits from her first album were upbeat dance numbers, accompanied by videos with heavy choreography. That was her stock in trade -- a great dancer but mediocre singer. Releasing a ballad as the first single for the next album -- accompanied by an elaborate video with acting but no dancing -- was a bold choice. It shouldn't have worked, yet somehow it did, and gave her another huge #1 hit.

R165 ignore vadgisils whack attempt to try and say that Janet and Paula had/have a feud. Janet and Paula are great friends, Paula just presented Janet with an award a couple of years ago and they’re always talking on social media. Boniva Brittle Bones is the one that can’t keep a friend in the industry to save her life, she’s one of the most despised people of all time.

I don't care what anyone says, Paula Abdul is awsome! I claim her as a fellow "Valley Girl" and part of LAKER NATION!

She will for Forever Be Our Girl. 💜💛💜💛

I think Rush, Rush worked because it was just a really beautiful song. And she sang it well.

Rush, Rush is a great song. Very beautiful and I love the violin arrangements. Paula released a ballad because all pop stars do at one point or another. Madonna had a lot of ballads like "Live to Tell" and Janet had some like "Let's Wait A While". Michael Jackson had "Liberian Girl". Tiffany had a lot of ballads too.

Why does Paula use a headset mic AND a handheld mic like in the clip R22 posted? I've seen videos of different performances she's gives over the years and she does this a lot. It's laughable but I guess she doesn't give any fucks. Still enjoy her though.

As has been posted above, Paula Abdul’s one-season reality show, “Hey Paula!” Was trainwreck TV of the highest order. Abdul seemed to be inebriated most of the time, and had at least one meltdown each episode. And yes, I also remember her hysterically railing that she was not appreciated as the GIFT she is! Wasn’t she also crawling around the floor of a chemistry lab while sampling scents for her cologne?

Madonna wrote ALL of her songs. Paula and Janet never wrote anything. All of their songs were created by a team of producers and songwriters and they just showed up to the studio and sang whatever was in front of them. They were not true artists like Madonna.

...and Madonna isn't a groundbreaking musical artist like David Bowie, Prince, James Brown, Joni Mitchell or Frank Zappa. She isn't a vocal artist like Tina Turner, Whitney, Adele or Mariah. Madonna is a commercial pop artist and a performance artist. Yeah, she's wrote and co-wrote a lot but she's not different from Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift who also write their material. They all are commercial artists too and make fun pop music. Madonna just had the advantage of being good at evolving her looks and choosing new sounds and choreography. But I really don't consider Madonna more talented or more artistic than Janet or Paula. They made up for being much better dancers than Madonna and selecting good material to work with. They are performance artists. Madonna's music sounded interesting but she never really broke any grounds with it, she just coopted a lot of alternative and underground sounds.

R45 huh?

Madonna was at her peak from 89-91, Paula's bedt years

Madonna's hits were Like a Prayer (world's #1 song of 1989), Express Yourself, Cherish, Keep it Together, Vogue (biggest selling single by a female artist if a time in 1990), Hanky Panky, Justify My Love and Rescue Me

Her Like a Prayer album sold 5 million in the Us, less than the 8 million FYG did but outsold it worldwide at 15 million compared to 13 million worldwide for FYG

Also both Like a Prayer and Vogue outsold every single Paula released in the US and worldwide

Then 1990 came the massive Blond Ambition Tour, then the release.of her greatest hits album, Immaculate Collection whuch became the biggest selling greatest hits album in history by a solo artist, then her 1991 doxumventary , Truth or Dare, which became the highest grossing documentary of all time

Paula had the SAME amount of top 10 hits in the US, 8, during that period but her international success was limited compared to Madonna's

Of course that was also ALL the hits Paula had, those 8 big hits from 89-91

Madonna pretty much had non stop hits from 1983-2008

Paula had a very Cyndi Lauper career, one HUGE alb, one successful album and then no longer commercially popular

Even by 1992, Paula took a rest, and Madonna continued to be relentless scoring another #1 with This Used to be my Playground and a top 5 (Erotica) and top 10 hits (Deeper and Deeper)

Then when Paula came back in 1995 and was now flopping on the charts, Madonna didn't let up we got 4 top 6 smashes (I'll Remember, Secret, the 7 weeks at #1 Take a Bow, and You'll See) in just 18 months and 2 more back to back multiplatinum albums

Wasn't Paula injured in a plane crash and part of the reason her third album was delayed which contributed to her career stalling?

Any DLers remember Paula Abdul’s TV movie, “Touched by Evil”, with Adrian Pasdar? I’ve never been able to forget it!

She was also used as a punch line on “Murphy Brown”’or “Cybill” around that time.

Classic!

[quote]Wasn't Paula injured in a plane crash and part of the reason her third album was delayed which contributed to her career stalling?

No, you're thinking of Gloria Estefan, and it was a bus crash. Gloria was bigger than Paula and Madonna at the time, but the crash all but put an end to her career.

No, Paula has talked about being in a plane crash. Her resulting injuries caused her to undergo numerous surgeries. It's why her career was sidelined. She didn't talk about it until either late during her Idol career or afterwards.

[quote] Gloria was bigger than Paula and Madonna at the time.

Uh, Gloria was never bigger than Madonna any time. She wasn't considered cool and MTV worthy and quickly morphed into listen-while-you-work music. Bland music at that. She had no it factor.

[quote] Gloria was bigger than Paula and Madonna at the time

LOL what nonsense. Gloria was never bigger than Madonna.

[quote] Madonna wrote ALL of her songs. Paula and Janet never wrote anything.

This isn't true. Madonna wrote the lyrics to MOST of her hits but not all of them. She didn't write Holiday, Like a Virgin or Material Girl for instance.

And Janet did wrote the lyrics to many of her hits as well.

Madonna was really the first big pop star to have a ballad as the lead single of an album. Successfully, at least. Nobody thought Live to Tell would work. Except her and Pat Leonard. It's crazy to think how influential that decision was

Wasn't Live to Tell more from the film At Close Range and then included on True Blue? It was released three months before the album came out, which is quite a while for a lead single.

R192, isn't that pretty normal? It was definitely the lead single from True Blue.

Live To Tell marked the beginning of Madonna's new era in 1986. The new look, a more mature sound with Live to Tell. One of her best decisions, and one of the reasons why she became the Queen of Pop. She was smart to lead True Blue with it because, while True Blue was mostly an upbeat album, LTT diversified her sound and was a bit darker than the rest of the album.

It's still pretty unheard of, for a pop single to have no singing until like 40 seconds into it. That was a very bold move. It's a shame Madonna has tunred into a joke because (to the general public and those who are younger) it is overshadowing her classic songs and albums.

R187, You're still thinking of Gloria Estefan. She was involved in a horrific bus accident that pretty much ended her career.

Gloria was bigger than Madonna at one time, and she is richer and more beloved than Madonna.

[quote]Gloria was bigger than Madonna at one time, and she is richer and more beloved than Madonna.

Maybe in Miami. Not anywhere else in the world.

This thread has turned to shit because old cunt Madonna always has to be brought up.🙄

This Gloria troll is as wet and soggy as one of Gloria's turgid ballads. Give it up.

R199, What is with your unnatural hatred of Gloria? All she's ever done is give people love.

NO female artist was bigger than Madonna from 1984-1992, the delusions of this thread are hilarious

Madonna had single albums that outsold the CAREERS of some of this so called big pop girls

Both Like a Virgin and then True Blue both became the biggest selling albums of all time by a female artist upon their release

In 1985, in the 30 year history of Billboard magazine, Madonna became the FIRST solo female artist to be named the top selling artist of the year, something Donna Summer, Streisand, Cher, Olivia Newton john etc never acheived

The ONLY female that gave her a run for her money was Whitney Houston, but due to substance abuse, Whitney's career petered out by the late 90s while Madonna's was still going strong

[quote] [R187], You're still thinking of Gloria Estefan. She was involved in a horrific bus accident that pretty much ended her career.

Paula Abdul was indeed in a plane crash (or at least claimed to be) in 1992

Gloria Estefan sold 75 million records worldwide

Madonna sold over 360 million records worldwide (Guinness Book of Records holder Biggest Selling Female Artist of All Time)

Gloria is worth $500 million

Madonna is worth between $850 million-$1.1 Billion

Unadjusted for inflation, Madonna's tours have grossed over 1.4 Billion at the box office, Gloria's have made a couple hundred million

Madonna still holds the record for highest grossing tour by a female artist of all time with her $408 million earning 2008-2009 tour

And don't get me wrong I actually like Gloria Estefan, but it's downright hilarious because she was never close to Madonna's popularity worldwide

In fact I specifically remember an interview with Gloria from the early 90s on VH1 I think after her bus crash and she herself says, "I look at Madonna and I like what she's doing but I would never want that kind of fame or media attention, I'm fine not being as big as Madonna"

From a UK perspective

1986 - Madonna 6 weeks at #1 with True Blue - best selling album of the year

1987 - Whitney 6 weeks at #1 with Whitney - third best selling album of the year

1988 - Kylie 6 weeks a #1 with Kylie - best selling album of the year

1989 - Gloria Estefan - 1 week at #1 with Anything For You, 6 weeks at #1 with Cuts Both Ways - 4th and 5th best selling albums of the year

1990 - Madonna 9 weeks at #1 with The Immaculate Collection - second best selling album of the year

1991 - Cher 6 weeks at #1 with Love Hurts - 9th best selling album of the year

1992 - Cher 4 weeks at #1 with Greatest Hits - 3rd best selling album of the year

Forever Your Girl spent 6 weeks in the top 10 and peaked at #3. Spellbound spent 2 weeks in the top 10 and peaked at #4. She had 3 top ten singles - Straight Up #3, Opposites Attract #2 and Rush Rush #6

you skipped Like a Virgin going to #1 in the UKi n 1985 and Like a a Prayer in 1989

Also Madonna was the biggest selling female artist in the UK for the 80s, 90s and 2000s, which is crazy when you think about it

That for three consecutive decades, she sold more than any other female

[quote]you skipped Like a Virgin going to #1 in the UKi n 1985 and Like a a Prayer in 1989

I also skipped Kylie's Enjoy Yourself (6th best selling album of 1989, which sold more than Like A Prayer (9th best selling album of 1989) behind Tina Turner's Foreign Affair (8th best selling album of 1989)

My point was to show the best selling album by the female artists of that year and how they dominated sales, something Paula Abdul never did in the UK.

Prior to 1989 the achievements are even more significant because the album charts were saturated with compilation albums.

Gloria Estefan, Cher, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, Aretha Franklin never had a US #1 album on the Billboard charts their entire careers

Streisand has 11 #1 albums, she released over 80. Madonna is next with 9 #1 albums out of 20 plus she released

Paula Abdul had 2 #1 albums (Forever Your Girl and Spellbound)

Could we please steer this thread back to the subject at hand?!

This is her crying after hearing she was rejected from the Bratz doll movie. I cannot stop laughing at this!

[quote]Also Madonna was the biggest selling female artist in the UK for the 80s, 90s and 2000s, which is crazy when you think about it

Rihanna has sold twice as much as Madonna in the UK. Adele is about to pass her with her upcoming album, and Ariana will pass her in the next couple years. Madonna will soon fall to #4 in the UK, just above Beyonce.

As of April 2021...

Highest-certified female artists of all-time in the UK across (Singles, Albums, features):

#1. Rihanna: 42,100,000

#2. Madonna: 28,200,000

#3. Adele: 27,100,000

#4. Beyoncé: 21,900,000

#5. Ariana Grande: 20,140,000

211 is the troll who thinks that streams/digital downloads are the same as physical sales. Next!

Rihanna, Adele, Ariana and Beyoncé are clearly more relevant and important right now than Madonna and have been for a while. Even if they don't match the physical sales that she had in her prime. Everyone streams and downloads now but it doesn't make Madonna relevant or well-liked anymore. That ship sailed a long time ago.

R212 we're talking PURE PHYSICAL album sales here

As for that tired overused word "relevant", if you're talking about her or posting about her on Datalounge, even negatively, that means she's "relevant", at least to you

And it doesn't change the STATISTICAL FACT that Madonna was #1 selling female in the UK for the 80s , again for the 90s (outselling Celine, Whitney, Kylie over there that decade) and the 2000-2009 decade (outselling Beyonce, Pink, Britney etc that decade)

As for her being liked? You don't get it, she ALWAYS purposely has been a controversial artist, she loves that she has a lot of haters, she's PURPOSELY cultivated that throughout her career, even at her peak she gad tons of haters, she gas never been universally loved and that's how she wants it. She loves being polarizing

The way women are pitched against each other - Whitney or Mariah, Paula or Janet, Taylor or Beyonce, The Bangles or The Go-Go's doesn't happen to male artists in anywhere near the same way.

Sure there were rivalries between the Beatles and Rolling Stones and Blur and Oasis but I don't remember Michael Jackson or Prince being constantly compared or Queen vs Genesis or Rod Stewart vs Elton John or George Michael vs Phil Collins.

Are The Weeknd and Ed Sheeran rivals? Or Demi Lovato and Sam Smith?

R215 I remember Madonna and Michael Jackson being pitted in the 80s and early 90s, especially when they were hanging together and were working on a song together

Every tabloid was, "The two biggest music stars in the world , together at last"

A lot of press Madonna got around 89-91 took digs at MJ and how Madonna had surpassed him for media attention

But please remember that MJ would disappear for years at a time, he was quiet from 89-late 91 when Dangerous came out

Madonna was on every magazine cover in the world those years and was releasing stuff nonstop and doing movies too

There was a quite a bit of Michael Jackson vs. Prince discussion in the mid 80s. But it's true it's generally the women who are pitted against each other.

Michael was also quiet from 84-87 when Madonna released like 30 songs.

R218 yeah

And get this, this is to point out how huge Madonna was, in 1990 Madonna appeared on more magazine covers than any living person that year, but she also appeared on more magazine covers in 1990 than any person whose ever lived in a single year, more than Presidents and other world leaders, more than Princess Di, more than Micheal Jackson during his Thriller era (83-84)

I see every generation has crazy stans. So many Madonna stans run DL and get offended when people point out her flaws and are indifferent to her. We know Madonna was huge in her prime but she isn't huge anymore to anyone but her fans. People under the age of 30 don't care about her. She's the best selling female artist only because of the time she was in her prime. If she debuted any period later then she would not be that high.

R220. that's not true at all. Madonna stans ADMIT to her shortcomings and many of them are the ones who are sick of her now! But we are huge fans of her past work and for how she changed music and pop culture. None of the women who came after her were nearly as influential.

R219, really? That's really amazing. It's also incredible how swiftly the Erotica/Sex book/Body of Evidence ended her peak period. But when I think about it, Mariah's breakdown in 2001 was actually much worse and pretty much killed her sales until 2005.

I really didn’t pay attention to “My Love is For Real”when it was out — hadn’t thought much of Paula Abdul during her heyday, so the prospect of a new album in 1995 meant nothing to me. But have to admit, listening to it now (thanks, DL!) it’s a good cut!

This brave soul took it upon himself to to watch every episode of “Hey Paula!” and provide an analysis of the series! Some of the clips are priceless. The show was clearly an attempt at image rehab by Abdul after years of loopy behavior, but it ended up showing her in a much worse light than planned.

R221 Madonna's popularity declined from 92-96 but she was still having multiplatinum selling albums (Erotica, Bedtime Stories, Something to Remember), her Girlie Show Tour set a record for the highest earning per date show by a female artist in 1993, she had tons of big hits from 92-96, This Used to be my Playground, Erotica, Deeper and Deeper, I'll Remember, Secret, Take a Bow, You'll See , Don't Cry For Me Argentina etc all top 10 hits in the US from that period

She was no longer THE dominant female global seller as she was from 84-92

Then Ray of Light turned everything around again and she was once again a global huge seller from 98-2006, except for the American Life album

I think her 1998-2006 period and three huge selling albums she had (Ray of Light, Music and Confessions on a Dancefloor) pretty much ended concern about Madonna's popularity, this was the period when she really left Whitney in the dust

R223, true. Whitney and Mariah's popularity reallly declined around 2000/2001. Whitney does so well on streaming now because she died. That's not to say she didn't have classic hits (she did) but prior to her death, she sold a tiny amount of digital singles but then she died and they exploded. Ditto with her youtube streams.

I revisited some of Paula's videos because of this thread. Straight Up and Cold Hearted are two of her best but are in serious need of an upgrade to HD or 4k or whatever would make them look more modern and cleaned up. They're both grainy to the point of distraction.

Arsenio Hall's scenes have been blurred out of Straight Up for some reason.

It's interesting that Whitney, Mariah, Barbra and Celine aren't among the Top 5 female artists in the UK. I also thought that Tina Turner was huge in the UK.

[quote][R223], true. Whitney and Mariah's popularity reallly declined around 2000/2001. Whitney does so well on streaming now because she died. That's not to say she didn't have classic hits (she did) but prior to her death, she sold a tiny amount of digital singles but then she died and they exploded. Ditto with her youtube streams.

Whitney's combination of her truly amazing voice and her reliance on songs by the greatest songwriters have meant that she's recorded songs seen as standards. I Wanna Dance With Somebody is a standard party classic and I Will Always Love You will be played at weddings and funerals.

R227, I agree. But for the record, I have always found I wanna Dance with Somebody massively overrated and there are so many Whitney songs that I feel are better. I'm kind of blown away by the fact that I Wanna Dance with Somebody is so popular on Spotify and is more popular than ANY of Madonna's songs.

[quote]It's interesting that Whitney, Mariah, Barbra and Celine aren't among the Top 5 female artists in the UK. I also thought that Tina Turner was huge in the UK.

They were all huge at certain points in their careers.

Celine was absolutely huge during The Colour Of My Love, Falling Into You and Let's Talk About Love. Think Twice wasn't a hit in the US but spent nearly 2 months at #1 in the UK.

Whitney was a huge star between Saving All My Love For You and The Bodyguard soundtrack.

Tina Turner was biggest between 1989 and 1991 - Foreign Affair was number 1 and her greatest hits was one of the best selling albums of the 90s.

Barbra's biggest year was 1980 with Woman In Love and the Guilty album.

As for Mariah, she had her biggest success with Music Box and Without You. She's nowhere near in the same league as the others, UK wise.

Mariah, in general, was never really popular in Europe except for Music Box. I thought that was interesting. Whitney is still loved in Europe compared to her. But both are very popular in East and Southeast Asia (Mariah moreso probably).

The biggest reason why Madonna became irrelevant was her refusal to promote her legacy. She still sees herself as a peer to young pop girls and will keep up her crazy antics which she could only get away with in her youth. Madonna has an excellent discography but she doesn't exploit it enough. Whitney's death revived her legacy and she had many classic singles. Mariah has a sense of humor about herself and embraces her flawed nature and Mariah isn't scared to cash in on her hits like that Christmas song. Madonna takes herself too seriously and is easily offended. She isn't fun anymore. Older ladies like Cher and Dolly are still fun. They are better regarded by the young generation. Betty White is a great example of cool older lady. Madonna could easily rescue her image if she stopped being a tryhard.

r231, agreed with you. As recently as 2010, Madonna was the third most googled female celebrity, ahead of people like Rihanna and Beyonce. That's impressive considering she didn't have any new music out at the time and she was like twice the age of her competitiors. It's been a long way down since then. Who cares about Madam X when you have songs like Holiday, Live to Tell, La Isla Bonita, Like a Prayer, Vogue, Frozen, etc. to listen to?

R232 but they whole point of Madame X was it was supposed to be a non commercial arty album

Even Madonna said it herself, that it's not for the masses but for her own artistic impulses

It debuted at #1 on the charts but fell quick...

Madonna released her first album 38 years ago and her most recent album 2 years ago

Kylie released her first album 33 years ago and her most recent album 1 year ago

Mariah released her first album 31 years ago and her most recent album 3 years ago

Celine released her first English language album 31 years ago and her most recent album 2 years ago

Janet released her first album 39 years ago and her most recent album 6 years ago

Mariah and Janet sell well in the US but not in Europe, Kylie sells well in Europe but not in the US. Celine and Madonna sell well in both.

R234 Madonna has sold well EVERYWHERE for most of her career before album sales i general went to shit

Huge in South America, Japan, Canada and Australia too

R235, the only continent I can think off where she wasn't popular would be (I think) Africa. I don't know if she was popular there or not. I think Whitney was popular there, hence her perfromance in South Africa decades ago.

It's natural Whitney would be popular in African countries. African-American artists sell extremely well in Subsaharan Africa. There was a huge outcry years ago over Beyoncé not touring in African countries. African-American artists are also very popular in Japan and South Korea.

R214, Madonna is the best seller for sure. But you can't discount digital and streams. It's all there is nowadays. Have to accept that change and the numbers that come as a result.

And R215, in addition to MJ v Prince, there was also Blur v Oasis (huge debate in the UK) and Nirvana v Pearl Jam (that was THE talk of my high school days), Jay Z v Kanye, Tupac v Biggie, Stone v Beatles is still debated. It might just be that you're more into female pop stars...

Hey, assholes....this thread is a PAULA ABDUL! So STFU & GTFO here with your Madonna, Janet, Marian, Celiene-shit!! There are many threads on DL about ALL those women. This one is about Paula Abdul. Leave us be.

Pebbles must have pissed when Paula stole her career.

TLC must have been pissed when Pebbled stole their career earnings.

Pebbles was a cunt. Didn't she stay good friends with Whitney? Another shady person Nippy attached herself to...

Pebbles pulled shady financial stunts on TLC and stole “Mercedes Boy” out under Vanessa Williams’s nose. She really seems to have been a piece of work.

Just read that Pebbles wrote Mercedes Boy. So she had every right to do whatever she wanted with it.

,,,,,,,,,,

Girlfriend was the song Pebbles stole from Vanessa Williams as she banged LA Reid to get it.

Someone needs to start a "Pebbles was a whore!! thread.

STILL makes me dance. Wasn't that what it was about?

Guessed that iI missed that it was supposed to be about something else.

Paula made me dance my ass off. I was sure wafer thin in those days & not from drugs. Dancing till everybody was soaking wet, laughing. So many great experiences w. a dance floor heaving w. folks having fun.

Thanks Paula!

Paula Abdul had a TORRID affair with John Stamos

Lucky bitch

R247 Hold our beer.

Just wanted to come back to this thread and wish Siouxsie Sioux a happy birthday!