Jasia Maldonado Mrs.

Fuentes English 1102 March 17th 2014 Pop Music in Todays Society Everyone thinks that this generation is going down the drain because of everything it is exposed to. Weed is becoming legal in some states, gay marriage is becoming legal, and even the type of music we listen to is changing. Some of these changes are for the best, such as advancements in technology, and other changes are corrupting the minds of the younger generation. Pop culture in the Western culture is the entirety of ideas, perspective, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that is preferred due to the emerging global mainstream which is heavily influenced by mass media in the late 20th and early 21st century. The topic I chose to discuss is pop music. The problem I have with pop music is how much money artists get paid, the lack of talent, and how artists become drug addicts. It irritates me more than most how much pop singers get paid for their entertainment. Miley Cyruss net worth is $150 million dollars. What does she do exactly? She gets up on stage half naked, sings her song and walks off. A doctor, on the other hand, goes to college for four years to get their undergrad, then he/she must pass the MCAT which is required for medical school. If he/she gets accepted into medical school, the program typically lasts another four years. Doctors who have gone through 8 years of schooling get paid an extremely low amount compared to pop singers. Family and general practitioners earn a mean annual salary of $180,850 and

general practitioners that find employment in a medical laboratory make the most which is around $238,270. It appalls me that doctors who save lives dont make even a third of what a performer does. The question still stands how come performers make so much money? The answer is simple. It all comes down to the people who choose to engage in this entertainment. A singer will be smart enough to create a jingle that gets stuck in peoples head and then literally their song ends up becoming number 1 on the radio. All these performers then end up having their own clothing line which drags money into their salary. The problem is that society is what generates this. People fall under a performers spell and buy the merchandise they created which is absurd because they are famous for doing nothing. I will give credit to those who actually have talent and earn their money the right way but others disgust me because its unfair to those people who actually have gone to school to earn a living and they dont make the amount they should. One might think that in order to become a famous singer you would need a natural talent or the ability to sing. In most cases, however, this is not true. T-Pain is known for auto tuning most of his songs. This to me shows that he doesnt have enough talent to perform on his own. In other cases, the music industry changes its members. Katy Perry, who was born and raised in a Christian environment, has changed the most out of every performer in my opinion. She was raised conservative, singing Christian songs with her family in church and now days shes half naked performing on stage with her private areas hanging out. The music industry changes the performers into making them look like what society wants them to look like. Whatever label company the pop singer signs with gives him/her a voice coach to make their voice sound the way it

should. Pop singers also get their own make-up artists, dress consultant, and assistant to keep them on track according to their personal schedule. Every time he/she is up on stage, they are all done up because thats what society wants to see and thats what it pays for. Katy Perry in fact had an embarrassing moment and was caught lip syncing on French television. She lip synced very badly to the point where the shows host stopped the performance and asked her to start over and sing it for real. It is proven that most singers lip sync because they dont feel confident singing it live. What I dont understand is, isnt that what people go to concerts for? People go to concerts to see a singer perform live so that it feels real rather than listening to them on the radio. Society knows that artists do this, yet they will still pay $150 to go to a Beyonc concert just to watch her lip sync. Pop music has another flaw with its industry. It builds artists into the rich and famous, but this new generation of pop singers has a short career time. After their career ends, some artists fall under drugs. Examples of this are Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen. They both had been through stardom from being on TV to having their own songs. After their career ended, they both became big into drugs. Lindsay Lohan has gone to jail for drugs and has been arrested countless times. The sad thing is that this gets so much publicity even though its bad publicity. These pop singers are supposed to be role models for the younger generation but in fact young adults shouldnt consider these role models at all because they arent doing anything to build a better society for America. They build stereotypes for little girls who think they should wear revealing clothing, a pound of make-up, and be as skinny as a pencil. It is

corrupting society into thinking girls should look a certain way when in fact the singers dont even really look like that. So, what is fueling pop music to be this way? The answer is simply society and money. Citizens pay for this type of entertainment even if it is all fake and the industry makes millions of dollars while doing so. I have a big problem with this industry because they make too much money for the little bit of work that they do. I believe that if society was to cut off all ties with the music industry then pop singers wouldnt be looked so highly upon. In my opinion, people need to focus on the more important things in life such as going to school and getting a job rather than why Justin Bieber got arrested. Maybe this could stop all of the negative effects it has on young adults.

Works Cited "30 Famous Actors and Actresses Who Have Battled Drug Addiction and Alcoholism." Coalition Against Drug Abuse. Drug Abuse. Web. 28 Jan 2014. Lawson, Richard. "The Hollywood Blog." Katy Perry Was Caught Lip Syncing and Shamed Into Singing for Real. Vanity Fair, 13 Dec 2013. Web. 28 Jan 2014. "Access 2 Knowledge ." How Much Does a Doctor Make?. N.p., 7 Sep 2013. Web. 28 Jan 2014. "Miley Cyrus Net Worth." Celebrity Net Worth . N.p.. Web. 28 Jan 2014. Greenwood, Beth. "Chron." How Long Does it Take to Become a Doctor in the U.S.?. Hearst Newspapers, LLC. Web. 28 Jan 2014. "Popular Culture." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Mar. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.