The Men of Pop Are Pissing Me Off Again

Between Justin Bieber returning from a three-plus-year hiatus with a *stripped* performance at The Grammys and Harry Styles rolling out an ungodly expensive “residency” at Madison Square Garden, I am fit to be tied over the disparity of work ethic between our male and female pop stars.

Both men have spent the better part of the 2020s in intentional obscurity. We only see Justin fighting with paparazzi (or his wife) on the streets of LA or NYC and Harry can usually be found on a Parisian rendezvous with a racially ambiguous actress. But lately our little recluses have begun to emerge from the shadows and count on their rabid female fanbases to give them a nice windfall of cash. With these two, their fan loyalty is always guaranteed, assumed, and never requires re-earning.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Grammys executive producer Ben Winston claimed that Justin only rehearsed for 15 minutes and speculated that he hadn’t chosen his wardrobe until right before he was about to walk out on stage. Charming.

However, their female counterparts are not allowed hide. Take Chappell Roan, who has been vocal about her discomfort with her newfound fame, continues to slowly drip out new music as she works on her next album. Despite only having released one album as Chappell Roan, she put together her own mini festival that visited three cities for several nights where she sang nearly her entire discography for hundreds of thousands of fans.

Charli xcx has managed to extend Brat Summer for a full 18 months, putting a bow on the era with her mockumentary “The Moment,” which just debuted at Sundance. In addition to “The Moment,” she recorded an album for the upcoming film “Wuthering Heights.” Sabrina released two Grammy-nominated albums in two years, touring all the while.

In addition to The Grind, the girlies are consistently reinventing themselves sonically and visually. They leverage fashion, album artwork, and distinct sounds to distinguish each ‘era’ from the next. Meanwhile, all the male acts look like clones of each other. They have the same haircut, the same stupid sequined set, and a mustache that signals bisexuality.

This isn’t exclusive to pop music either. The same can be said for rap – simply none of the men are doing it like Megan or Cardi. Country was perhaps the first genre to suffer from Lazy Man Syndrome.

While the music industry is completely sustained by women’s consistent, groundbreaking efforts, the men coast on legacy and the female fans who have been funding their lives since puberty.

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Note: I had a similar conversation on Threads after Timothee Chalamet beat out Michael B. Jordan at the Critic’s Choice Awards.