Songs about (female) celebrity?
November 6, 2012 6:17 AM Subscribe
SongFilter: Songs by female artists about celebrity, being a female star?
I'm starting to compile a list of songs, ideally written / performed by female musicians,* about being a (female) celebrity.
I'm focussed on relatively recent music, say post-1990, but suggestions of material before 1990 also welcome.
So far, I've got:
- Alanis Morrisette - Celebrity
- Pink - Stupid Girls
- Pink - Don't Let Me Get Me [particularly video with image of "perfect female celebrity" stick figure on chalkboard at roughly 01:10-13]
- Marina and the Diamonds - Teen Idle
- Marina and the Diamonds - Primadonna
- Britney Spears - Piece of Me
- Ashlee Simpson - Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) [particularly the video with people with cameras as heads; she's strapped down with what looks like audio cable at one point]
- Paula Cole - Where Have all the Cowboys Gone? [tangential, about yearning for the "celebrity" figures of Malboro Man, etc.]
- potentially various Dolly Parton songs about her own celebrity / good fortune, including Jesus and Gravity [in which she attributes her success to, you guessed it, Jesus and gravity]
* Songs by male musicians on the same topic also welcome for alternative perspectives. I've got, e.g. Eef Barzelay's "Balad of Bitter Honey".
[Note: all links go to YouTube videos of songs.]
Thanks in advance!
I'm starting to compile a list of songs, ideally written / performed by female musicians,* about being a (female) celebrity.
I'm focussed on relatively recent music, say post-1990, but suggestions of material before 1990 also welcome.
So far, I've got:
- Alanis Morrisette - Celebrity
- Pink - Stupid Girls
- Pink - Don't Let Me Get Me [particularly video with image of "perfect female celebrity" stick figure on chalkboard at roughly 01:10-13]
- Marina and the Diamonds - Teen Idle
- Marina and the Diamonds - Primadonna
- Britney Spears - Piece of Me
- Ashlee Simpson - Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) [particularly the video with people with cameras as heads; she's strapped down with what looks like audio cable at one point]
- Paula Cole - Where Have all the Cowboys Gone? [tangential, about yearning for the "celebrity" figures of Malboro Man, etc.]
- potentially various Dolly Parton songs about her own celebrity / good fortune, including Jesus and Gravity [in which she attributes her success to, you guessed it, Jesus and gravity]
* Songs by male musicians on the same topic also welcome for alternative perspectives. I've got, e.g. Eef Barzelay's "Balad of Bitter Honey".
[Note: all links go to YouTube videos of songs.]
Thanks in advance!
The bulk of Lady Gaga's first two albums - The Fame and The Fame Monster - deal with this topic.
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:22 AM on November 6, 2012
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:22 AM on November 6, 2012
Also from a drag perspective, a great many of RuPaul's songs are about being famous.
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:28 AM on November 6, 2012
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:28 AM on November 6, 2012
On the male artist front:
Nine inch Nails - Starfuckers Inc.
Tool - Hooker with a Penis
Female Artist:
Fugees - Some Seek Stardom
posted by bfranklin at 6:36 AM on November 6, 2012
Nine inch Nails - Starfuckers Inc.
Tool - Hooker with a Penis
Female Artist:
Fugees - Some Seek Stardom
posted by bfranklin at 6:36 AM on November 6, 2012
Also Britney - Lucky
posted by ClarissaWAM at 6:55 AM on November 6, 2012
posted by ClarissaWAM at 6:55 AM on November 6, 2012
Lily Allen - The Fear
posted by easternblot at 7:04 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by easternblot at 7:04 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
Dessa, Dixon's Girl.
Haven't met so many women in this business that I really like,
But you can hold a little liquor, you can hold the conversation
You can hold your own mic, and,
Even that night, I learned the truth about your man:
You've gotta be big to treat pretty girls bad.
posted by PussKillian at 7:13 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
Haven't met so many women in this business that I really like,
But you can hold a little liquor, you can hold the conversation
You can hold your own mic, and,
Even that night, I learned the truth about your man:
You've gotta be big to treat pretty girls bad.
posted by PussKillian at 7:13 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
Lindsay Lohan - Rumors
Like much of Lohan's early career, that first album was awesome pop... sigh...
posted by yellowbinder at 7:16 AM on November 6, 2012
Like much of Lohan's early career, that first album was awesome pop... sigh...
posted by yellowbinder at 7:16 AM on November 6, 2012
Also, Ani DiFranco: The Million that You Never Made, Napolean.
posted by mibo at 7:17 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by mibo at 7:17 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
Freakshow by Ani Difranco is more about touring, I think, but it's kinda the same thing.
Ani Difranco Freakshow.
posted by zzazazz at 7:50 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
Ani Difranco Freakshow.
posted by zzazazz at 7:50 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
Ani DiFranco again - "Little Plastic Castle", and "Swan Dive" both allude to this.
posted by Coatlicue at 7:51 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Coatlicue at 7:51 AM on November 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
Sugarland - Baby Girl, about the road to celebrity
Taylor Swift - Mean touches a little bit on this (Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me/And all you're ever gonna be is mean)
on the male side:
Toby Keith - How Do You Like Me Now
Brad Paisley - Celebrity
posted by specialagentwebb at 7:59 AM on November 6, 2012
Taylor Swift - Mean touches a little bit on this (Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me/And all you're ever gonna be is mean)
on the male side:
Toby Keith - How Do You Like Me Now
Brad Paisley - Celebrity
posted by specialagentwebb at 7:59 AM on November 6, 2012
A few others:
Tori Amos, "Curtain Call"
Hole, "Awful"
Courtney Love, "Sunset Strip"
Lana Del Rey, "Without You" and "Radio"
posted by Coatlicue at 8:09 AM on November 6, 2012
Tori Amos, "Curtain Call"
Hole, "Awful"
Courtney Love, "Sunset Strip"
Lana Del Rey, "Without You" and "Radio"
posted by Coatlicue at 8:09 AM on November 6, 2012
Not recent, but I think Joni's For the Roses is the best song of this type.
I guess I seem ungrateful
With my teeth sunk in the hand
That brings me things
I really can't give up just yet
Now I sit up here
The critic!
And they introduce some band
But they seem so much confetti
Looking at them on my TV set
Oh the power and the glory
Just when you're getting a taste for worship
They start bringing out the hammers
And the boards
And the nails
posted by mykescipark at 8:22 AM on November 6, 2012
I guess I seem ungrateful
With my teeth sunk in the hand
That brings me things
I really can't give up just yet
Now I sit up here
The critic!
And they introduce some band
But they seem so much confetti
Looking at them on my TV set
Oh the power and the glory
Just when you're getting a taste for worship
They start bringing out the hammers
And the boards
And the nails
posted by mykescipark at 8:22 AM on November 6, 2012
Old, but Joni Mitchell wrote a ton of these. Try Free Man in Paris (Lyrics link)
posted by rocket88 at 9:20 AM on November 6, 2012
posted by rocket88 at 9:20 AM on November 6, 2012
Liz Phair - Shitloads of Money
Alanis Morrisette - UR
posted by backwards guitar at 9:29 AM on November 6, 2012
Alanis Morrisette - UR
posted by backwards guitar at 9:29 AM on November 6, 2012
I was going to recommend Free Man in Paris by Joni Mitchell as well. She uses a male character's voice to talk about the workings of the music industry, "the star-maker machinery behind the popular song."
In a totally different direction, Santigold has a couple of "fame songs" on her new album Master of My Make Believe, especially "Go" and "Look at these Hoes", which both give an aggressive female approach to the hip-hop trope of a successful person putting down less successful people who are jealous of his/her success.
posted by matildaben at 9:49 AM on November 6, 2012
In a totally different direction, Santigold has a couple of "fame songs" on her new album Master of My Make Believe, especially "Go" and "Look at these Hoes", which both give an aggressive female approach to the hip-hop trope of a successful person putting down less successful people who are jealous of his/her success.
posted by matildaben at 9:49 AM on November 6, 2012
Kathleen Edwards — "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory"
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:18 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:18 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
Possession by Sarah McLachlan. She was being stalked by a "fan".
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 10:31 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 10:31 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
"He thinks I just became famous
And that's what messed me up
But he's wrong..."
Sinéad O'Connor -- The Emperor's New Clothes
"Baby, see how I been living
Velvet curtains on the windows to
Keep the bright and unforgiving
Light from shining through
Come to my world and witness
The way things have changed
'Cause I finally did it, baby
I got out of La Grange
I been tryin' to enjoy all the fruits of my labor
I been cryin' for you boy but truth is my savior
Baby, sweet baby if it's all the same
Take the glory any day over the fame"
Lucinda Williams - Fruits of my Labor
posted by mrmarley at 11:06 AM on November 6, 2012
And that's what messed me up
But he's wrong..."
Sinéad O'Connor -- The Emperor's New Clothes
"Baby, see how I been living
Velvet curtains on the windows to
Keep the bright and unforgiving
Light from shining through
Come to my world and witness
The way things have changed
'Cause I finally did it, baby
I got out of La Grange
I been tryin' to enjoy all the fruits of my labor
I been cryin' for you boy but truth is my savior
Baby, sweet baby if it's all the same
Take the glory any day over the fame"
Lucinda Williams - Fruits of my Labor
posted by mrmarley at 11:06 AM on November 6, 2012
Fergie - Glamorous - which is mostly about how awesome it is to be rich and famous (but she still keeps it real).
On the male side, all you need is George Michael - Freedom '90
posted by nooneyouknow at 11:14 AM on November 6, 2012
On the male side, all you need is George Michael - Freedom '90
posted by nooneyouknow at 11:14 AM on November 6, 2012
Males singing about female celebrity — Genesis - Duchess
posted by eafarris at 11:27 AM on November 6, 2012
posted by eafarris at 11:27 AM on November 6, 2012
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Fake Friends (from 1983) (featuring the astonishing moment when Joan-Freaking-Jett uses the word "sycophant" in a song)
posted by SuperSquirrel at 5:08 PM on November 6, 2012
posted by SuperSquirrel at 5:08 PM on November 6, 2012
"Hard to Be a Husband / Hard to Be a Wife," cowritten/performed in 2000 by Chely Wright and Brad Paisley; they began dating for a while soon after.
Great song, but subsequently Hilarious In Hindsight: less than a year later Paisley started dating Kimberly Williams and in 2003 they married, and in 2010 Wright came out as a lesbian; she was already in closeted relationship with a woman when she wrote the song with (and had an affair with) Paisley. Country music drama!
posted by nicebookrack at 10:32 AM on November 7, 2012
Great song, but subsequently Hilarious In Hindsight: less than a year later Paisley started dating Kimberly Williams and in 2003 they married, and in 2010 Wright came out as a lesbian; she was already in closeted relationship with a woman when she wrote the song with (and had an affair with) Paisley. Country music drama!
posted by nicebookrack at 10:32 AM on November 7, 2012
If you'll take musicians talking about different kinds of celebrity, "The Luckiest Girl in the World" by Swan Dive (male/female duo) is about Princess Diana:
Behind your downcast eyes there's still a sign
Of that teenage sparkle that you had
And you have grown too wise at twenty-nine
But something moves beyond the palace walls
posted by nicebookrack at 10:59 AM on November 7, 2012
Behind your downcast eyes there's still a sign
Of that teenage sparkle that you had
And you have grown too wise at twenty-nine
But something moves beyond the palace walls
posted by nicebookrack at 10:59 AM on November 7, 2012
Nerina Pallot's Watch Out Billie (about Billie Piper, then a teenage pop star)
posted by Catseye at 2:21 PM on November 7, 2012
posted by Catseye at 2:21 PM on November 7, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Perplexity at 6:21 AM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]