I notice when the likes of Little Mix or their former members have chart entries forthcoming, the Friday New Releases thread seems to be 10 times longer than usual. When Kylie had Padam Padam out, the level of religious devotion to her weekly chart placings and associated traffic on these pages was unreal here. Similarly with other female or "diva" artists and girl groups like Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Mariah etc etc. I don't see that level of traffic when Teddy Swims, Drake, Sam Fender, Fontaine DC, Hozier, The Weeknd or any other number of widely popular or successful male solo or group artists have upcoming or current chart hits.

Just curious as to whether there is a correlation between being particularly interested in chart statistics, facts and figures and female solo/group artists? Is it the same reason the aforementioned female artists are likely to have stan followers that doesnt appear as prevelant for those male artists?

I know it's a bit of a generalisation but a large percentage of the Buzzjack membership is gay and a lot of gay guys stan pop girls. That only accounts for part of it though so I'm sure someone can offer a better/more accurate answer than that!

Well i stan both ed sheeran and taylor swift but I cant talk to myself 🤣

It’s simple really…

Women are just better and more interesting at being popstars tbh.

at pop, it's definitely true

at indie, alt, singer-songwriter, rock there are both great male and female artists

1 hour ago, Tafty said:

It’s simple really…

Women are just better and more interesting at being popstars tbh.

This is definitely a key point - male popstars rarely deliver performances on the level of female popstars, with such attention to choreography, fashion and star quality. There's a lot more to get excited about with female popstars typically speaking!

It comes from the same sort of line of thinking as stan Twitter does. Stereotypes do play into it, gays are known for gravitating towards female popstars, and I think the girls and gays are more likely to really invest in popstars and be less casual about their music interests (obviously not a blanket thing but speaking generally!).

The AFs definitely attract certain types of fans too, it's no wonder we have so many Kylie, Girls Aloud, Little Mix, etc fans when we have dedicated sections for them!

1 hour ago, Tafty said:

It’s simple really…

Women are just better and more interesting at being popstars tbh.

Yeah still waiting for Ed sheeran to have an AOMD like performance 🤣

20 hours ago, 777666jason said:

Yeah still waiting for Ed sheeran to have an AOMD like performance 🤣

Even if he did, artists like him fall into the "cool to dislike" category.

I'm a straight male and I've never known any other straight men in my life that have had an interest in pop music.

To put it simply, woman are just better on all levels.

It's like everything though, women have more expected of them than men so naturally they're going to give more in their music careers, they have to present themselves as a full package, singing, dancing, stage presence, social media promo, fashion etc, you never really hear the term "triple threat" applied to men for a reason. Men in pop music can get away with standing on a stage and giving the bare minimum, they can have a good voice and call it a day. The bigger pop guys usually get by on collabs as well.

It's been mentioned but I do genuinely think sexuality does have a lot to do with it. Men used to be marketed towards young girls to the point it didn't even matter if they were talented if their looks could carry them (just look at 00s boybands). Women were marketed that way towards guys as well but not to the same degree so they actually have to be able to sing, dance and perform as well. Gay people just have better taste in pop music a lot of the time so will value actual talent, they can find things that resonate with them through pop girls than they can with an average guy and a guitar. I definitely enjoy pop music a lot more now than I did when I was in my teenage years and I think it's just because I embrace the fun of it, I like the theatrics and the drama that comes with it a lot of the time.

Lindsey can't say something wrong.

Possibly it's best comment, which I read on Buzzjack.

Edited September 10Sep 10 by Last Dreamer

2 hours ago, Hassaan said:

Even if he did, artists like him fall into the "cool to dislike" category.

I'm a straight male and I've never known any other straight men in my life that have had an interest in pop music.

That seems hard to believe that straight men would have no interest in pop music. Is it a case that many wouldn't admit to it because of it being more widely associated as appealing to girls or gay men? Isn't Alex Warren's Ordinary a pop song? Isn't Hozier's Too Sweet a pop song? Noah Kahan's Stick Season was a pop song too although all 3 examples could fall under other genres too. I can't imagine straight men generally taking a dislike to those songs just because they are pop. Michael Jackson was the King of Pop and millions of straight men consumed his music back in the day (and still do).

I think pop music is more than just boyband/girl band or Sabrina Carpenter type music...

3 minutes ago, Ongarboy said:

That seems hard to believe that straight men would have no interest in pop music.

I'm straight men. Just watch my charts, they don't have any songs from male singers or male groups.

I think if you look across Buzzjack’s whole regular membership there’s huge diversity of taste, both pop and alternative, male and female.

The phenomenon known as “stanning” which leads to threads that are 10s of pages long and often slightly fractious does tend to be reserved for female pop stars.

But actually you’ll see a lot of people doing this aren’t very regular members and are just popping up for a particular event - as I say the regular membership is much more balanced and measured.

21 minutes ago, Ongarboy said:

That seems hard to believe that straight men would have no interest in pop music. Is it a case that many wouldn't admit to it because of it being more widely associated as appealing to girls or gay men? Isn't Alex Warren's Ordinary a pop song? Isn't Hozier's Too Sweet a pop song? Noah Kahan's Stick Season was a pop song too although all 3 examples could fall under other genres too. I can't imagine straight men generally taking a dislike to those songs just because they are pop. Michael Jackson was the King of Pop and millions of straight men consumed his music back in the day (and still do).

I think pop music is more than just boyband/girl band or Sabrina Carpenter type music...

In my defence, I didn't say that. I said that the ones I've surrounded myself with do not.

But then I'm also from an ethnic minority background so music (certainly Western pop) is not really something people from my background tend to engage in.

48 minutes ago, Julian_ said:

I think if you look across Buzzjack’s whole regular membership there’s huge diversity of taste, both pop and alternative, male and female.

The phenomenon known as “stanning” which leads to threads that are 10s of pages long and often slightly fractious does tend to be reserved for female pop stars.

But actually you’ll see a lot of people doing this aren’t very regular members and are just popping up for a particular event - as I say the regular membership is much more balanced and measured.

Good points! And I'll probably prove your latter paragraph from tomorrow onwards as Whitney Houston(of which I'm a massive fan) has a new Callum Scott collaboration out tomorrow that reimagines I Wanna Dance With Somebody and I will be following the charts religiously to see where the song lands! 🙏 😂

Tbf I think a lot of straight men have the view that pop music is beneath them in a sense, kinda like when you're growing up and it's not cool to like the things the majority of others do. My male friends are all queer and pop music is something we share interest in even if it's not the same artists. A large part of gay culture is pop music, especially in a nostalgic sense - you go to a gay club or bar that's the sort of music they'll likely be playing, maybe that's why I find comfort in it now in comparison to when I was younger. I find it's country and rap music a lot of the straight guys in my life are into, sometimes it's rock and emo-esque stuff too. One of them asked me what the pink pony club was in terms of Chappell Roan and he didn't understand it at all when I was trying to explain that it's about the queer experience 😂 honestly, just leave them alone we don't need them, they can have Ed Sheeran and Post Malone x

Maybe being autistic plays a part in it - for me anyway. There's a lot of "mainstream" things I've liked over the years that would not be deemed cool. I've never been particularly bothered, even while having the odd comment at school about me being a One Direction fan.

I suppose the older you get, the less you care about that sort of thing.

Edited September 10Sep 10 by Hassaan

Here's the answer:

2 hours ago, Lindsey. said:

Tbf I think a lot of straight men have the view that pop music is beneath them in a sense, kinda like when you're growing up and it's not cool to like the things the majority of others do. My male friends are all queer and pop music is something we share interest in even if it's not the same artists. A large part of gay culture is pop music, especially in a nostalgic sense - you go to a gay club or bar that's the sort of music they'll likely be playing, maybe that's why I find comfort in it now in comparison to when I was younger. I find it's country and rap music a lot of the straight guys in my life are into, sometimes it's rock and emo-esque stuff too. One of them asked me what the pink pony club was in terms of Chappell Roan and he didn't understand it at all when I was trying to explain that it's about the queer experience 😂 honestly, just leave them alone we don't need them, they can have Ed Sheeran and Post Malone x

People are just into different things which is a good thing, im a straight man and I love all sorts of different types of music if you see my personal chart. Generally I really dislike country and basic pop like Westlife or Boyzone. I love indie/punk/Rnb style artists like Tyler the Creator and Childish Gambino. Also really love a rock or indie band with a female singer for some reason, I have a new fav every year.

Edited September 11Sep 11 by Steve201

I think you'd be surprised how many straight men actually do like pop girls / girl band's they'd just never admit to it! Trust me at Uni loads of the LAD LADS in my flat/accommodation (8 of us) I'd catch them singing along having a moment. Obviously not to stan level but I do think it's like most of society things are frowned upon and deemed less 'masculine' therefore most guys feel a pressure to not like it or at least openly admit to liking a few pop songs. Even builders yards / workmen have the radio on and will happily sing / hum along to the likes of Kylie haha!

I actually saw a comment on Banquet's post about a straight couple who are rock/metal fans that are going to Jade! They openly said sometimes they like a bit of light hearted pop music and have been to Taylor and have a good time just being happy and singing along which I thought was beyond refreshing.

However, Back to the point I do think it's just stanning that takes over. Gay's in particular really do STAN hard so it's generally just more noticeable than someone saying I'm hoping that XYZ does well this week it's a great album..

Edited September 11Sep 11 by Mr. C. Joel