I don't watch much television or listen to the radio, so I have no idea about what's going on in the world of popular music right now up on the surface. I've dug myself a hole to live in and furnished it in only what I deem positive for my mental health. All I know of that's going on up there are a few things that are abhorrent enough to circulate back to me through the sources I rely on (I'm not gonna name names; that's unnecessary and beside my point).

I was just on YouTube revisiting the years of my mom's aggressive pop CDs when we moved into the townhouse after my dad's death, and a question struck me in the middle of Pink's "Family Portrait". Who are the female role models now in pop music? Is there anyone left up there demonstrating that music that makes you feel or think in some way doesn't have to come from an all male indie-pop group or acoustic solo artist? I feel like we're losing so many potential great intellects to mind erasing conditioning. I'm not a very sympathetic or altruistic person, but I like art, and art comes from people, so I've got to be concerned here at some point.

The last time I surfaced to check things out, for female figures, we were still stuck in the mindset of strong sexuality being linked with the strong individual. Women who knew they were adored by men and could use them were the stars of the show (faux feminist double standards, hooray). If you wanted something a little less sexual, you could listen to the acoustic or electro songs about if he leaves me I'll just die, or he left me and I'm just going to die, etc.. It seems like for a little while, though, we had a handful of icons who had a certain fancy to express themselves in notable ways time and again. Pink, for example, at least made an effort to do something expressive and different sandwiched between her standard stuff. I think for mass-produced pop music (which obviously can't be too enlightening as a rule), she went a good deal more than business-necessary over the ever lowering bar. That's cool enough in my book of low expectations.

My question is (to whoever reads my driveling, brain vomit here), who is doing this now? Is there anyone? Are we going backwards up there on the surface still? And I'm talking about the top of the charts pop music deal, like Christina Aguilera performing "Beautiful" (I say performing because she did not write the song), not the good things from respectable people that leak their way in. You gotta help me out, because I'm stuck down here. I threw away my latter to peek out on my own years ago out of disillusionment. I don't want to come up, just want a visual of the war-field. (;