at 18:14 on December 8, 2006, EST.
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY

NEW YORK (AP) - Just a few years ago, when teens dominated the pop charts, to be a singer of a more senior age - say, about 30 - was something to be downplayed or outright omitted on one's musical resume.

Indeed, as the likes of 'N Sync, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera posted hit after hit and sold millions and millions of albums, the most coveted part of a performer's act seemed to be his or her youth.

But these days, Justin Timberlake has graduated from 'N Sync to sexy adult club tracks, Aguilera is a married woman singing mature ballads and it no longer seems necessary to shave a few years off your age. While teen acts like JoJo, Rihanna and Chris Brown are still creating hits, they are no longer ruling the marketplace. Most of this year's top-selling artists were in their 20s or 30s, like Gnarls Barkley, Mary J. Blige, James Blunt, Nelly Furtado and Shakira. And oldsters like 60-year-old Barry Manilow and 65-year-old Bob Dylan also had strong sales.

"There has been more product that was clearly adult for the last five to ten years," says Sean Ross, vice president of music and programming at Edison Media Research, which tracks radio trends.

"Thirty-five-year olds are going to a point where rap is OK and 18-year-olds want more mellow music. ... It's more like there's nothing galvanizing in the centre and that lets everybody see what's in the fringes."

Still, there may be the rumblings of a teen craze on the horizon. The year's biggest-selling album was the soundtrack to the Disney TV movie "High School Musical," although it was aimed at the tween set. And a graduate from that film, Vanessa Hudgens, is having some success on radio with her solo debut.

In addition, while there have been no monster albums from teens this year, there have been other radio successes with acts like 16-year-old singer Paula DeAnda ("Doing Too Much"), 15-year-old rappers Jibbs ("Chain Hang Low"), and 15-year-old JoJo, whose ballad "Too Little Too Late," was a top five Billboard pop hit.

"I think a lot of times it's been older people, but now the teenage group, the younger group, it's very youthful now," said DeAnda. "There's hot new artists out there. ... It's a real big year for us."

"I think it's kind of happening," JoJo said of a possible teen resurgence on the charts. "But I don't think it's in the same way that it happened maybe seven years ago with the boy bands and Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera."

Back then, acts like Spears and Aguilera made blockbuster albums that sold millions of copies apiece during a music-industry boom.

But as the acts grew older along with the teens that once worshipped them, the craze began to fade, along with the decline of the music industry with the advent of Internet downloading.

"Teen stuff continues to sell, it's always going to sell, (but) it's not a craze like it (was)," says Rick Krim, executive vice president of music and talent relations at VH1. "I think a lot of the teen music tends to be disposable, and it's not the kind of music that stays with you for your lifetime."

A recent survey from the Recording Industry Association of America showed that from 1996 to 2005, the number of 15-to 19-year-olds purchasing music declined from 17.2 per cent of music buyers to 11.9 per cent. The percentage of buyers in the age groups between 20 and 44 either declined very slightly or remained about steady, but the biggest leap was in the over-45 group: They now represent 25.5 per cent of music buyers, up from 15.1 per cent in 1996.

Even though Manilow and Dylan had No. 1 debuts with their albums this year, it's not as if pop is no longer a music that appeals to the youth. After all, one of its biggest sensations, Beyonce, is a certified veteran at age 25.

But her boyfriend, 37-year-old Jay-Z, had one of the biggest sales debuts of the year with his album, "Kingdom Come." On it, he talks about being mature and seasoned and even has a song, "30 Something," bragging about his elder status.

"When you're 50-years-old, you still love hip-hop but you just can't relate to the music any more because the people making it as they grow, they're still trying to cater to a younger audience," he said in a recent interview. "I just felt it was very important for me to make a grown-up album and that's the tone of it, the whole album."'

Jay-Z isn't ruling out selling to the kids either. And it seems that these days, there's less of a distinction between the MTV set and the VH1 set.

"(Certain acts) start off appealing adult, but just because it's really great music ... it's appealing to other demos," said Krim, noting the success of acts like Blunt and the rock group Keane.

Daniel Powter, 36, had one of the year's biggest hits with "Bad Day," a sing-a-long piano track that first got popular when it was used as the sendoff song on "American Idol."

Powter credited his life experience for helping him to finally make a hit like "Bad Day."

"I think I've put a foundation in. I couldn't have written the music when I was 18," he said earlier this year.

"I don't want to lie about how old I am. I still feel good. I still feel great. I love to play music."


©The Canadian Press, 2006


It's about time

This shit is NOT adult music.

That may be true now, but remember that teen music is cyclical in nature. The last big teen pop craze lasted from 1997 to 2002, when the Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Britney, Christina, Destiny's Child and various other teen acts ruled the charts. It was the same thing back in the 80's, from 1987 to 1991 with New Kids on the Block, Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Menudo, and Martika. It was true in the late 70's with Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, and the Jackson Five, plus Donny and Marie Osmond were huge stars during that time. What makes Justin Timberlake, Britney, Christina, Jessica Simpson, and Nick Lachey different from the other prior teen pop acts is that they managed to transition into adulthood and stay popular at the same time. With a few exceptions, most of the other teen pop acts from earlier eras quickly faded into obscurity once their fans grew up.

I think that the other thing that's different now then when I was a teenager is the rise of radio and television networks aimed directly at the "tween" audience like Radio Disney, the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, the N, ABC Family, etc. That's how the Olsen Twins, Hilary Duff, Mylie Cyrus, and Amanda Bynes became huge stars to a whole generation of kids while those without young children would be flabbergasted to know who these people are in the first place.

728huey said:

Is any of this adult music? I mean forreal, if you have a 25-year-old singing some bullshit track but they're marketing it to 3-year-olds, does that make it adult? Fergie is thirty-something, but her music ain't "adult" nor is it being marketed as such Gwen? No way in hell.

Since they are way too bored and lazy to come up with any feasible teen pop stars, they seem to be recycling the ones from the last decade in various ways.
[Edited 12/8/06 20:40pm]

if beyonce is 25 im 12.

there will always be a wave: it hits 4 a while then slows down but as u point out just cause u have some 25 yr old singing bout :nothing really that makes any sense how can it be considered adult?

25 yrs of age is "adult: in terms of ur not a kid BUT if u still "sing" without emotion, meaning etc it is NOT adult and will never b adult because it does not represent the mind of an adult it reps the mind of a chick who tries 2 act grown up by trying so hard 2 sing with emotion and soul and the mind of a chick who is everywhere and considers herself a legend but never has any merit because a 12 yr old can wirte what they "sing"

that is what doesn't make any sense

sosgemini said: