I keep seeing this half woman half tin-robot angle.







even kelis' new one looks to be more than just some metallic fashion:




I know I'm forgetting some. Add on.

I don't think they are ALL referencing Metropolis either



it just looks a bit same-y to me

Cinnie said:

You are not going to be happy with Gladys Knight's new album cover. YIKES!

allsmutaside said:

I already said this. Stop copying me.

sosgemini said:

Where? I totally agree

It's not new, but it's extra played out at the moment

robots and space will forever be associated with electro




but why a soul artist like Badu or Aguilera for that matter?

it's a 2yrs old 'new' genre called robosoul
(apperently it's hip)

wanjira said:

bleh. nothing about this is new

I don't mind it, as long as there's a story behind it and not just for the sake of riding a bandwagon(Christina).

I was abit skeptical about Erykah's album cover, untill I read the story behind it, I was SOLD

Harlepolis said:

Co-sign.

allsmutaside said:

Cinnie said:

This video gave me the creeps as a kid!

Am I missing something? Whats with all this talk about Gladys' new album?

Cinnie said:

http://prince.org/msg/8/334416

I don't like it. Think it's sexist or rather anti-woman to say the least. The concept of this type of art is that women are not really human but rather a sum of parts that can be manipulated, altered, traded and controlled by the user. It's not even visually pleasing as it makes the female artist look more fake than they already do. Badu said on Mo'Nique's show that she is a woman and therefore not happy with her body. That is sad to say the least. Yes she is evolving and learning to love herself the way she is but the robot cover among other things just tells us that women will never truly love being women but will always try and be what they think men or society want them to be.

Christina's cover is most dissappointing. She's not a bionic space woman but an android feminine mannequin. Her look has been overly dramatized for some time. She is the maybeline spokeswoman/terminatrix. I do believe her hair has fallen out.

Oh and lets not forget Bey's metal hand garb which looks like something out of Star Wars. I think she rocked that Metropolis outfit in her sweet dream video.

DesireeNevermind said:

That's the vibe I am getting from this: "fembot"

I didn't see this image trend catching on with any male singers.

Cinnie said:

DesireeNevermind said:

I applaud her for being honest with herself 1st and the world 2nd, isn't honesty what being an artist is in the first place anyway?

Your take is pretty intersting though, Ms.Desiree, but to be frank, I could think of FAAAAR worse/sexist things nowadays than just females being portrayed as "robots".

The one that sticks out the most for me is the famous "career women are miserable because they can't find a man" so-called stigma that gets shoved down our throats everytime I open a magazine or tune in to one of those daytime shows.

DesireeNevermind said:

well except Pharrell starring as a robot in that Common video

but that's because it was electro, like I said

Harlepolis said:

That bothers me as well. It not only stops there though; you aren't just miserable as a career woman and supposedly can't find a man....you're also potentially lesbian as we are seeing with our next possible supreme court justice and all the gossip that surrounds her because she is of a certain age and unmarried.

It's a given to me that men will perpetuate these types of images but when women feed into it, it's especially troubling because it seems that we have not come as far as we think we have.

We have little girls dancing around in bikinis to Bey's single ladies. We have one of the strongest female vocalists (Christina Aguilera) parading around like a second rate Brittney Spears and we have Beyonce who is a very talented singer IMHO wearing dresses that seem to get shorter and shorter with each video. Plus my goddess Mariah done lost her mind.

I wonder why any female music artists who believes she can sing and supposedly writes, plays an instrument and provokes and inspires would feel the need to either bare her body or make herself out to be a product off the Cyberdine systems manufacturing line. And we wonder why Niki Minaj is so popular.

Its the current trend/gimmick and labels push their "product" to sell it that way. I dont wanna hear one of these artists say that they were "going for the robot look" get the FUCK out of heree, im tired of hearing artists or so called i should say, talk BS about their work! Its all a trend and NO ONE is pushing the envelope everyone in this genre is following like SHEEP behind the other one who just did it a month ago, and then they wonder why no one buys their work. If the trend were dressing as Dog Shit everyone shown here and more would be going for the dog shit look, you arent an artist, you are a follower nothing more all of them

lastdecember said:

I hope that never ever happens.

DesireeNevermind said:

To me though, I have nothing against ANYTHING thats sincere.

Sade Adu bared her body for a cancer ad and it was beautiful.

Grace Jones did all of the so-called avant garde fashion statements that these ladies are now discovering and she separated herself from her peers by doing so, but what these broads didn't GET, it didn't boil to style when it came to Grace because if it were, she wouldn't be here today, the woman had quality which I can't really say about 90% of artists today.

I don't judge those ladies for considering "sex" as the be all, end all, they're products of their environment,,,but I don't raise my eyebrow when they drop like flies every year in exchange for a younger blood,,,,,they made their bed.

And call me jaded, but I didn't raise my eyebrows when I saw those lil' girls doing the "Single Ladies" bit,,,,after Miley Cyrus' lil' sister releasing a lingerie line, nothing else will shock me. I've seen some LOW stuff in my life, but when it comes down to PIMPING & EXPLOITING your own flesh & blood, instead of protecting from the mere thought of that act,,,then I think you reached the bottom.

Harlepolis said:

Well this all stems from a deeper issue and that is Parents wanting to be "friends" with their kids and not their "parents" but thats a whole other topic and Forum, but basically now you have the norm being a teen star, back in the day, or even the 80's it was FLUKE to have a "tiffany" or "debbie Gibson" and now that is the normal, but taken further, those younger artists like a Miley have to grow up 2nd or 3rd album, but when they start at 14-15 that means they are "grown up" at 17-18 and thats BULLSHIT there are plenty of girls and guys who are in their 20's that arent grown up.

lastdecember said:

Bullshit, thats parents wanting to be friends with MONEY & FAME not their kids.

But I agree, it is the norm,,,,its the Brooke Shields/Her mom scenario all over again, but in this case, the reaction nowadays is REALLY passive.

Harlepolis said:

The thing is that Sex will always sell always has and always will but now the pushers are younger and younger these days

Harlepolis said:

Cash rules everything around me...

DesireeNevermind said:

And we got the nerve to act shocked when other cultures show their contempt against us.