Is Carly Rae Jepsen Pop's Most Underrated Artist? A Scientific Investigatio

[Cupid Boy 410]

If Carly Rae is not the genre's most overlooked artist, then who is? Exploring 10 options for the Most Underrated pop crown.

What does being “underrated” as a pop artist mean? Dictionary.com defines “underrated” as “To rate or evaluate too low; underestimate.” That pretty much fits the definition of an underrated pop act, too: it’s largely viewed as an artist that is not being appreciated enough, either by critics or by mass consumers, and it’s typically applied to someone that has been overlooked for far too long.

The idea of being an “underrated” pop artist has recently come up thanks to Carly Rae Jepsen, a singer-songwriter that took off in the U.S. with the No. 1 smash “Call Me Maybe,” enjoyed a nice run of fame and fortune thanks to that inescapable song, went away for a few years to write new music, and has returned with the new album E•MO•TION, due out Aug. 21. E•MO•TION, led by the singles “I Really Like You” and “Run Away With Me,” is so good that many are already deeming it the Pop Album of the Year, and because none of its tracks have remotely taken off at Top 40 radio (which would lead one to believe that the album is not going to be a massive seller upon its release), those same people are anointing CRJ the Underrated Pop Artist of The Moment. After offering her number and asking us to call her, maybe three years ago, Jepsen’s music is now being rated too low by the general public; she is being underestimated more than any other artist in the genre, or so the claim goes.

 

So are those people correct — is Carly Rae Jepsen really pop’s most underrated artist right now? This is something I’ve been thinking about for weeks, have been bugging my friends and colleagues about, and finally decided to explore. Hence: a scientific investigation to find out which pop artist is really the most underrated, by breaking down the “underrated” credentials of Jepsen and nine other overlooked pop performers!

A few qualifiers before we begin: this list of 10 artists obviously does not includeevery underrated pop performer, of which there are dozens. These are the ones that I wanted to highlight because I thought they had a legitimate claim to Most Underrated. Second, all of these artists are solo acts — maybe a scientific investigation into the most underrated pop group can come at a later date — and each artist’s “underrated-ness” has been broken down into four categories, with each category being graded on a 1-to-5 scale by me, subjectively.

The four categories are:

LACK OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS. How popular or well-known is this artist with the general masses, right now and in the past, and specifically in the United States? This is obviously a highly subjective ranking, but I’ve tried to keep in mind album sales, single performances, touring opportunities and perceived awareness from casual pop fans. A 1 in this category means they are extremely successful commercially, and a 5 means that they have yet to grace even basic pop success.

LACK OF CRITICAL ACCLAIM: How do critics perceive this artist and their music? I used the review aggregating site Metacritic and common sense to determine the scores in this category. A 1 in this category means that critics regularly champion this artist, while a 5 means that critics openly dismiss or deride their music.

LONGEVITY OF BEING UNDERRATED: Has this artist been underrated throughout the entirety of his or her career, and is that career more than a few months old? A 1 in this category means that they’ve been overlooked for a short amount of time, while a 5 means that they have been criminally underestimated for half a decade.

AMOUNT OF MIND-BLOWING MUSIC: An artist can be underrated with a few good singles to their name, but he or she would be far more underrated with a full discography of authoritative pop that has yet to breach the masses. A 1 in this category means that the artist’s music is good, while a 5 in this category means that the artist’s music is… well, mind-blowing.

Got all that? Great. Let’s determine which of these 10 pop artists (including Carly Rae Jepsen) is, mathematically, the most underrated:

 

 

Charli XCX

LACK OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS: 2. Charli XCX has had a total of three songs in the Top 10 of the Hot 100: her solo hit “Boom Clap,” her Iggy Azalea team-up “Fancy” and her Icona Pop collaboration “I Love It.” She’s performed on award shows, toured internationally and covered magazines. The only reason Charli avoids a 1 here is because she hasn’t been able to unlock a hit album, as both 2013’s True Romance and last year’s Sucker failed to stick around at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. Properly rated singles artist, underrated albums artist.

LACK OF CRITICAL ACCLAIM: 1. True Romance and Sucker were rightly championed as witty, forward-thinking full-lengths, scoring near-universal acclaim on Metacritic and boasting critically adored singles like “You’re The One” and “Boom Clap.” If Charli XCX is underrated, it’s not for critics’ lack of trying.

LONGEVITY OF BEING UNDERRATED: 2. If one is to consider Charli XCX ‘underrated’ as a huge pop entity, then that status dates back roughly two years, when True Romance was released and fulfilled the promise of her early singles. Charli does have two albums that were overlooked by the general public to her name, but she’s been around for a relatively short amount of time and has limited underrated equity.

AMOUNT OF MIND-BLOWING MUSIC: 5. True Romance is going to be on a short list of the best pop albums of the 2010’s when the decade comes to a close, andSucker moved in lots of different directions but none of them disappointed. Charli XCX is making stunning music, and it’s reasonable to already be excited for her next full-length project.

TOTAL UNDERRATED SCORE: 10/20

 

 

Olly Murs

LACK OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS: 2. Olly Murs is obviously a bigger deal in his native U.K. than in the U.S., but he’s still go his 2012 Flo Rida collaboration “Troublemaker,” which peaked at No. 25 on the Hot 100 chart, as a calling card. And although the 31-year-old hasn’t turned that song into a presence on the stateside touring circuit, he’s a top-line artist overseas who has opened for One Direction and recorded with American stars like Demi Lovato and Travie McCoy.

LACK OF CRITICAL ACCLAIM: 4. The British press is pretty okay with Murs’ feel-good pop, but over here, it’s difficult to find too many takes on his brand of hook-filled radio fodder (USA Today did review his last album, 2012’s Right Place, Right Time, but called it “formulaic”).

LONGEVITY OF BEING UNDERRATED: 1. It’s difficult to call Olly Murs “underrated” prior to his most recent studio effort, Never Been Better, which included a likable lead single (“Wrapped Up”) and some expertly crafted pop tunes, as compared to the generic collections he previously released. Murs’ songwriting is undervalued, but we’re only just now starting to see that.

AMOUNT OF MIND-BLOWING MUSIC: 1. Murs needs more albums like Never Been Better to firmly plant his feet in the ‘underrated’ territory, but his new full-length is a nice start.

TOTAL UNDERRATED SCORE: 8/20

 

 

Carly Rae Jepsen

LACK OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS: 2. Sure, Kiss did not sell a ton of copies upon its 2012 release, and E•MO•TION will likely not be a blockbuster success following the stinted chart run of lead single “I Really Like You.” Still, it’s hard to claim that an artist with two Top 10 hits — including a nine-week run at No. 1 — and arena experience opening for her pal Justin Bieber is commercially unsuccessful. Jepsen is popular enough thanks to “Call Me Maybe” that your mom probably knows her name, and even if it didn’t take off at radio, “I Really Like You” still managed to crack the Top 40 and get played on Saturday Night Live.

LACK OF CRITICAL ACCLAIM: 3. This is going to drop as more rave reviews come in for E•MO•TION, but Kiss only has a score of 63 on Metacritic — far too low for one of the decade’s most effervescent pop full-lengths — and was largely dismissed by taste-making publications as The Album With “Call Me Maybe” On It. The recent reviews of Jepsen’s latest singles and album have been largely positive, and she’s been championed as pop’s underrated princess on social media for months, but we’ll see if sites like Pitchfork fully embrace her as best new music.

LONGEVITY OF BEING UNDERRATED: 3. Carly Rae Jepsen was undervalued the minute her magnificent Kiss album was released in September 2012, a month after “Call Me Maybe” had abdicated the Hot 100 throne. At that moment, Jepsen went from No. 1 smash to underwhelming album sales, and has spent the past three years trying to convince the world that she is far more than two hit singles (counting “Good Time” with Owl City). She was underrated in 2013 and 2014, and in 2015, “I Really Like You” and the other advance E•MO•TION singles were underrated.

AMOUNT OF MIND-BLOWING MUSIC: 5. Seriously, E•MO•TION really is the Pop Album of the Year, and looking back on it, Kiss is a slightly flawed but wholly exhilarating listen. If we are evaluating modern pop artists, Jepsen has to be placed among the cream of the crop.

TOTAL UNDERRATED SCORE: 13/20

 

 

Marina and the Diamonds

LACK OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS: 3. Marina Diamandis has released three albums and has zero Hot 100 hits to her name; her latest full-length, Froot, did debut in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart earlier this year, but has sold only 75,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen Music; and her striking pop anthems draw sizable festival crowds (and have been heard opening for Coldplay and Katy Perry) but have yet to yield an XL U.S. headlining tour. Marina and the Diamonds grinds out singles commercially, but has yet to come close to a home run.

LACK OF CRITICAL ACCLAIM: 1. Marina’s MANiCUREd indie-pop is catnip for serious rock critics — even when one of her projects is not considered up-to-par, as was the case with 2012’s Electra Heart, a lot of respectful ink is still being spilled. For those wondering, Froot is among the best-reviewed pop albums of the year, with an average Metacritic score of 75 yielded from multiple rave takes on the third album.

LONGEVITY OF BEING UNDERRATED: 5. As a British artist hoping to rearrange the U.S. pop music scene, Diamandis has essentially been underrated her entire career, dating back to her 2010 debut The Family Jewels. Peers like Charli XCX and Ellie Goulding have had songs break through to Top 40 radio, but Marina and the Diamonds is still searching for that foothold.

AMOUNT OF MIND-BLOWING MUSIC: 4. All of the Marina and the Diamonds albums are intensely rewarding without quite crossing the threshold to indispensability. Still, that’s an impressive feat for three straight LPs, and a best-of Marina and the Diamonds album that cherry-picked the highlights of each set would be pretty killer.

TOTAL UNDERRATED SCORE: 13/20

 

 

Cher Lloyd

LACK OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS: 2. The U.K. X Factor finalist scored a gigantic U.S. hit in 2012 with “Want U Back,” and “With Ur Love” and “Swagger Jagger” popped on the charts overseas. Cher Lloyd might have have a ton of name recognition to casual pop fans in America, and her last album, 2014’sSorry I’m Late, failed to spawn any hits, but she’s headlined tours, has 7 million Twitter followers and proven her Top 40 popularity in the past.

LACK OF CRITICAL ACCLAIM: 5. Lloyd is a classic case of a commercial pop artist that has been shirked by tastemakers — or bashed by them. Debut albumSticks + Stones was met with bad reviews, and Sorry I’m Late did not crack the Metacritic radar. “Critically acclaimed pop star Cher Lloyd” is a string of words that does not make any sense right now.

LONGEVITY OF BEING UNDERRATED: 1. That is, Lloyd has been underrated for exactly one year, from when Sorry I’m Late was released and Lloyd unceremoniously parted ways with Epic Records. That’s because…

AMOUNT OF MIND-BLOWING MUSIC: 2. The reason Cher Lloyd is on this list is because Sorry I’m Late, an album that came and went last year, is quietly a blast, with lots of spunky British humor and spark-plug hooks coiled around synth-pop stems. Lloyd is not making the type of boundary-pushing pop as some of the other artists here, but for what she offers, the U.K. singer-songwriter is rated far too low.

TOTAL UNDERRATED SCORE: 10/20

 

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THE MOST UNDERRATED POP STAR AWARD GOES TO…

SKY FERREIRA! (15 points)
RUNNER-UP: ROBYN! (14 points)
SHARING THE BRONZE: CARLY RAE JEPSEN & MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS! (13 points)

link : http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6656609/most-underrated-pop-artists-carly-rae-jepsen

I know ..this article is too long but there is something worth reading on it

[Didymus 32,702]

Where are Allie X & Susanne Sundfør, the truly overlooked pop gems?

[Red 87,314]

Marina should be like 2 million/20

[Gaga Monster 13,001]

Cher Lloyd

[sipthistea 21,099]

Marina is very underrated, so is Charli XCX. They deserve more than other people on the hot 100.

 

Lol at Billboard doing "scientific investigations"  They don't even have credibility anymore, or at least a good one. Now they pretend to do scientific hypothesis. So laughable

[Versace 7,375]

I thought Natalia Kills was the most underrated pop star but after her XFACTOR incident i don't wonder why anymore lol. Kesha is extremely underrated compared to the other big names such as Bey , Gaga , Britney and etc. Kesha has literally done it all but is easily forgettable and underestimated.