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talked about Madonna, from the start. Aguuilera, too- and their VMAs performance really showed what Madonna minj-mes they really are. Then,. of course, they just seemed like backup singers when Madonna took the stage.

Aguilera's vocal influences obviously runs the gamut, but definitely, of the morem odern times, would be Whitney and Mariah Carey (Carey, especially on The Voice Within).

when I said Britney and Christina looked more like backup singers during that VMAs perofrmance, I wasn't speaking vocally, but in terms of their presence. Madonna has such a huge presence, that that's how what they were left looking. But, that's as it should be. The performance was a good one; not always about having remarkable vocals, as ya know.

Notr sure of this source, but here's an interesting viewpoint on who could end up following more in Madonna's footsteps:
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Recent events have brought comparisons between Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears to the surface once more. The two pop phenomenoms who rode the teen pop wave through 1999, were unable to escape comparisons through the early phases of their careers. Both at some point have been hailed as The Next Madonna due to their obsessive fanbases and simliarites with the pop icon. At the MTV VMAs this year, talk of Madonna passing on her crown to Christina or Britney was feuled by a controversial performance where The Material Girl planted a wet one on each singer.

Within a month, Britney Spears had announced that Madonna would feature on her new single, 'Me Against The Music'. It looked set that Britney Spears would take over Madonna's role as the female pop icon. She definitely had the sales.

But unfortunately, where Britney lacks Madonna's creativity, originality or daring controversial ideas, Christina takes the crown.

Madonna and Britney are similiar in the fact that they both are hailed as talented dancers; both are professionally trained and centre their performances around the art. They both lack decent vocal talent - sure they can hold the note but it's nothing impressive.

But what has made Madonna the icon she is today is none of the above similarities with Britney, it is the traits that she shares with Christina Aguilera.

When Christina first burst onto the scene in 1999, she was as manufactured and marketed as Britney Spears. But one note-worthy difference between the two - were their lyrical subjects. Britney moaned about lonliness and not being able to live without a boy, while Christina used her mighty voice to sing confident songs with an overall positive outlook.

But as Britney repeated her successful formula for the next few albums, Christina, you could say, "pulled a Madonna." For the release of her sophomore album, Christina's comeback was linked with words often used to describe Madonna. Original, Daring and Controversial.

Madonna is famous for re-inventing herself numerous times, and with Christina's second album, she pulled a complete 180 degree turn. With one video, Christina re-invented herself as an unapologetic, daring, confident young woman. Fearless. She pushed the envelope and took the risk. Christina's re-invention was so outragous, she completely detroyed her sweet image to replace it with the sex kitten diva. It was a re-invention Madonna would be proud of.

Britney, on the other hand, has tried her hardest to shed her sweet n' innocent but with no luck. No matter how raunchy or saucy Britney teased, nobody could forget her virgin bride pledge. Wihout the re-invention tactic, we may wonder how Britney will manage to stay afloat in a world full of spinning trends and fads. One may fear that despite the enormous success Britney has enjoyed, she may just well be a trend.
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Also, in an interview with Salon.com, Camille Paglia (the feminist writer) also commented on this recently:

Salon: Who has emerged to eclipse her? Where is the next Madonna, the mass-multimedia star?

CP: I'm afraid that the great era of great stars and great personalities is over. American popular culture, which I thought was in a Renaissance, turns out to have had a natural organic shape to it, and this is its stage of decline. The entertainment industry is massive but fragmented. Video games have absorbed young people's creative energies and diverted them away from the study or practice of the fine arts.

The Web has also dealt a fatal blow to the culture of stardom because isolated types can now instantly express and exhibit their conflicts and find fellow sufferers around the world through the Web. But e-mail is evanescent. And the blog form is, in my view, the decadence of the Web. I don't see blogs as a new frontier but as a falling backwards into word-centric print journalism -- words, words, words!

The Drudge Report, on the other hand, is a true product of the Web. It's interesting how Matt Drudge still has no competitors. I used to think, how long can Drudge be king? Surely his rivals will spring up like mushrooms. But no, Drudge remains unique. He shows that the Web can be a medium for stardom, if you know how to use it. Unlike Madonna, he knows how to preserve his mystery.

But I'm very worried because young people are growing up without major role models in terms of stardom. Madonna was trained as a dancer and had independent ideas about music and performance. Too many young stars are bland Madonna clones without a thought in their heads. Because she was raised in a rigidly moralistic Catholic household, Madonna's use of sex had symbolic meaning -- she was challenging institutional tyranny. Now girls borrow her moves, but there are no ideas behind it. It's all glitz for the eye.

I like Britney Spears -- I find her very charming and athletic and sexy -- but she's not producing the kind of galvanizing songs that were Madonna's signature. And she also doesn't have Madonna's sophisticated, hypnotic skill for posing for the still camera -- which emblazoned her image into the minds of people who never heard a note of her music. None of these young women has that ability to master and manipulate the world media.

but we're talkin about their influences, so not really.

How has Spears had more success with one single than Madonna ever has? Not sure how u mean that; if u mean commercially, not at all, as M's had many worldwide smashes. And culturally, the same.

Britney's major impact was with her first single; I mean, she has had some provocative moments (the VMAs striptease, for example), but Camille's points- as those mentioned in the other write-up- are valid, in that Britney's "motives" aren't what Madonna's were. Yeah, she's still young, and we'll see what happens from here on out. But, really, trying to compare either her or Aguilea to M is a no-win battle (like comparing someone to Whitney)- just oo big a template to try to live up to. Only ever be one Madonna, and one Whitney.

Britney talked about Madonna before M wore her t-shirt. hehe And, yes, Jent also has been a big influence, especially via the dance moves/choreography. But, those are still a lil' too mechanical/emotionless for my taste; I'd like to see Spears (and even Janet) do some more graceful, classical-style, not-so-robotized movements.