2013 was poised for the year of female led pop, but instead, male-led music has taken a surprise upper hand. Macklemore has led 2013 with 10 weeks atop the Hot 100 so far, Robin Thicke bullets to No.1 in the UK and England, and Justin Timberlake has become this years Adele. Even Pharrell has also made a surprise comeback, boasting two new Top 10's to his name. Where are our leading ladies? Where oh where could they be?
Adele: The woman who struck fear into the hearts of Top 40 wannabes has been pretty quiet this year, only coming in to swoop up more gold for her mantle at the Oscars and Golden Globes. But apparently, she is working on new material. According to The Mirror from April 22: “Adele is currently in a recording studio in London and it’s in lockdown mode for the next few weeks. Four tracks are finished in terms of writing and she’s now laying down preliminary vocals with backing music and singers. The rest of the record will be done in LA. The feel is very much Adele going back to her roots, with some modern jazz and a couple of classic old songs.” 24 poised for world dominance? Place your bets.
Beyoncé: Beyoncé is probably the most active on the list. After shutting down the Super Bowl in February, Beyoncé embarked on her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, which has been selling out stadiums left and right, and recently shut down baby rumors. As for some new material to follow up her 'flop' 4? Well we've gotten bits and pieces, but home girl has been pretty quiet about when we can get the iTunes quality versions. She reportedly told a fan in Norway that her album is dropping in November. We shall see.
Britney Spears: After some decent success with 2011's Femme Fatale (3 top 10's hits but no Platinum record), a multi million dollar deal with The X Factor, Britney has been fairly quiet. Sure Scream and Shout was a hit, but we haven't seen Britney's name in the Headlining credit. Will.I.Am is confirmed as the executive producer for her follow up LP, but she is also going to be taking a residency in Las Vegas later this year. Maybe Britney has some tricks up her sleeve.
Katy Perry: Katy has been hitting up the studio for months now for the much needed follow up to her 2010 release Teenage Dream. She has confirmed she is working with Sia, and even Adam Levine was spotted at the same recording studio, but Perry has been quiet about a future release date. Maybe this effort will finally be Grammy worthy.
Lady Gaga: Contrary to popular belief, Gaga did not move to live quietly with the bush people of Botswana. She is still working on ARTPOP, after canceling her commercially successful Born This Way Ball, and acting uncharacteristically quiet on social media. Though the album was apparently finished last summer, she is still spotted occasionally at recording studios, so god knows when the most anticipated album in history finally drops. She promised a Spring 2013 release but that date is long gone. The plan is for ARTPOP to also score it's own app that includes new music and such, but we would much rather see the actual thing then to hear about it. Hurry up child!!
With pops leading ladies taking a break, everyone else in the game has been struggling somewhat. P!nk has turned out to be the surprise juggernaut for girl-pop this year, as Try and JGMAR crash landed Top 10 positions across the globe. Rihanna has had fairly strong success with last years Diamonds, and Stay has been fairly successful across the board. But to say she's been a front runner this year would be a bit of an over statement. So will the females come out and make a 3rd and 4th quarter return? Or is 2013 the year of the males?
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