
Pop music, often called simply pop, is contemporary music and a common type of popular music distinguished from classical or art music and from folk music. The broad appeal of pop music is seen to distinguish it from more specific types of popular music, and pop music performers and recordings are among the best-selling and most widely known in many regions of the world. The vocal style found in much pop music has been heavily influenced by African American musical traditions such as rhythm and blues (R and B), soul music, and gospel. The rhythms and the sound of pop music have been heavily influenced by swing jazz, rock and roll, reggae, funk, disco, and more recently by hip hop. Pop music is often distinguished from other subgenres by stylistic traits such as a danceable rhythm or beat, simple melodies and a repeating structure which are reminiscent of the songs of vocalists such as Karen Carpenter and Roberta Flack. Pop song lyrics are often emotional, relating to love or dancing. Image is usually considered an important aspect of pop music, and the public presentation of its performers through videos and interviews has been responsible for both praise and criticism of pop music. In the 2000s, pop music paved the way for the multi-platinum successes of artists like Anastacia, Backstreet Boys, Beyonce Knowles, Black Eyed Peas, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ciara, Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Mya, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Shakira, NSync, Pussycat Dolls, and Usher. Robbie Williams recorded the biggest sales for a male artist, mostly in the European market. In 2002 t.A.T.u. emerged from Russia to huge success which they still continue to have today as the best-selling Russian act of all time.

Bob Stanleys new book, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyonce like the song it takes its title from, is an exuberant celebration of the silly and the sublime. Stanley, a British music journalist and co-founder of the pop group Saint-tienne, loves pop and has a deep, knowing respect for it. Great pop, Bob Stanley says, comes from tension, opposition, progress, and fear of progress. Among the tensions, those between industry and the underground, between artifice and authenticity, between the adventurers and the curators, between rock and pop, between dumb and clever, and between boys and girls. The best pop comes from juggling those contradictions rather than purging them from taking the most interesting sounds from disparate places, modifying them, personalizing them, and making them new. Bob Stanley illustrates and celebrates the forces he referred to earlier that create brilliant pop, among them the intermingling of cultures and genres (the British discovery of American blues; early-seventies ska); industry (the Brill Building, Motown, and beyond; the hardworking musicians of ABBA); reactions against forms that had become too dominant (the rise of the singer-songwriter era, glam, punk); spontaneity and inventiveness (British teens becoming skiffle musicians, via washboards, buckets, and mops; the creation of hip-hop and break dancing in the South Bronx, via sound systems and block parties). Bob Stanleys book gives all the pop its due the many genres and artists he celebrates seem to be variations on expressing that stuff of life.

My source for this text is New World Encyclopedias page on Pop music and The New Yorkers article called Pop Music, Explained

Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist. Carly planned on becoming a music teacher until she caught the songwriting bug. Carly started performing after she finished high school. Carly auditioned to Canadian Idol in 2007 by singing one of her own songs and became one of 10 finalists a month later. She advanced round by round, and she finished the season in third place. She then went on a tour with the first and second place winners, and they performed in 15 cities across the country. Carly released two singles, a cover of John Denvers, Sunshine on My Shoulders on her first albums title track, before issuing the Stewart-produced Tug of War album through MapleMusic Recordings on 30 September 2008. The fourth and final single, Sour Candy, featured vocals from album-contributing musician and producer Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench a Canadian pop band that Jepsen toured across Canada with in 2009. The styles of music for her debut album were R and B, folk- and country-based pop material. Tug of War was reissued in 2011 by 604 Records, a label run by Jepsens manager, Jonathan Simkin, and Chad Kroeger of Nickelback.
Carly became very popular because of the song Call Me Maybe which became a huge pop culture hit during the summer of 2012. Call Me Maybe was released in Canada on 20 September 2011 and began to steadily climb the Canadian singles chart that fall. Yet it wasnt until January 2012, after Canadian pop star Justin Bieber raved about it on Twitter (calling it possibly the catchiest song I have ever heard) and uploaded a wacky video to YouTube of him lip-synching the song with then-girlfriend Selena Gomez, that it began to gain international attention. In early February, Carly signed a deal with Biebers manager. Carly released them on an EP titled Curiosity on Valentines Day 2012. Call Me Maybe about hoping to hear back from a crush and featuring the irresistibly hooky chorus, Hey, I just met you and this is crazy, but here is my number, so call me maybe, soon went viral on YouTube.

Carly released an album called Kiss, and she went on a tour with Justin Bieber before going on her own tour. Veering away from the bubble-gum pop sound of her earlier work, Jepsen was inspired by a mix of 1980s pop music and more alternative styles, and said that her goal was to produce songs that showed sides of me that I hadnt ever revealed in my music before. The Emotion albums lead single, I Really Like You, was released on 2 March 2015. It was followed a few days later by the music video, which featured actor Tom Hanks lip-synching the lyrics and a cameo by pop star Justin Bieber. Carly recorded the theme song to the Netflix series Fuller House. On 4 February 2014, Jepsen made her Broadway debut at New York Citys Broadway Theatre, portraying the title role in the Tony Award-winning musical Rodgers + Hammersteins Cinderella. Her 12-week run was extended until 8 June, with Jepsen performing six nights a week. Carly played Frenchy in Grease Live, Foxs critically acclaimed live television presentation of the musical Grease, which aired on 31 January 2016. She also sang a new song written specifically for her called All I Need Is An Angel.

My sources for this text is The Canadian Encyclopedias article on Carly Rae Jepsen and The IMDBs page on Carly Rae Jepsen