BeyondIdolization wrote:
Arvin wrote:
BeyondIdolization wrote:
Arvin wrote:
BeyondIdolization wrote:
But this was about which era she had the most star power. TEOM was basically as commercially successful as Daydream in the US. But with TEOM she also had endorsement deals with Pepsi and Intel, was launching her own perfume, had multiple magazine covers including Rolling Stone, multiple Grammy wins plus a well-received performance, was the 'Queen of TRL', etc. Did she have star power in 1995? Clearly. Was it on the same level as in 2005? Clearly not.
Most of those things you mentioned (i.e. product endorsements, multiple and major media coverage, her own product lines, etc.) did not happen during the Tommy years not because she couldn't get them but because Tommy shielded her away from them. I guess Tommy wanted to create a mystique around her so as not to get her overexposed, which we have to admit worked very well in her favor. Tommy didn't even let anybody with a movie proposal get anywhere near her and I remember her saying in an interview she got upset when she found out years later Debbie Allen wanted to approach with an idea for a project but she was barred from doing so.
The reason why is irrelevant. We can't change the past, we have to look at the facts as they are.
My point was that she could have gotten all those things you mentioned if she was allowed to, not because she didn't have as much star clout as she had during the TEOM era; it was a conscious choice. She kinda was allowed to partially bask in all that "sell-out" glory in Japan with some lipstick, coffee, English school, soap opera theme song (AIWFCIY which led to MC's huge success over there), what-have-you endorsements, etc. For some reason, Tommy restricted all those in her home country. What she had more of during the TEOM era, aside from the clout, was a personal comeback story post-Tommy and 2001 troubles, which made her more "intriguing" but I don't know if that necessarily equates/translates to "star power" as neither Lindsay Lohan nor Whitney have generated outstanding success after having certainly become more extremely "interesting" and media magnets. Whitney's staged comeback didn't have THE main key to the success of TEOM and its aftermath: WBT, which didn't have anything to do with her personal travails...just pure luck in its having been created and released in the most perfect timing.
Again, we are looking at the past as it were, not "but had she done this in 1995 she would have...". Endorsements, magazine covers, perfume lines, etc, are all factors in someone's star power, and those things just weren't there in 1995. Period.
Arvin, I can't understand why you can't see what David is saying - we're debating the eras as they
were. End of. If we go with your line of thinking, Memoirs or Glitter could have been her most superpowerful moments if we start with the 'what ifs' and 'if onlys'.