An energetic, interactive YA novel about five solo pop artists navigating drama, finding their sound, and discovering what it truly takes to chase their dreams of music stardom after being forced into a pop group together. Everly Brooks knows she has what it takes to be the next big singer-songwriter. At least, that's if she could get her onstage presence to stop feeling so wooden and blossom like her rich, moving lyrics. The reality signing competition, SO YOU WANNA BE A POP STAR? is her chance at proving to the world—and herself—that her talent and artistry can mean something more than just live streams and online videos. Vinny Vecchi thought he was heading toward a life full of makeup, wigs, and werking it on the drag stages of NYC. But a powerful diva voice is a precious thing to waste and, in need of money to make his drag dreams come true, SO YOU WANNA BE A POP STAR? is the next best thing. However, surrounded by competitors with clear brands and sharpened musical identities, he wonders if he can break through while still discovering himself. When a group performance on the show goes viral overnight, Everly and Vinny find their careers unexpectedly tied together. Along with their competitors—influencer Dea Seo, pop-punk CeCe Winnifred, and heartthrob Stern Green—these five artists are forced to become the newest pop super group: Jeweltones. You, the reader, get to make choices that will make or break Everly, Vinny, and the group’s meteoric rise in this interactive novel. Will you mend the cracks to help Jeweltones shine bright, or will they burn out under pressure? The choices are yours to make!

Geared toward hopeful musical theater, show choir, a cappella, and glee club singers, as well as all shower singers that want to improve their skills, this enthusiastic and practical guide can help anyone's inner superstardom make a public appearance. Full of straightforward, well-organized advice for every step of the process, this book will help you train your vocal cords, pick the right audition material, and become comfortable with the spotlight. Interactive quizzes, helpful sidebars, and words of advice from industry professionals add a personalized and real-world touch. Author Ted Michael, a veteran of music and theater, along with the help of popular actors, actresses, and singers, provides all the tools young singers need in order to nail their auditions and nurture their natural show-stopping abilities.

This heartwarming picture book reassures children that a parent’s love never lets go—based on the poignant lyrics of JJ Heller’s beloved lullaby “Hand to Hold.” “May the living light inside you be the compass as you go / May you always know you have my hand to hold.” With delightful illustrations and an engaging rhyme scheme, this book offers the promise of security and love every child’s heart longs to know. From skipping stones and counting stars to climbing trees and telling stories, every moment is wrapped snugly in the certain warmth of a parent’s presence and God’s blessing. With poignancy and joy, this bedtime read captures the unconditional love parents want their children to know but so often fail to express amid the chaos of daily life.

"An utterly satisfying examination of the business of popular music." —Nathaniel Rich, The Atlantic There’s a reason today’s ubiquitous pop hits are so hard to ignore—they’re designed that way. The Song Machine goes behind the scenes to offer an insider’s look at the global hit factories manufacturing the songs that have everyone hooked. Full of vivid, unexpected characters—alongside industry heavy-hitters like Katy Perry, Rihanna, Max Martin, and Ester Dean—this fascinating journey into the strange world of pop music reveals how a new approach to crafting smash hits is transforming marketing, technology, and even listeners’ brains. You’ll never think about music the same way again. A Wall Street Journal Best Business Book

Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry combines interview data with music industry professionals with theoretical frameworks from sociology, mass communication, and marketing to explain and explore the gender differences female artists experience. This book provides a rare lens on the rigid packaging process that transforms female artists of various genres into female pop stars. Stars—and the industry power brokers who make their fortunes—have learned to prioritize sexual attractiveness over talent as they fight a crowded field for movie deals, magazine covers, and fashion lines, let alone record deals. This focus on the female pop star’s body as her core asset has resigned many women to being "short term brands," positioned to earn as much money as possible before burning out or aging ungracefully. This book, which includes interview data from music industry insiders, explores the sociological forces that drive women into these tired representations, and the ramifications for the greater social world.

Described as “cultural rocket fuel” by Vanity Fair, Vivek Shraya is a multi-media artist whose art, music, novels, and poetry and children’s books explore the beauty and the power of personal and cultural transformation. How to Fail as a Popstar is Vivek’s debut theatrical work, a one-person show that chronicles her journey from singing in shopping malls to “not quite” pop music superstardom with beguiling humor and insight. A reflection on the power of pop culture, dreams, disappointments, and self-determination, this astonishing work is a raw, honest, and hopeful depiction of the search to find one’s authentic voice. The book includes color photographs from the show’s 2020 production in Toronto, and a foreword by its director Brendan Healy. This publication meets the EPUB Accessibility requirements and it also meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-AA). It is screen-reader friendly and is accessible to persons with disabilities. A Simple book with few images, which is defined with accessible structural markup. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative text for images, table of contents, page-list, landmark, reading order and semantic structure.

A compendium of thirty-five incredible female pop stars whose energies, virtues, and vices make them the ideal role models for our age—powerful women who can teach us all how to discover our own inner goddess. We are living in the age of the music goddess: Beyoncé. Lady Gaga. Taylor Swift. Katy Perry. Britney. Nicki Minaj. Cardi B. Pink. Madonna. Rihanna. Gwen Stefani. Alicia Keys. Kelly Clarkson. Never before have so many women dominated their industry and pop culture itself with such creativity, passion, and force. Visionary and ferociously talented, these women are reshaping our society and our lives. In this stunningly designed compendium, Jennifer Armstrong offers an intimate, up-close look at thirty-five of pop music’s most revered goddesses, analyzing their performances, songs, videos, interviews, social media, activism, and personal lives to illuminate their significance for both critics and fans. These divas post astounding album sales, enjoy millions of radio plays, YouTube views, and social media followings, and sell out stadiums. While we are awed and inspired by their success, we worship them for so much more. Beyoncé’s work ethic. Nicki Minaj’s no-bullshit attitude. Taylor Swift’s relatability. Pink’s sense of social justice. Jennifer Lopez’s transformation from “Jenny from the block” to fashion icon. Each of these goddesses speaks to us in her own unique way. Beyoncé is our superhuman alter ego; Britney is our survival instinct. Armstrong pairs each pop star goddess with a corresponding goddess from ancient cultures, and offers advice on how to invoke the pop star goddess’s energy in your own life, providing journal prompts and a Power Song List that allows you harness the power of a particular pop goddess’s energy when you need it. Filled with information, advice, insights, playlists, and forty gorgeous color illustrations, Pop Star Goddess will help you tune in and turn on your own divine energy. The Pop Star Goddesses are: Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, M.I.A., Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Lady Gaga, Carla Bruni, Pink, JLo, Kesha, Rihanna, Janelle Monae, Gwen Stephani, Alicia Keys, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Jennifer Hudson, Mariah Carey, Adele, Missy Elliott, Shakira, Solange, Miranda Lambert, Celine Dion, Sia, Queen Latifah, SZA, Kacey Musgraves, Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera, Laura Jane Grace, Ariana Grande, Carly Rae Jepsen.

"The most compelling and complete account of The Byrds ever published, this book draws on hundreds of lost and previously undiscovered sources to create a gripping chronicle of the band's life and times." "So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star collates eye-witness accounts, press reports and concert Reviews, set lists, tour dates and gig locations, record releases and reviews, recording studio data and contemporary interviews, and is illustrated with a rare collection of period photographs and print memorabilia. All this is woven into an absorbing day-by-day narrative that tells the story of The Byrds in a way that will surprise and delight even their most dedicated fans."--BOOK JACKET.

After years of working day jobs and making music in his basement, Jacob Slichter wondered if his dreams of rock stardom were a vain illusion. Then he was recruited by two of his successful musician friends to form a band that became Semisonic. Who could forget the smash single “Closing Time,” a runaway hit in 1998 that thrust Jake and his bandmates into the international spotlight and helped them sell over two million albums worldwide? But along the road to fame and success came bewilderment and personal chaos: How will we ever get a record deal? Which record company is the best? The worst? Do I really have to wear these ridiculous boots? Why isn’t radio playing our song? What if I have a panic attack right here on stage? What should I write on this fan’s CD? Am I famous? Why isn’t the video director getting more shots of me? Did I say the wrong thing during that interview? Help! So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star is a telling and witty look at what happens just before and during one's time in the spotlight. Jake takes readers on a step-by-step journey of his evolution from fledgling drummer to globetrotting performer and proves to be the perfect guide—feisty and humbled—to the inner workings of the music industry and instant celebrity. So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star speaks to all of us who dream again and again of rock superstardom and shows how one kid can go from picking up a pair of drumsticks to picking up a platinum record.

A "collection of personal essays exploring the intersection of queerness, relationships, pop culture, the Internet, and identity, introducing one of the most undeniably original new voices today. Jill Gutowitz's life--for better and worse--has always been on a collision course with pop culture, [including] ... the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill's own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture"--