Originality lacking in female pop stars

They are young women. Hear them lay claim to the mantle of singer-songwriter.

Alicia Keys, Nelly Furtado, Norah Jones, Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton, Avril Lavigne: They may vary in aptitude and style, but they are all part of a new breed of female pop stars.

Call them the Borderliners.

Let me explain: If Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Chrissie Hynde blazed the trail of songstresses who write as well as they sing, and if women such as Aimee Mann and Lucinda Williams are keeping the trail fresh, our new X-chromosomed crop is something different.

Much of the considerable respect they enjoy today is derived from their contradistinction from their contemporaries, the Tarts: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson.

They’re not quite Britney, and they’re not quite Joni. Hence the Borderline. They write, sing and play, but they need lots of outside help; they lack creative verve and imagination.

They are, to varying degrees, all talented musicians but they are all primarily performing artists, not boldly original creative artists.

Perhaps because of the pressures of MTV, they’re also image-conscious to a fault (reassuringly, not in Norah Jones’ case).

When did the Borderline become visible? The case could be made that it was in the late ‘80s, when Madonna began to affect seriousness.

The fault line became more apparent in 1993, with Sheryl Crow’s debut, “Tuesday Night Music Club.” She was an acclaimed update on the Mitchell archetype who made friends in high classic rock places, but the real mastermind behind the album was producer-guitarist Bill Bottrell, who wasn’t alone.

Take a look at the songwriting credits on that record — they’re as long as your arm.

However, my candidate for the first real Borderliner is Alanis Morissette, whose 1995 monster album “Jagged Little Pill” would’ve been nothing but a “Harmless Little Placebo” if not for the production and hook-writing of Glen Ballard.

“Pill” had all the markings of Borderline insipidity: It struck a singer-songwriter pose, but was calculated for easy Top 40 appeal.

Indeed, all the Borderliners have positioned themselves as singer-songwriters. But how did the music press come to accept their positioning at face value? I suspect that what’s behind it is something vaguely sinister. It is this: the soft chauvinism of low expectations.

Story Continues →