The subject of our attention on this thread really has to meet the subjective question "what is her talent?". The true talent and credit lies with the promotion, record producers and the greater industry. The amount of post-production these singers or performers receive is indeed, lavish, to say the least. At some point Madonna and her copy cat lines of similar achievers have to decide on whether they want to be a soft porn star or a singer.
I have a good collection of jazz and a reasonable amount of pop in my collection of LPs, CDs and cassettes. All of the artists made it to my shelves on the basis of how they sounded in my car, home or elsewhere, not whether they looked good in their underware. I can assure you my decisions to buy Frank Sinatra, for example, were on merits that proved his acceptance over many years for vast audiences, not by him in a state of undress.
Solely attributing her seven years+ of success at the feet of Madison Avenue/Hollywood "production talent" alone, belies the fact that she actually sounds good at a live concert, to her fans... which I am not one of... the whiney sound is a bit much for me. But MY personal taste is no indication of someone else's morality. Lots of folks make moral judgements based on how others look... it unfortunate, petty and wrong.
I DO like HOW she performs, how she looks and acts... and think it is pretty funny to hear the ridiculous moralists attack anyone who is successful but does not dress or act like them...
When it comes to items of taste, I think we need freedom FROM religious types as well as freedom OF our own religion in public life... YOU like it your way... and I like it MINE...
YOU keep it to yourself as to your own tastes, religious convictions, dislikes and such... If you don't like something, just don't participate... do it your way, have it your way... and leave MY WAY alone.
Calling the young lady a "slut" or "no-talent xxxxx" as many have done with her, and other female performers is wrong... the girl can sing better than me, and I will venture to guess that she can sing better than the several thousand of us who chat here. She also LOOKS better than most of us do here, which I suspect is the source for "she is a xxxxxx" comments by both men and women here...
People who attack SUV's and their owners, usually don't have one themselves. Same with looks, talent and wealth. Folks who have less than other folks, usually hate them... the rich, the successful and the talented... Spears is all three.
Most church lady types DON'T have much taste or talent... if you claim to like coltraine, you probably have taste... but it is just different from MINE. TOLERANCE of others is not the "evil" folks here try to paint it as...
The "dad" comment was cute... although, you being a consumate "jazz" lover... "daddy-o" would have been more consistent.