Video Vixens: The Ultimate Divas

Writer Marisa Meltzer, author of the new book ‘Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music‘, has curated a miniseries of contemporary women’s music for us this week. After the jump, Marisa’s fifth and final feature: the most iconic pop divas.

I love pop songs partly because they’re so ubiquitous that you don’t have to seek them out. You can hate pop music and still be able to sing along. Not to be too cheesy, but I think there’s something really touching and unifying about that. So let’s end on that note. Oh, and these picks are highly informed by my personal tastes and the era I grew up in, so please comment with your favorites.

Mariah Carey, “Fantasy” My favorite Mariah Carey song. This song almost makes me want to learn how to rollerblade.

Beyonce ft. Lady Gaga, “Video Phone” Beyonce’s Betty Page hair is this is ridiculously hot. I like that it’s a little breezier than “Telephone.”

Gwen Stefani, “Hollaback Girl” Karaoke terrifies me more than most things, but I would secretly like to do it to this song.

Marisa Meltzer is the author of ‘a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Power-Nineties-Revolution-Music/dp/0865479798/?ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269279921&sr=1-1&tag=gmgamzn-20″>Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music’ and the coauthor of ‘How Sassy Changed My Life’. She lives in Brooklyn and posts nineties ephemera to her tumblr, meltzer.tumblr.com.