The public is slowly but surely turning against Gaga. Between Adele coming along and making her whole presentation seem childish and silly...all the questionable press (BTW/EY plagiarizing claims, selling the album for 99cents, her promising the 'album of the decade' when it was anything but)...and now Madonna, the still active star who the public generally considers her to be a 2.0 version of, coming back out and dismissing her as "Reductive," something about the earth just doesn't seem too steady where Gaga is concerned now. I think BTW really only did as well as it did because she was still on a high from the success of The Fame and it was able to sponge off of it. The reviews have always been mixed. Only her stans seem to adore the album; the casual fans seem less satisfied with it, and I can't tell that she made too many NEW fans during this era. Despite most of the singles going top 10, only BTW and EOG had any real impact. "Judas" and "You and I" both sort of floated in and out of the top 10, not making much of a dent...and by the time "Marry the Night" came out, it's like the public and radio was tired of pretending that another Gaga single was something to automatically jump on. Now she's rush recording a new album, which seems like an act of desperation because BTW didn't have the legs it was supposed to.

As far as Katy goes. Meh. I consider a 2011 version of Fergie. Flaky, frivolous pop music that 14 year old girls and 20-something gay guys appreciate. Soon as those 14 year old girls music tastes start to mature and those college age gay guys graduate and their lives isn't all about partying, Katy will be in trouble. Linda Perry was right when she called her music "microwavable pop corn," because that's what it is. After the first 2 singles or so from Teenage Dream hit, radio just felt "safe" with her and so they automatically put the rest of them in heavy rotation and the frivolous pop corn eaters ate it up because it was there.

Both Gaga and Katy have been so overexposed these past few years (not to mention the clones they ushered in like Ke$ha) that they almost HAVE to take a break now to avoid a backlash…but here's the thing: that type of dance/electro/euro pop that they do has been going on for about 4 years now. And while it's still popular, I think at this point it continues to dominate more because that's just what's there in abundance. People are starting to get sick of it, and I suspect 2012 is gonna be a year susceptible to a new crop of artists and a change in music DURING Gaga and Katy's absence. When they return, if they try and serve up "2009-2011," it's gonna automatically flop because music will have moved on from that...but, at the same time, how likely will they be able to adapt to whatever style is next when the public sees them as "California Gurls" and "Poker Face?" Honestly, I think what happened to 50 Cent is gonna happen to them.