[jabelk]

It seems like some baseline talent is necessary to make the strategy work. I don't claim to have any ability to judge musical ability, plus it seems many artists aren't writing their own songs anyway, so I'm not trying to comment on her merits. Just noting that she's chosen to shift attention from her actual music to these antics, which is a strange choice from my perspective.

[freyr]

Correct. A pop star needs a few ingredients:

* Have at least some baseline modicum of talent * Have access to talented songwriters * Have access to talented producers * Be attractive, or at least interesting to look at * Have a stage presence

Bonus points for: * Ability to dance * A salacious or intriguing "private" life

Many pop stars have singing talent in spades (Beyonce, Adele, Whitney Houston), but many others have proven that extraordinary singing talent is not a pre-requisite for enormous success (Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, perhaps Madonna).

I would say talent is less important now than ever. But this could be an illusion, as history is likely to forget pop stars who leave behind nothing memorable.

[Goladus]

The bonus points for "salacious private life" are short-term, often borrowed against the long term.

Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan are not exactly long-term success stories, even though they continue to be in the news and their popularity is still worth money.

[BrandonMarc]

And thanks to autotune, the baseline is lower than you'd think.

These documentary clips about the "pop star formula" (boobs + hair + autotune + writing talent from elsewhere) are rather instructive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soNLWoSMy1k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9tpOvYDqyo

(the 2nd clip about 1:30 applies the formula, humorously)

[mikeleeorg]

I don't know if she's thinking of it this way, but one could look at her antics as a marketing strategy (cough cough growth hacking? cough cough). This is an old strategy that many others in the entertainment industry have tried with varying levels of success.