Guardian
Tuesday January 22, 2002

More than a pretty face

Why are we surprised by a brainy female pop star, asks Louise Wener

Louise Wener

Women in pop. What a bunch of thickos. Britney is a virgin with mega-boobs, Kylie has a perfect little arse; a dozen others have hair appointments and weight disorders to be getting on with but none of them has much in the way of brains. Until now, that is.

This weekend, the Sunday Times announced the arrival of a new breed of female pop star. A clever one. Ana Ann, 19, speaks five languages, passed her GCSEs at the age of 13 and is now in her final year at London Guildhall University studying international relations with Spanish.

As if that wasn't enough, the multi-lingual songstress played semi-professional tennis as a child and has even found time in her busy recording schedule to take courses at London's Trinity College of Music and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Phew - we can all relax. Finally we have a bright woman in pop.

The truth is it's rare for a female artist to be thought of as clever. This has nothing to do with her brain power or talent and everything to do with the way rock journalists calibrate intelligence. If you look good in Hush Puppies and have a haircut that looks as if it was done by a monkey, then you score 10 intelligence points. If you know what was on the B-side to Mr Pharmacist by the Fall, you score 20 more. Can you write earnest songs about your girlfriend leaving you? Congratulations. You are a rock intellect.

Score more than 50 points and you are Thom Yorke from Radiohead. Never mind that you are a millionaire who writes songs about being miserable. Never mind that you've given up writing brilliant melodies in preference for recording free-form jazz jams and mumbling about the CIA being after you: you are a genius. Britney on the other hand is still a thicko.

The main obstacle to people crediting Britney, Kylie or even the Hear'Say girls with any intelligence is the accusation that they are "manufactured". So what? Every group that has ever sniffed the sacred hallows of the top 40 is manufactured. Whatever your rock credentials, a marketing executive will have pondered how best to con the kids into buying your records. Shady deals will have been made with expensive press officers; millions will have been spent on videos.

The main difference between Thom Yorke: genius, and Britney Spears: vacuous, is that Yorke writes his own songs. Well, as far as I'm aware Judi Dench writes none of her own scripts and I don't see anyone coming up to her at the Golden Globes and calling her a twit.

The point is, sustaining a successful career in pop music takes more than a pretty face and a bucket of silicone. It requires you to be sussed, streetwise, canny, and bright. It requires that you understand muddled recording contracts and the endless vagaries of marketing and media manipulation. It requires that you alone take control of the complex and contradictory game you suddenly find yourself involved in.

Britney would not still be where she is if she wasn't clever. Nor would Kylie, who has had the wit and intelligence to propel herself from bargain-bin has-been to all-conquering pop hero in the space of one short year - something that her last record company was patently unable to do.

I don't wish to knock Ana Ann's girly-swot achievements, but it seems more than a little insidious to suggest we hang out the bunting for a singing linguist with a few A-levels. Why do we still seek to measure intelligence by academic achievement? Surely it's just as valid to celebrate Britney's nous in realising that dressing up as a schoolgirl and proclaiming her virginity would make her rich. Or Kym Marsh for bringing up two children on the dole, lying to the makers of Popstars and having the good sense to jump ship the moment Hear'Say look as if they are about to go belly up.

I may be wrong but don't expect Madonna to be wearing a T-shirt with Ana Ann emblazoned across her chest any time soon.

· Louise Wener is the former lead singer with Sleeper. Her first novel, Goodnight Steve McQueen, is published in August.

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