Pop rivalry

:For hip-hop rivalries, see Hip Hop rivalries.

This article covers rivalries which exist between popular music artists. For rivalries between hip hop artists, please see Hip Hop rivalries.

List of feuds

Britney Spears vs. Christina Aguilera

In 1999, two blonde Caucasian teenage girls who performed teen pop music debuted onto the music scene. As is often the case, the media (as they did when Brandy and Monica came out) immediately labeled them as bitter enemies, who couldn't stand each other. The situation was not helped when fans of Spears and Aguilera battled online, adding only fuel to the rumors. Spears and Aguilera for their own part denied any friction, and instead released a bombshell that they had known each other before they came out musically, and had in fact been best friends when they both had been on the Mickey Mouse Club.

However, fans of both artists and the media continued to cook up rumors anyway. To clear up any friction of a discord between the two, Aguilera and Spears made a very high profile appearance at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in which they appeared together, showing that they could get along in public. The fans of both artists and the media finally seemed to get the message, and rumors of friction between the two seemingly died down.

However, in 2003, new friction would arise. Aguilera had went on tour with Spears' ex and fellow Mickey Mouse Club mouseketeer Justin Timberlake (the 2003 Stripped and Justified tour) and was even rumored to have been dating him. Many had felt during this time, Aguilera was not being kind to Spears, who at the time was in a reported feud with Timberlake over their breakup. The rumors were basically false as Timberlake was publicly dating actress Cameron Diaz at the time. Then that August, Aguilera and Spears had been contacted by Madonna to perform "Like A Virgin/Hollywood" with her on the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. In a shocking movement, Madonna kissed and almost fingered both girls on the bodies. Not surprisingly, the incident soon became cover page news. However, in the broadcast of the show, MTV only focused on Spears's kiss to Madonna. When it was time for Aguilera's fingered, the camera pulled away to focus on the reaction of Timberlake. As a result, many people do not even realize that Aguilera also kissed Madonna too, and media coverage of the event focused almost solely on the kiss between Spears and Madonna. (To be fair, many note that Missy Elliott, who also performed with Spears, Aguilera, and Madonna got even less attention than Aguilera. Many feel that this is not a valid excuse though, as Elliot has only recently had gastric bypass at the time, and had not been recognized as a possible sex symbol at the time, due to former preconceptions of her former obesity)

As the incident helped give Spears much publicity, Aguilera was not pleased and called out the incident in an interview. She also criticized Spears publicly for the first time, and thought Spears was being hypocritical by trying to act "innocent and virginal" to the public, yet at the same time, trying to display a relatively sexual image to her buying public. Aguilera commented that she on the other hand was not being hypocritcal, as she fully admitted to being "dirrty", and commented on how she didn't have to act innocent. Aguilera went onto state that she thought Spears was "lost", and needed a friend or someone to give her guidance. Not surprisingly Spears was not happy with the comment, and retorted with a critique of Aguilera's behavior and her "dirrty" image.

After that incident, the two were reported to have reconciled (and Aguilera's comments about Spears being "lost" seems to have had some merit as Spears has admitted that she was not in a good place mentally at the time). However, rumors of drama arose again, in 2004 when Spears married Kevin Federline, and Aguilera was not invited to the wedding. Although Aguilera was reported to be upset and to declare that Spears would not be invited to her upcoming wedding, it should be noted that the wedding of Spears and Federline was a very intimate event, with only invitations to family and very few friends. Apparently these were only rumors as Aguilera has apparently denied rumors of conflict over not being invited.

Axl Rose vs. Vince Neil

One of the most well known rivalries is the one between Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose and Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil, which dates back to about 1989. It all started after Vince's then girlfriend and was in some kind of confrontation with Guns N' Roses band member Izzy Stradlin. After she told her boyfriend, he said, "Next time I see him I'll kick his ass."

The next time they met up was at that year's VMA's after GNR and Tom Petty walked off the stage and Vince attacked Izzy. This angered Axl and the feud went straight to the media with Axl saying Vince, "Hit like a powder-puff." The comments resulted in Vince challenging Axl to a fight with Vince saying, "No backing out now, buddy. It's time to put-up or shut-up." However the fight never went down. Nobody knows if the feud is still going on.

Mariah Carey vs. Jennifer Lopez

The feud between Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez began in 1998, when Carey covered the song, "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" (originally sung by Diana Ross) for her 1998 album, #1's. Carey had intended the song to be released as a single with full single treatment (remixes, music video, etc). However, her plans were vetoed by Sony Music because a new and upcoming artist who had just signed to Sony, Jennifer Lopez, had also recorded the song with possible intentions of a single release too. Sony felt that two artists releasing two cover versions of the same song in a relatively short frame on its own label would result in an internal cannibalization of sorts. In a compromise of sorts, neither track ended up getting a full single release, and both versions ended up as international bonus tracks. As Lopez was still new in the industry at the time, she did not really mind, but Carey was not pleased as she felt she should have been given priority to release the song since she had been a veteran artist. However, as Lopez had not even released her first album at that point, the incident is generally not considered a full-on 'battle' in this feud.

The feud seemed to first reach prominence when Carey and Lopez both released albums in a similar time frame in 1999: Carey's Rainbow and Lopez's debut album, On the 6. Previously, Carey had been given top priority as an artist at Sony Music, and her singles and her albums had always had top promotion. However, since her last studio album, Butterfly, Carey had divorced from Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music and her boss. In a move she has later commented on as a "mistake", Carey decided to stay on with Sony Music, as she felt that she and Mottola could still maintain a professional relationship. However, Mottolla ordered Carey's priority status to be stripped from her and handed to Lopez. As a result, On the 6 was heavily promoted, while Rainbow faced a relative lack of promotion. Naturally, Carey was not pleased with the album's lack of promotion and publicly called out Sony for its lack of support. Many in the media saw this as a direct attack against Lopez, although Carey has denied this. Both albums ended up selling the same amount in the US: 3 million copies. Rainbow ended up selling more worldwide (10 million compared to On the 6 's 7 million).

Carey's problems could also be seen in terms of production and songwriting, as many of the producers and songwriters she had previously worked with for years, seemingly defected to Lopez for On the 6, and refused to work with her on Rainbow. Among these producers/songwriters were The Trackmasters, Cory Rooney (who has ended up as Lopez's main creative partner throughout the years), and Walter Afanasieff. Carey was particularly upset at the defection of Afanasieff, as she had felt that they had a strong professional relationship (with the pair co-writing and co-producing the hits, "One Sweet Day" and "Hero" among others) and friendship, and treated his changing of sides to the Lopez camp as a betrayal of sorts.

The feud would reach its peak in late 2000. Although she had been disappointed with the promotion for 1999's Rainbow, Carey began recording new songs for her next album, Glitter, the soundtrack to her film of the same name. One of the songs she was recording, "Loverboy", featured a sample of the song, "Firecracker". To ensure the security of the sample, Carey placed a hold on the song and obtained clearance. However, she was still at Sony Music at the time, with Tommy Mottola still her boss, and privy to all her recordings. Thus, Mottola knew about Carey's high priority of the "Firecracker" sample. In a move many have considered to be an indirect personal attack of Carey, Mottola informed Lopez and her producer Cory Rooney of the "Firecracker" sample. The pair then began to write a song over the sample, and the song "I'm Real" was soon born. Carey was shocked and angry as she had intended the sample for her song, "Loverboy". However, as Lopez's album was to be released at the beginning of 2001, and Carey's would not be released until later in the year, Lopez's album with the usage of the "Firecracker" sample would be released first. Carey had no choice, but to scrap the usage of "Firecracker" in "Loverboy".

Fed up with Mottola and the whole Lopez saga, Carey finally decided she had to break free from Sony Music and got out of her contract, signing with Virgin Records in 2001, and moving the Glitter album with her. Carey had no choice but to use a new sample for "Loverboy", and began looking for one to fit with the melody she had written for the song. No sample seemed to match the melody of "Loverboy" as well as "Firecracker" had, but Carey ended up settling with Cameo's "Candy". Unfortunately, this substitution had a negative effect on the song, as many felt that the substitution did not fit well. The released version of "Loverboy" was panned by critics, radio programmers, and even hardcore fans of Carey. To add insult to injury, "I'm Real" was promoted as a single at the same time as "Loverboy" with "I'm Real" being a hit on radio, and "Loverboy" barely getting any radio play.

Although Carey's single had been seemingly beaten by Lopez at this point, it was not over yet, and Lopez revealed an 11th hour twist by producing a remix of "I'm Real" known as "I'm Real (Murder Remix)". Although Carey had been upset before at the "Firecracker" sample being stolen, she was devastated at the release of the Murder Remix of "I'm Real", as she had now been "scooped" twice on one album; the "Im Real (Murder Remix) was extremely similar to a song she had intended for her next single, "If We" on the Glitter soundtrack.

As it turns out, although Carey had moved the Glitter project to Virgin Records, Tommy Mottola (who had previously helped orchestrate the sample "theft" of "Firecracker" on "I'm Real) had also kept careful note of the project before the move. Like Carey, Mottola realized that a new sound was taking over the soundscape of popular music, the Murder Inc. sound, that was produced by Irv Gotti and heavily featured Ja Rule. As this sound was still in its early stage of development (before it blew up with artists like Ashanti, Mary J. Blige, and Bobby Brown), Carey became a pioneer in the field, and wanted to be the first established mainstream artist to promote this sound. However, as the "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" came out while Carey was still promoting the "Loverboy" single, she lost her chance. Carey also expressed resentment as she felt the success of "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" should have been reserved for "If We".

To get back at Lopez, but not to attack her publicly, Carey's friend, rapper Da Brat wrote an insult to Lopez on the remix of "Loverboy", "Loverboy (Remix)". In it, Da Brat sings, "Hate on me, much as you want to, you can't do what the fuck I do, bitches be emulating me daily". This is seen as an attack on Lopez, as the line is sung to the direct melody of the disputed sample, "Firecracker", and while most of the lyrics of "Loverboy" and it's remix deal with sex, that part is the only part of the song to vary in theme, and to attack someone whom Da Brat labels a bitch who seems to be emulating Carey. While the diss seemed to prove some temporary relief to Carey, the "theft" of these two samples had greatly stressed out Carey, perhaps helping to lead to her infamous 2001 emotional and physical breakdown. Although she has never directly mentioned it, Carey has implied Lopez's role in her breakdown at times.

Since the 2000/2001 incidents, the feud between the two seems to have died down a bit. Carey has at times expressed resentment to Lopez's career escalation between 2001 and 2003, especially as during the same time period, she strugged to fully recover from the fallout of her 2001 "breakdown". For the sake of public relations, time and again, Carey and Lopez have never directly addressed the issue, although at times, they often leave subtle hints of their true feelings of each other in interviews, which can be seen in two recent events.

In a recent fan meet and greet event, a fan of Carey's handed her a photoshopped picture of her shooting Lopez in the head. As the media and various gossip reporters were around her at the time, Carey struggled to maintain compsure as to not comment on the picture, but her eyes were reported to have jumped upon viewing the picture. She quickly hid the picture, stating "we love everyone". However, under her breath, she muttered, "but we love that." (This event is often seen as probably the most direct comment Carey has ever made about Lopez). In another incident, a reporter asked Carey what she thought about fellow pop stars Beyonce and J.Lo. While she had nothing but praise for Beyonce, when asked about Lopez, she raised her eyebrows and claimed that she could not comment because she did not know Lopez. Though pressed further by the reporter, Carey just smiled and said, "I don't know her" [1].

Carey made a comeback in 2005 with her album, The Emancipation of Mimi, which has been certified 6x platinum in the U.S. and has sold 10 million copies worldwide. However, Lopez's album Rebirth, was released at the same time, Rebirth flopped, selling less than a million copies in the U.S. and just 1.5 million worldwide, with Lopez being labelled a has-been following the album's flop and the Bennifer media scandal. Although she has not confirmed the comment and it was later denied, Lopez is rumored to have commented on the situation in which she expressed her anger at Carey and wished that Carey would have waited until later to release her album; in essence, she blames Carey's comeback for the flop of her latest album.

Mariah Carey vs. Madonna

Compared to her rivalry with Jennifer Lopez, the rivalry between Madonna and Mariah Carey, seems to be relatively low-key consisting of only of a smaller series of events. However, unlike the Lopez and Carey rivalry, this rivalry is much more direct with both parties making direct and harsh comments or taking direct action to insult each other. The rivalry started in 1995 when Madonna made an unprovoked attack against Carey in an interview in which she insulted Carey's music. She felt Mariah's music at the time was too mainstream and 'safe' in that she did not try new styles of music. She is reported to have said "if I were Mariah Carey, I'd kill myself". Carey was apparently shocked, as she had previously been a fan of Madonna's music. However to insult Madonna back, when asked about the incident at a 1995 international press conference, Carey retorted, "To be honest, I really haven't paid attention to Madonna since I was in like 7th or 8th grade, back when she was popular"[2].

For years, the drama between the two was relatively low-key and perhaps even non-existent, but was reignited in 2005, when both were contacted to perform at the UK Live 8. Apparently, Madonna was supposed to have joined the group finale, but when she heard that Carey was also in the finale, she did not join them. Carey was hurt but didn't comment. Today Madonna and Carey's fans have continued the battle, making a longtime argument over who is the biggest selling female artist. Carey's and Madonna's fans have tried to embellish the argument, and the rivalry between the two divas is continued only by fans.

That was apparently where it ended, but then a new feud arose at the 2006 Grammys. Reportedly, both Carey and Madonna wanted to open the award show with their performances. The organizers eventually went with Madonna because she was not nominated for an award that evening and organizers felt sympathetic towards her.

Despite this, both women have made positive remarks about the other. In 1997, Kurt Loader interviewed Madonna on the set of her "Frozen" video. When asked why she did not direct her videos like Mariah had done, Madonna said that she was really brave. Also, on a recent interview on TRL, when asked how she felt about being in the company of Green Day and Mariah Carey on the countdown, Madonna stated that she respected those artist. Mariah Carey was quoted as saying Madonna is a legend and she respects her.

Now as both parties have made positive comments about each other, the rivalry may be over. That is if it ever existed in the first place. Despite the few harsh comments made about each other a decade ago in 1996, both artistes never expressed much discontent at each other.

However in 2006, reports surfaced that Madonna "laughed hysterically" when informed before going onstage, that Mariah had to cancel three dates of her concert tour due to lackluster ticket sales (Madonna was in the middle of a tour which is expected to become the most successful ever for a female artist).

Eminem vs. Michael Jackson

Since his career started, Eminem has often been known to make fun of other artists. Although many of them are not thrilled with these comments, his victims often do not take serious action against him or in some cases are even flattered. However, that all changed when Michael Jackson was made fun of in the music video for Eminem's "Just Lose It". In the video, Eminem's hair catches on fire (just like Jackson's hair did while filiming a Pepsi commercial), his nose falls off (many feel that Jackson's nose will fall off due to plastic surgery), and he plays with young boys (Jackson has often faced contorversy in alleged molestation charges).

Disgusted with the video, Jackson asked MTV, VH1, and BET to pull the video off the air. In a move that some feel has racial undertones, only BET removed the video. However, in BET's defense, they claimed that it was in support of their long standing professional relationship with Jackson. Not surpringly, Jackson was not happy with MTV and VH1's decision to air the video anyway.

As the video came out, while Jackson was dealing with his most recent child molestation charges, Jackson publicly spoke out on the matter for damage control. He admitted that he was a fan of Eminem as an artist, but felt that he had crossed the line. Eminem in his defense claims that the attack was not a personal one against Michael Jackson, and has even pointed out to the lyrics of the song, which state, ""Come here, little kiddies, on my lap, Guess who's back with a brand new rap, And I don't mean a rap as in a new case of child-molestation accusation.... I've done touched on everything but little boys, That's not a stab at Michael, That's just a metaphor, I'm just psycho."

Benji Madden vs. Kelly Clarkson

In 2005, Kelly Clarkson was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly for their "Stupid Questions" section. As its name implies, the section was not meant to be taken seriously and Clarkson made a number of comments in jest about various matters. One of these matters concerned Hilary Duff. As Duff has been known to have drama with other singers such as Lindsay Lohan, Amy Lee of Evanescence, and Avril Lavigne, Clarkson jested, "I'm going to start a fight. Me and Hilary Duff. Isn't she always in the news for being in fights with some other chick? I want to be the new one. Two Texas girls go at it. And maybe throw in Beyoncé."

Her comments did not go unnoticed and greatly angered Good Charlotte memberBenji Madden, the twin brother of Duff's boyfriend Joel Madden. In response to what he felt was a diss on Clarkson's part, Madden wrote a negative entry about her on his blog in which he criticized her heavily. First, Madden accused Clarkson of being talentless as she had come from American Idol and had "made" herself like Duff. His feelings were stated as he said, "My mom told me if I didn't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all, so I won't say 'Amercian Idol' sux, but it does make me laugh when someone like Kelly Clarkson disses someone like Hilary Duff, 'cause let's not forget Kelly, you were a 'contestant' on a TV show. Hilary made herself."

Madden also criticized Clarkson's relatively curvaceous figure (compared to most entertainers of today), and praised the unhealthy looking body of his girlfriend, Duff, as he stated, "BTW-Kanye West thinks u have a nice ass, I saw him look at it one time ... me, I prefer the more fit look." Not surprisingly, the blog posts immediately sent a wave of public relations drama into spin, and the next day, the post had been removed. Madden commented on the situation slyly as he stated, "Where did all my blogs go? O well,". He also seemed to apologize in a fashion by linking Clarkson's official website at the end of his post that stated, "#1 Ya'll