Next week, the October edition of NOCTURNAL is set to take over the Melbourne Museum for a night that you won’t soon forget.
Centred around the theme of ‘power’, organisers have put together a stunning event that will feature presentations and talks, as well as performances from the likes of equally powerful artists such as Ngaiire, Electric Fields, and Black Tree, plus DJ Christopher Port.
In anticipation of next week’s stunning event, Ngaiire has given us pretty special insight into the five artists that she deems to be the most powerful. From Beyoncé to Prince, some of the most iconic names are included in this list. Read on for more info, and be sure to check out details about NOCTURNAL below.
Ngaiire’s Most Powerful Artists
Beyoncé
Since Destiny’s Child, she’s evolved into arguably the greatest performers of our generation. The Parkwood machine behind her is tight. You hear one bad word in the media about Beyoncé and it gets forgotten in a second – her star power is so blinding. You’d pay her just to be in the room on a track.
The influence she has not just on the world, but on African American and black communities everywhere is important and one that will go down as iconic in the history books.
Kanye West
Whether you like him or think that he should be ostracised from any public platform ever, his contribution to 21st century hip hop is prominent. He definitely expanded the boundaries of hip hop production and lyrical content in ways that influence a lot of your favourite rappers today.
Someone said somewhere that a lot of people probably don’t realise how much he’s contributed because over the years, countless hip hop artists (and pop artists I might add) have capitalised off his contributions that now you’re used to hip hop today sounding like it does – which I think is true.
He 100% says some very very questionable things but the thing with Kanye is that he holds your attention when he talks. Despite how we feel about him, you want to listen to what he has to say whether that be to see what other BS you can crucify him for, or whether you want to see whether he actually has something profound and enlightening to offer about life – which I’d be so bold to say he does occasionally.
It’s a phenomenal hold that not many (if any) artists have, but also a dangerous one, making him a very powerful man.
Michael Jackson
They say ‘never say never’, but there will never be another artist like MJ. If there’s anyone floating in the universe, waiting their time to come to this earth and hit us with the same impact that Michael did, I’d be very interested to see what that would look like.
He made pop music what it is today, he made music videos what they are today. Babies will be born for centuries to come and still know who Michael Jackson is. I played my five year old nephew Dante the ‘Beat It’ music video and he sat there for nearly half an hour asking me to keep replaying it. MJ will forever be permeated into Dante’s mind even if he goes on to like other music just like me.
MJ may not be your favourite artist of all time but he came here with such a fury of fire that his global influence will tower for generations to come.
Prince
It’s really hard to believe he’s gone when you listen to him. There’s just so much life force behind what he does from his songwriting, to his guitar playing, to the way he enunciates words and how much sexual energy drips off every note he sings.
There are two people who never leave our backstage playlist when we’re getting ready and that’s Prince and Beyoncé. When I saw him live for the first time I was constantly saying, ‘Wow, he wrote that song?!’ You had Michael Jackson, but with Prince? You couldn’t compare the two. Prince was in a lane of his own.
I remember watching him thinking, they don’t make artists like him anymore. Yeah, he was a hit maker, but his influence as a musician on music makers today is widespread, and it doesn’t matter what genre you play now because he could do it all.
Madonna
Some argue that Madonna’s influence on pop far outweighed Michael Jackson’s and that could be true. Like MJ though, she will forever be etched in our minds and the minds of future generations to come. She left imprints not only on music, but on fashion, and also the way we saw sex paraded on such a platform.
You can’t name one cis female artist who hasn’t been influenced by Madonna, and if someone says they aren’t, then they’ve been influenced by an artist that has been. She paved the way for artists like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Britney, Christina, Kylie, J Lo, etc. Every artist longs to have the level of longevity she’s had.
She bossed so hard throughout the ’80s when the hugely popular artists of the time were predominantly men, and is still bossing hard now. She’s done this all by being herself even through her evolutions. No matter what she’s wearing, what she sings or what she does, the essence of Madonna will always be ‘HER’ and that’s monumental star power right there. Forever the Queen of Pop.
NOCTURNAL
Featuring…
Ngaiire
Electric Fields
Black Tree
DJ Christopher Port
Friday, October 5th | 6pm to 11pm
Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, VIC
Tickets: Melbourne Museum
