Kitty Empire goes through the boy bands and male pop artists in the UK and the US, and points out how few are actually still successful, or even at the same level as Kylie and Madonna. The only two who even seem to come close are Justin Timberlake and Usher, and technically, they’re R&B. The sad and pathetic truth of why women are pop music seems to come down to one thing: sex appeal.

As Empire puts it: “As long as they gyrate and smoulder, and some sort of hook is present, the rest of the record can sound like an accident in an electronics factory, and no one will bat an eyelid.