The new women

Mariah who? Whitney who? Madonna who? Britney who? Christina who? Jennifer who? It’s not a coincidence that these women were absent from the Grammys this year; 2003 is the year during which each of these women becomes irrelevant in pop music.

Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton, Ashanti, India.Arie and Alicia Keys prove that the era of the dancing, prancing, overproduced and essentially talentless woman in pop music has finally reached its grateful end.

Kudos to the recording industry for recognizing this fact, although it still has a long way to go in how to present this new female talent.

As for the list of women also-rans, I predict that each of them will abandon their music careers within two years. Some will resume their acting careers, although Madonna and Mariah should just retire and become diva mentors. Britney will try to further her acting career, and Christina -- well, she’ll probably just continue her decline into decadence and become a porn star.

Eric H. Potruch

Westchester