Pop Divas

They’re de-lightful, they’re de-lovely, they’re de-manding, they’re de-cadent . . . crikey, they’re divas, what did you expect? Now it’s time to get up a little closer (slowly) and hear these resplendent song thrushes in their natural habitat. From stage to studio, divas show all their natural colours and beautiful plumage right here.

Look: a diva without attitude is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. These women are stars, which means the rest of us circle around them, reflecting their light. And isn’t it delicious when one of them goes supernova, as they’re known to do from time to time? Allow Dannii and Delta to unleash their girl power in style.

As the great Renee Geyer confirms when she belts out the words of James Brown: “It’s a man’s world/But it wouldn’t mean nothing without a woman or a girl” . . . or a diva, of course. Here, in the realm of the überwomen, you’ll find U.K. footballers’ wives Victoria Beckham and Louise (Redknapp) with ’60s chart queens Cilla Black and Sandie Shaw.

It’s not entirely about having the hair, the makeup, the nails, or the 24/7/365 diet so you can wear those impossibly tight dresses at awards ceremonies. Sure, that’s all a big part of it, but it’s really about wringing that last drop of sentiment out of a tearjerker, and holding the F above high-C for weeks at a time. From Cher and Olivia N-J to Kylie and Britney, all the women on our playlist qualify as bona-fide pop divas, capable of bending men to their will with a song and the bat of glitter-dusted eyelid.