So popstrel Samantha Mumba's joke at last week's Brits is a pretty good joke.
Though her initial fears that Warners would turn her into just another bland popstrel proved unfounded, Carthy did have her own insecurities to overcome.
Now, dance music is very much like any other form of American pop - slinky, sophisticated and mostly sung by young innocent popstrels.
This neat row of obedient teenage popstrels reminded me of something we witnessed one Saturday morning in London, a few years back.
The pint-sized popstrel found success at an Elvis impersonators contest at the White Rose Shopping Centre, Leeds.
A screaming-chorus of local popstrels accompanies one song, a marching band of local trumpeters and saxophonists another.
Only a few months ago she was dismissing saintly coffee-table popstrel Dido as ‘rubbish ‘and deploring the ignorance of record companies.’
The existence of saucy young popstrels in short skirts isn't a bad thing in itself - we tend to think done well, it can be a very good thing indeed - it's the lack of parental supervision that causes the problems.
It makes their debut single, Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart, more interesting than the popstrel's rather histrionic version.