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          Big Reunion and The Voice prove one thing: it's nofun being an ex-pop star

The headline of the article is “Big Reunion and The Voice prove one thing: it's no fun being an ex-pop star.” The article was published by Marc Burrows. The article is dated the 16 ^th of May 2013. The main idea of the article to inform us why does anyone want to be a pop star? The solo career of a former boyband member, a guy with an exceptional singing voice and not a brain cell in his head. He was well into his 20s, and he'd been famous since he was 16, though his career had flagged after his first attempt at a solo career was met with indifference. By this time he was making PAs in regional nightclubs for £200 a night, and he'd often have to beg his management for £50 or £100 loans for train tickets. An adolescence spent getting off stools on cue and being told he was brilliant had left him woefully unprepared for the real world and he was incapable of anything as organised as booking his travel in advance. After a hard promo campaign, his comeback withered away – his album stayed in the vaults and he was dropped.

Meanwhile, The Big Reunion arena tour has been grinding its way across the country, showcasing reunited second-tier pop bands from the late 90s and early 2000s. Higgins and all of the Big Reunion acts – boybands 5ive, Blue and 911 and girlbands B*witched, Atomic Kitten and Honeyz – have two things in common: despite their stardom, none made music that was much cop, and each band had faltered and fallen apart after their audience abandoned them. The recent Big Reunion TV show, from which the tour sprang, brought us tears, bitter rivalries and unresolved issues – in each case the band had gone through a gruelling schedule, under enormous pressure, and then been dropped like a stone by a mercenary industry that valued them only as much as their last hit. It doesn't sound like much fun once the sales dried up.

Overworked and underpaid, under massive pressure with little hope of longevity, and facing a humiliating chase after the spotlight, with only the hope of the reality TV buck to follow: that's the life of the faded pop star. Cleo Higgins might be prepping for the next phase of The Voice under Will.i.am's supervision, and the Big Reunion tour is already booking ahead for Christmas – but it's hard to see why any of its participants are so keen to get back on the stage.

I think that many people want to become stars because now it is very fashionable and prestigious. If you have popularity, you have a lot of money.