Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, so small admit I loved some Britney Spears and still use her perfume. I am also a huge fan of pop music. I have however, never heard of Princiotti, but I think I am going to do some research on this Pod Cast because I love going through the Nostalgia of the past and how things used to be. These women were all incredible and seeing some of the way things "panned out" was remarkable.

Great informative Read.

This book gave me a greater look into the female artists I grew up listening to. I learned so much that I didn’t know. A great read!

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advance copy of this book that looks at a time that music, culture, and the way people viewed celebrities began to change starting with a song that shook the industry, with a legacy that continues to this day.

I worked at an independent music store during the 90's. In my short period of time there I had seen a lot of things genres rise and fall. Hip hop making inroads in places most music magazine feared to tread. Dates and times get a little hazy, but I am sure I left well before the end of the century, for a job in magazines, there by giving me a foot in two different industries that were soon to change. I know I missed Britney Spears, though I do remember my friends talking about how they could sell anything with Britney, pricey import singles, even vinyl dance remixes. Not only was a new kind of music being born, the way of hearing and more importantly the way of getting music was changing. ITunes was only a dream when I left, within a short time people were buying singles online. Or getting them through other means. Fashion, media, the music industry, even how songs were written and produced was effected by the the women featured in this book. And their legacy is still being debated, argued and studied today, as in this book, which also celebrates them. Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyoncé, and the Women Who Built Pop's Shiniest Decade by podcaster, writer and fan Nora Princiotti is a history of the women who sang, danced, suffered, thrived, and made people want to move and lipsync, dress and download the songs of their heroes.

The book begins with a young woman working hard to get money for an album that meant everything to her. HIllary Duff's Metamorphosis. To the author, Duff was everything, on everywhere. On TV, on movie screens, and on the radio. From there we start at the genesis moment, Britney Spears in a video with a song that had been passed over by other artists, one written by Swedes to who English was a second language, but who understood beats and production, along with a singer who wanted what she wanted. And soon the idea of young women singing songs like Britney was what every label wanted. Instead they got a mix of musicians and talent that made something even better. Princiotti covers all the major players, Mandy Moore, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, Avril Lavigne, Beyoncé and coming in to sweep the bases Taylor Swift. The book looks at not only the music, but the producers, and how some of songs were created, along with the changes that were going on in the record industry. Princiotti profiles the singers giving full warts and all coverage to problems, mistakes, and in some cases a lot of foot-in-mouth syndrome. Along with music Princiotti looks at who celebrity coverage was changed, the rise of tabloid media even in what was once considered the classier of magazines. Princiotti also looks at the legacy of the music on culture today.

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected. I guess as a person who loves music and lyrics, and a man, I tend to look at pop music with the idea that it is disposable, and not worth hearing. What surprised me was how many songs I knew without giving it much thought, and how good and how well these songs hold up. Much of this has to do with Princiotti's writing. Princiotti is a fan, but a fan who is not afraid to say, yeah that was bad, that was ill timed, and that wow. Princiotti is funny, but at the same time very informative looking at songs from a technical sense, and from the perspective of a young woman hearing it for the first time. Princiotti covers the dark side, the use of these women, the way they were treated, and how some of the producers should be shot into the sun, but still work with young artists. A very comprehensive look at a genre of music I find myself sad that ignored so much of.

Music fans and historians will get a lot from this, as well as fans of the artists listed. A really good gift for people of a certain age, who grew up with this on radio, and MTV. I enjoyed this quite a bit, and I will be following Princiotti podcast, and look forward to more books by the author.

Despite the book's cover looking like it took a boomer 25 hours to make it in MS Paint (sorry), this is an excellently written book from Nora Princiotti. She traces the history of female pop stars from the 1990s - 2010s but with specific emphasis on the 2000s. It's a cultural analysis of the music and pop culture of a very interesting decade in history. Singers covered here include Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ashlee Simpson, Avril Lavigne, Lady Gaga, and more. Any fan of any of those singers will love this! The writing style is fun and engaging. I did notice a few errors (Rihanna is not featured on T.I.'s "Whatever You Like", the author meant "Live Your Life"), but for the most part everything I read was accurate. (I'm a walking encyclopedia of music facts, so I tend to notice these things more than most.) I would definitely recommend this book!

I was so excited to see that Nora Princiotti was putting out a book! I love her pop culture podcast and was thrilled to read this book covering the all the big names of the early 2000s. This book made me feel so nostalgic. It was like taking a time machine back to elementary and middle school. It hit on all of the pop girlies I used to listen to back then. This was well-written and it was easy to tell that a lot of thought and research went into it. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this. Although I’m about ten years old than Nora, I vividly remember everything in this book and it was a fun nostalgia trip with some valuable insights. This is a book that I would normally listen to as it has a more “listening vibe” (similar to Kate Kennedy’s book) due to her podcast background. Nora is funny, engaging and peppers the book with in jokes (aka Taylor lyrics!). If you have not yet listened to Every Single Album, YOU MUST (#repgirlsforlife).

Hit Girls Review

I’ll just get this out of the way: I loved this book. Like it will make my top books of the year sort of book. Thank you @netgalley for a copy in exchange for a review!

Nora Princiotti is one of my favorite podcasters. She hosts the podcast Every Single Album along with Nathan Hubbard which initially started out as a podcast taking a closer look at each of Taylor Swift’s albums. It has since evolved into a podcast that reviews and commentates on other artist’s latest pop music. Like her podcast, I found Hit Girls to be an informative, entertaining and nostalgic look at the evolution of pop music from 1998-2012 by focusing on the big playmakers who made it happen like Britney, Beyonce, and Avril Lavigne. The entire book is basically the order in which I grew my childhood CD collection.

While I came for Princiotti’s commentary, I stayed for the nostalgia. In today’s world, where the US is in constant turmoil, I found myself embracing the nostalgic escape this book offered and remembering simpler days like: Why was my …Baby One More Time CD baby pink and my friend from summer day camp’s Blue?! Or: “I finally figured out why I never pay attention to lyrics or realize 5 years later what a song is actually about! Lyrics from songs from critical periods of my young music listening years were nonsensical! (Looking at …Baby One More Time and I Want It That Way)

Pop music was not considered “real” music in the same way people try to other romance books as not “real” literature. Listening to pop music by female artists and boy bands always “othered” people who enjoyed listening to it. It wasn’t cool unless you were an 8 year old girl. As Princiotti puts it “Pop is a youthful genre, but the language used to describe it is often condescending…Fans are “teenyboppers,” artists “pop princesses,” and the music itself a “guilty pleasure.” What Princiotti accomplishes with this book is illustrating the work that it took for pop to be the respected genre that it is today and how it finally broke out the shadow of constantly being compared to rock music.

If you’re looking for a hit of nostalgia and a closer look at the modern history of pop music, look no further than Hit Girls. It’s an absolute gem. Pub day July 1, 2025.

I really enjoyed this non fiction by Nora Princiotti. As a millennial (a bit older than her), I appreciated the look at the 2000s' music and how it changed. The writing was easy to understand and the chapters were long-ish (I'm used to fiction), but not hard to get through. I think people interested in pop music, millennials, etc. will enjoy Nina's book.

Names of icons like Britany Spears, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson are known to many.

Guy by name of Max Martin? Not so much.
His influence with some of these icons is far reaching and how sometimes nonsensical lyrics fit the music was something was unaware of until now. Recently read a biography on the Swedish phenom group, ABBA, and was fascinating to see how similarly, Max Martin, a fellow Swede's Swedish culture influenced his songwriting.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine , via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#HitGirls #NetGalley

I received a free copy of, Hit Girls, by Nora Priniciotti, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Britney, Avril, Taylor, Beyonce, Ashlee, Kelly, Lindsay, Paris, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Carly Rae, and so many more stars of the 2000's are talked about in this book. This was an interesting read.

I loved this book for its nostalgia but also its witty insights into how popular culture shaped American attitudes of the early 21st century. Using Britney Spears as an insight into the changing century was captivating; and provides a distinctive way of thinking about American life other than larger changes that are less significant to ordinary average citizens like foreign policy and politics of the day.
Each chapter focuses on a person or trend. To understand our popular culture today, this book provides some key history. Princiotti make ssa good case for the rising influence of Taylor Swift on cyberculture and fandom and the importance of Beyonce in the early 2000s before she became a major solo artist and mother than she is seen as today. The last couple of chapters are also engaging, as she makes the case that by the 2010s, culture was changing away from these dominant females to other celebrities, as well as how we interact and follow them as fans.
This book is great for anyone who wants to understand how the early 2000s music scene fits into the larger trend of American pop culture history, and wants to think a little more deeply about the celebrities they followed closely in their younger years.

A solid 4.5 stars rounded up. Requested this right away when I saw it on NetGalley as I am fan of Nora Princiotti’s work and often listen to her talk about music, pop culture and football. Hit Girls takes a look at how the female pop stars of the 2000s changed the game in music and their lasting cultural impact. In many ways, they paved the way for the pop renaissance of Chapelle, Olivia, Sabrina, etc. we’re currently living in. A perfect combo for my pop culture sociology loving brain.

This book spans the time from the explosion of Britney in my early teen years to Gaga at which point I was a grad student so I feel like I’m in the target demographic. And while I was just as hooked on Burlington’s rock station 99.9 the buzz and emo as a teen, pop music was undeniable during this time. To paraphrase Nora early on in her book, rock’s dominance faded away during the early 2000s in part because pop was flexible with genre in ways rock was not, altering what genre in all together. In a series of essays Nora explores the way the culture at the time embraced the music of each artist and how that artist then impacted the musical and cultural landscape moving forward. While it would be weird to write a book without Britney, Beyoncé and Taylor and I liked those essays, the ones that were most interesting to me were subjects I have spent less time reading about. I really enjoyed the chapters on Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and the “Bimbo Summit”.

To wrap it up, this book was tightly edited(!) which is always appreciated. Nora writes like she talks—thoughtful, intelligent and a little goofy—which makes this accessible, yet personal anecdotes never went on so long I felt like it was losing the point. Overall, I appreciated this book as a chance to reflect on my own relationship to pop music as well as its larger place in culture. I even learned a few things along the way (Zapoleon, 1996 Telecommunications Act, etc.). Recommend to anyone who likes reading about music and pop culture.

Posted on Goodreads and Fable

I loved this book! It's well-researched and approachable, and as someone who is of the same generation as the author I experienced a really enjoyable kind of recognition. I knew a lot of the things she talked about really well (like particular songs and singers) but didn't know a lot about the larger cultural and societal factors shaping these things. The discussions of Avril Lavigne, and Rihanna were especially gripping, to me, but I enjoyed all the chapters.

The introduction to this book is quite possibly the most relatable thing I have ever read. I could have written it myself, honestly. I requested this book because I am obsessed with all things Taylor Swift, but ended up learning more about pop music than I ever imagined. I really enjoy Princiotti's writing style and tone. I greatly enjoyed this novel.

The cover got me. As someone who grew up in the late 90s early 2000 it brought me back reading about all the girls in this time. Light hearted, easy read that overall I enjoyed. Thanks to NetGalley for an early arc for a honest review.

The cover got me and I knew I needed to read this book. I was having the time of my life in the early 2000s and this exploration of women in music and pop culture at that time was super enjoyable. The author has done a ton of research and laid this book out in an easy to follow manner. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I've never been a big celebrity person. Couldn't even name every member of my favorite bands or all the actors in my favorite movie (except maybe The Mummy, but that's just a requirement for all bisexuals). That being said, there's always been a certain fascination for me about how celebrities and their work fit into the wider culture. Namely, what the popular celebrities say about what was going on during a certain place and time. So when I saw "Hit Girls," by Nora Princiotti on NetGalley, I was intrigued.

"Hit Girls" follows a variety of female popstars through the cultural 2000s. I say "cultural" 2000s, because (as the book points out) the culture we think of when we think of that decade didn't begin in 2000 or end in 2009. The book suggests it started in 1998 (when Britney Spears made her debut) and had it's last gasping breaths in 2012 (when Lorde's "Royals" became a hit). It discusses different pop stars and what they represented both in the industry and the wider culture. How the individual women changed popular culture together.

There was a bit of a stumbling block right out of the gate for me with the talk of the Y2K bug. It was the classic "lol, remember that thing that was all a fuss about nothing?" When, in fact, a lot of computer programmers worked diligently to prevent the issues that could have arisen around the turn of the millennium. It's easy to misconstrue a problem that was prevented with a "fuss over nothing", but it's still frustrating to see from a nonfiction book.

Still, I liked the book's general flow. Each chapter is set around a specific artists or moment, with an expansion on how it contributed to the shifts in the culture. I was also happy at the deeper topics the book was willing to discuss. It went into the internalized misogyny around the marketing of Avril Lavigne as the "anti-Britney" and the racism that kept Black artists out of traditional celebrity spaces (magazine covers, for example) even as they were consistently topping the charts.

I will say that the chapter on Taylor Swift and the concept of fandom was a bit rose-colored. It talked about how the artist began growing her fanbase early in her career and how useful it was in getting her career jump-started in a traditionally male-dominated genre. But the author only talked about fans/stans and their love for the artists in positive terms and ignored the darker sides. As someone that knows just enough about Taylor Swift to know "Gaylor" is a thing, it felt pretty glaring to omit the issues with such extreme parasocial relationships. At least the author admits her bias as a hardcore Swiftie.

Overall, the book isn't terribly long or in depth, but it is a nice turn through a decade gone by. At least, all the millennial girls, gays, and theys will get a fun walk down memory lane. (This book reminded me that I'd forgotten to put Aly & AJ's "Insomniatic" on my nostalgia playlist and I thank it for that.) Overall, a fun pop history read for those that want to watch an author take potshots at Justin Timberlake.

As a girl of the generation raised by these "hit girls" I loved reading this book which felt like an homage to these queens. I couldn't get enough. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Hit Girls by Nora Princiotti is such a fun and nostalgic read for anyone who grew up with 2000s pop stars—or just loves pop culture history. Even though I’m not American, I knew every single artist in this book (okay, maybe Taylor Swift a little less), which just goes to show how massive their impact was. These women weren’t just pop stars; they were cultural icons, and so many of them are still shaping music today.

Reading this took me right back to my childhood. I remember being at an activity center/day camp when someone pulled out a CD, and we all gathered around to listen. Flipping through the little booklet, reading the lyrics, staring at the pictures—it was almost like a sacred ritual. Britney Spears, in particular, has been one of my favorite artists for as long as I can remember, so revisiting her story (alongside so many other legends) was a real treat.

Princiotti structures the book as a collection of essays, breaking down each artist’s career with just the right mix of insight and appreciation. It’s fun, informative, and packed with great cultural context. If you love 2000s pop or just want to relive the magic of that era, this book is definitely worth a read!

This is a fun, mostly light-hearted, analysis of women in pop music from the years 2000 through 2010 (give or take). I am older than the author so was more of the college/young adult age during this time, so my connection to the music is different, however I still enjoyed reading it. I received a digital arc of this book via NetGalley.