determined by Michael Jackson, his lawyers, or his managers. There are different agents in this debate – from regulations to songs to plastic surgery and different houses – with the same capacity of agency. One of the most relevant aspects when understanding the extent of pop in its political and architectural configuration is to consider that the statements present in many of its products do not directly correspond with their reception, but instead convert themselves into issues of debate that can contain confronting ideologies. That is, the images may represent idyllic postcards in one context, but their comprehensive consideration (their association with the context) can transform them into other types of statements. For example, Jackson’s hit We Are the World 6 put forward an image of a happy, smiling global village, united in its efforts to help Ethiopians suffering a devastating famine. In its wake, a great number of discussions arose which examined notions of help versus development, humanitarianism, global 6 We Are the World happened because Harry Belafonte was watching television. It was December 1984, just before Christmas, and a news show informed the veteran singer and social activist about Ethiopian famine. Belafonte called his friend Ken Kragen to pull off a concert with different stars. Kragen called Quincy Jones to produce it with different musicians like Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder. Jones proposed Michael Jackson, who immediately got involved in the project, writing the song together with Jones, Richie, and Wonder. A secret cassette of the recording was mailed to different stars: Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, and so on. The group was called the United Support of Artists (USA). It sold more than 20 million copies around the world. The story of this production is a new urbanism in itself: beginning with the TV programmes, to the door-to-door FedEx’d cassette, to the telephone calls that gathered all these stars.
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