Entertainment

13 Early 2000s Pop Acts You've Forgotten About

by Mary Grace Garis
Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

When you look back on the primo days of pop music and dust off all those compilation CDs at your mom's place, you'll notice a lot early 2000s pop acts you've probably forgotten about since the days of, well, actually playing CDs. The turn of the millennium stacked up on popular pop princesses, girl groups, and boy bands. Everyone wanted their turn on TRL. Years later, some of those stars are still solidly in our pop lexicon today, whereas others... well, their crowning glory set in nostalgia.

Music fans got a lot of great singles during that era from people who have just faded from the limelight, and now maybe (certainly not always) to have a fuller, richer life. For instance, Vitamin C was made VP of Music for Nickelodeon in 2012, and although I think of her approximately one time a year ( like when one of my cousin's kids graduates pre-school) that makes me really happy.

Whether that applies to all of these forgotten pop stars, we can certainly say that they made us happy back in the days of lip gloss and flared low-rise jeans. Cheers to them. Check out some of the early 2000s pop acts you've probably forgotten about below.

1

Samantha Mumba

This singer wanted you to come on over with a catchy single.

2

Willa Ford

Ford wanted to be bad, and... well, watch the video and see how she achieved that dream.

3

A*Teens

Filed under "supporting acts in Aaron Carter's 2001 national tour." They were definitely channeling another nostalgia favorite: ABBA.

4

Leslie Carter

Filed under "supporting acts in Aaron Carter's 2001 national tour that were also related to Aaron Carter." Incidentally, this song was pretty cute, but alas her career didn't last long.

5

Mya

It isn't that Mya doesn't chock up respectable YouTube views these days. It's just that my memories of her career begins with her in old-timey lingerie as the weakest voice in Moulin Rouge's "Lady Marmalade" video, and the after-thought Velma Kelly follow-up in Chicago's "Cell Block Tango." The latter is just because I watched "Chicago" last night.

6

3LW

Some of these women ended up being Cheetah Girls, so all was not lost.

7

Hoku

I feel like Hoku is always a primo pick on list like this because we remember her mainly for the Legally Blonde contribution and that's it. Really, I think it's another blonde association that makes her stick out: between the Britneys and Christinas and even the Jessicas and Mandys, Hoku was truly lost to time.

8

Christina Milian

Milian went out of her way to show you how to make your man sing and no one thanked her.

9

JoJo

JoJo was a young child when she started her career, so mad props to that.

10

Kelis

I don't think the universe (or the Mean Girls soundtrack) will ever let us forget "Milkshake," but Kelis herself has faded far from my memory when it comes to music.

11

Katy Rose

... but to be fair, the exact thing can be said of Katy Rose of "Overdrive" fame.

12

Stacie Orrico

Is there more to life? Maybe? Was there more to Stacie Orrico's career beyond this hot single? I mean, beyond a very steady and impressive streak on the Now That's What I Call Music CDs, this may have been it.

13

Fefe Dobson

Not your typical pop singer by any means. There's a band! There's a guitar riff! Rock on.

14

Ashley Parker Angel

An off-shoot of O-Town fame, which in the boy band pantheon still was just a bit shy of the top tier.