You feel that a "woman" this definition, is based on age.
I'd have to suggest to you that lifestyle practice, a sense of personal responsibility, and wisdom, would rate a female as a woman, not age.
There are a lot of 40 yr olds, both male and female, that are not adults, they are just 40.
Their ages are sufficient imo. But they qualify as women regardless of the critieria you choose, imo.
Also, it would be impossible for you to know for certain if ariana is a better live vocalist then taylor, as you say you have not seen ither "live".
Probably true. Since I've been listening to music for quite a few years, I'd like to believe I can tell the real from the memorex and the processed, even if it's just a recording of a live performance. But maybe I can't.
And yes, the industry , the music industry, the pop music industry, is infected with the habitual use of auto-tune.
10 Yrs ago, it was used to help correct "pitchy" singers, but now its become an effect that is applied to vocals like "chorus" or " delay" or "reverb".
Most female artists, the most popular, like Katy, or Beyonce, or Alisha Keys, will sing through it during live performance.
If this is so, then how are
you able to tell if they are good singers at a live performance?
Let me tell you how you separate the real singers from the pretty faces.......its like this. Whenever there is an unfortunate devastating situation that harms many people.....like an earthquake, and the music industry creates a show to raise money.......and they need singers to perform live.....you'll note that all these girls are nowhere to be found, and this is because, this is raw, live, and cant be cheated, and they can't do it.
This is why you'll see Paul McCartney, or Elton, or Billy Joel, or someone like Barry Manilow, or a country artist.....as they can actually take a mic and a piano, and do it.
But these girl?....They have to have a slew of sound men and vocal processing to hide behind.
Unfortunate, but that is how the music industry works, since illegal downloading destroyed the music industry.
I agree that piracy is a problem. But would not agree that the music industry has been "destroyed". The old model of the music industry was quite restrictive, and also full of graft and abuse of the artists. Adapting to new technologies has been difficult for some. But it has been liberating for others.
I can't really comment on the other stuff above since I don't watch regular TV, and haven't seen most of the benefit shows you're referring to, except a few clips here and there on YT. The last one I saw though on YT was "One Love Manchester", which featured Ariana, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, and Little Mix, among others, which seems to run counter to some of your comments above. I believe you can still watch the highlights of the show here...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlJ6mcpK7uj5H4yrww4S46h370WTWYTwQ
I think the clips are in reverse order, and should begin with the last clip on the playlist (ie Marcus Mumford's "Timshel").
They no longer want talent, they just want someone that can fake it, and do the dirty videos.
Now, Katy, Ariana, and Taylor are talented...sure.
But you can sit in front of MTV for 2 days and not see anyone who can actually sing, but they can all bump and grind and do the soft porn stuff and sing thru auto-tune.
However all this is not related to talent, its just the way the music industry now survives and teaches people who to like and listen to, etc.
Again, I don't watch regular TV or cable/satellite, including MTV, so can't really comment. I'm tempted to ask why you apparently do though, if you find it so unpleasant. (?)