All day diva

Cher never did it. Neither did Beyoncé nor Britney. Katy Perry changes outfits eight times during just one song on her current concert tour.

That may sound excessive, but Perry, who performed "Hot N Cold" Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center, illustrates how hard it is to be a music diva these days. You have to get the attention of the media as often as you can. New hairdo, new tweet, new drama.

Diana Ross, Madonna and Mariah Carey never had it like this.

"When Lady Gaga's record came out and she was doing TV all over the world, I would say it's five times more than Madonna did," said publicist-to-the-stars Liz Rosenberg, who has represented Madonna forever and Cher for the past 12 years. "If they're not saying 'You're overexposed,' then you're not doing your job."

The attention span of fans in this ADD-like pop world demands something new constantly. The attitude of music lovers can be summed up in a song by another vintage diva: Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately?"

Perry seems to release a new single every five weeks. Jennifer Lopez zoomed up the charts with "On the Floor" in May, then disappeared as soon as "American Idol" went off the air. After three No. 1 up-tempo hits, Rihanna released a so-so ballad, and suddenly Nicki Minaj has replaced her in the hearts of dance-pop fans.

"The appetite is insatiable," said Rosenberg, just back in New York after a trip to Sturgis, S.D., with client Stevie Nicks.

Rising R&B star Keri Hilson fondly remembers what it was like to be a fan of Janet Jackson or Whitney Houston and have them disappear between album projects.

"I loved when you missed an artist and when they re-emerged, you saw changes," Hilson said. "But now you don't really recognize the changes because you see them every day."

The only change may be a new look for the next media opportunity.

'You need to be on all the time'

These days, there are media opportunities around the clock, whether the stars want them or not.

"Who wants to be on 24/7?" asked radio personality Julia Cobbs, who dishes daily about celebs on "Lori & Julia" on the Twin Cities station MyTalk (107.1 FM). "They make gobs and gobs more money today but they're losing their privacy."

"There is no privacy," interjected Lori Barghini, Cobbs' radio partner. "Look at Cher. She has embraced Twitter like a 21-year-old."

Longtime country queen Reba McEntire, who has scored a No. 1 Nashville song in each of the past four decades, knows the landscape isn't the same anymore.

"It's unfortunate," she said. "You need to be on all the time. No matter where you go, you're [fair] game. If you're business-savvy, you'll look presentable. There's not a day I walk out of the house without my makeup on and looking decent. We all want press, but we want good press, too."

Enter what Rosenberg calls the Glam Squad: the team of hairstylist, makeup artist, wardrobe stylist and dresser that's now part of the retinue of an all-day diva. Madonna never needed this much attention except on days when she was shooting a video -- and that was in the privacy of a soundstage.

Some, including Dolly Parton, even have assistants who send out tweets for them.

Any way you look at it, "fans expect much more," Rosenberg says. "They used to just expect a great record and maybe a little press."

Drama fuels the media

Lady Gaga is the master of the media moment. For her, every appearance is a performance -- whether it's arriving at the Grammys red carpet riding in an egg, wearing a dress made of raw meat on the MTV awards or being interviewed on "60 Minutes."

As gossip-loving radio host Cobbs puts it: "Lady Gaga dresses for Halloween every day -- sometimes three Halloweens in one day."

"The revelation of a lot of their lives is amped up these days," Rosenberg observed.

Drama, though, doesn't always equate with commercial success, she says.