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It’s not exactly a trade secret that success in the music industry is one part talent, many parts stage presence. To that eye-catching effect, our favorite performers have turned transformation into an art, keeping their fans guessing about their next single, but also about what they’ll wear next. While some take this from the envelope-pushing to the shocking (with Lady Gaga and her motorcycle-woman Born This Way cover in a category all of their own), all of these artists have challenged our senses in more ways than one.

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Lady Gaga Although opinion splits somewhere between calling Lady Gaga a visionary and a nutcase, there’s no denying the huge influence that this Houdini has had the style world. Moving at lightning-quick speed, she has the bravado to switch between pieced-together ensembles to haute couture and back.  Besides, who else could inspire us to go pants-optional?

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The mama of Mama Monster, Madonna arguably originated multiple key looks of the 80′s: ripped tights, lace gloves and (cone-shaped) innerwear as outerwear. A daring provocateur, she enraged the Pope and churned out multiple hits, both sartorial and musical.

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More shape-shifter than trendsetter, David Bowie treated fashion like a form of performance theatre, adopting a different persona for his various phases. From the cutting minimalism of the Thin White Duke to the gaudy androgyny of Ziggy Stardust, each Bowie was an icon in its own right.

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The queen of one hundred (and counting) wigs, Nicki Minaj shakes up her creative personality with almost every appearance. One of the few singers out there with enough talent to back-up such chameleon-like switches, Minaj performs equally well as the scarf-wrapped Nicki Teresa as the artist formerly known as Nicki Minaj who we all know and love.

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Rather than bouncing from one look to another, Beyonce stays loyal to her one and only alter ego, Sasha Fierce. Born from the title album I Am … Sasha Fierce, the two different sides or the record, one upbeat and the other soulful, allow Beyonce, as well as Sasha, to explore multiple aspects of their creative personalities.