FEATURE:
Credit Where It’s Due
IN THIS PHOTO: SZA/PHOTO CREDIT: RCA Records
Visionary, Real and Leaps Ahead: Will the Brilliant Music Made by Women Lead to Change Regarding Equality?
_________
THIS is a subject that I come to regularly…
IN THIS PHOTO: Ellie Goulding/PHOTO CREDIT: Madison Phipps
but I cannot help but think that this will be a pattern for years to come. Not to discount the music made by men (and non-binary artists) but what is being produced by female artists is phenomenal! I have already published a feature that listed the ten albums made by women this year so far. Since then, there have been stories and releases that emphasis the fact that female artists are dominating. I will drop a couple of pieces in there. We are only just in May, but the best and most extraordinary music so far has been made by women. There are a few notable aspects when it comes to the female artists established and rising. I think that the new breed coming through and defining genres. In terms of Pop, exciting artists like Dylan are adding their own stamp. That is not to say the Pop made by male artists is lacking something, but the personal, inventive, and striking music made by women is more indelible, original, and exciting. That is the same when we extend things across other genres. Even if certain genres are still dominated by men in terms of the numbers and representation cross festivals and radio, female artists in these genres are producing the most remarkable work. From the mighty and captivating Rock and Punk of Nova Twins to incredible Hip-Hop of Bree Runway, through the gorgeous Soul of Samara Joy, the words, vocals, and compositions are remaining in the memory much longer – and making a much bigger imprint in the mind.
It is not the case that they have more to prove or are shouter louder because of the misrepresentation and imbalance. I think it is a natural instinct and ability that has been present for a very long time. When it comes to Pop and Disco, there are various queens that one admires. Roisin Murphy and Kylie Minogue are two examples, but I think that Jessie Ware is leading that charge. With a faultless C.V. so far, her latest album, That! Feels Good! (released on 27th April), has received massive applause and acclaim. Maybe her finest album to date, there is nobody like Ware. I don’t think there is a male equivalent when it comes to someone who can mix Pop, Disco, and Post-Disco to such dazzling effect. This is what NME noted in their recent review:
“Jessie Ware is hooked on the feeling of self-expression. Labelling an album as ‘the real me’ is a line used all too often by pop stars, a declaration that often prefaces some lukewarm music, but the London vocalist’s fifth record feels genuinely enveloping: ‘That! Feels Good!’ is a maximalist tour de force of glossy pop sounds. A liberating collection that seeks to paint a three-dimensional picture of Ware – as “a lover, a freak and a mother”, as she sings on ‘Pearls’ – this album sees her embrace a Sasha Fierce-like alter ego in a celebration of dancing and female agency.
Ware has been working towards this moment for over a decade, constantly reaching for the stars throughout a fairly challenging career. With 2017’s middling ‘Glasshouse’ having been hobbled by an identity crisis, its follow-up, 2020’s ‘What’s Your Pleasure’, saw Ware illuminating her eccentricities; the latter’s strength was its total lack of subtlety, fuelled by Ware’s playful self-presentation and her use of big, thumping beats. Through it all, Ware’s newfound musical persona remained unmistakable: dramatic and theatrical, with a level of proud bravado.
Ware’s devoted following, and her many LGBTQ+ listeners in particular, have since turned to her for lively anthems that pay homage to the safe spaces made by and for the community. ‘That! Feels Good!’s 10 tracks often depict romantic relationships, but taken together, they are actually affirmations of self, a reflection of communal dancefloors world over. ‘Beautiful People’ doubles down on the sexual frisson of ‘70s disco classics, as well as inflections from the ballroom scene with its whispered vocals and marimba rhythms. The commandingly flirtatious ‘Shake The Bottle’, plus the aforementioned ‘Pearls’ – which was recently remixed by Brazilian artist and drag queen Pabllo Vittar – see Ware attack her lines via a precise staccato”.
Again, rather than dismissing the music of men, I wanted to highlight and emphasis the sheer quality and consistency of music made by women. I have used the term ‘embarrassment of riches’ before, but that remains apt. Every week seems to offer a potential year-defining album from a female artists. Not even half-way through 2023, who knows what will come! I do know that the end-of-year list will be heavy and made fascinating by albums created by female artists. Whether it is the intoxicating and earth-moving sounds of Jessie Ware or a tenderness and beauty that comes from an act like boygenius (Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker), there is this amazing array out there. Alongside established artists who are putting their names in the history books, those rising acts to watch closely are also delivering music that hits hard. When it comes to emotional honest and revelation, I feel there is a potency and depth from women that outstrips that from male artists. The same comes of something that extends beyond sound and style. In terms of image and the complete artist, women are standing out front. A recent article by The Guardian discussed SZA and how she is a very real artist. That realness might be in short supply across Pop:
“SZA is a different breed of pop star. In even her most glammed-up press shot, she is splattered with blood; in another, she’s coated in a thick film of mud, and on the cover of her second album, the emotional bombshell that is SOS, she sits with her back facing the camera, looking out on a vast ocean, in a nod to a famed paparazzi shot of Princess Diana. These are distancing devices – ways for the 33-year-old musician to armour herself against the leery intensity of fame.
It makes sense that she would have an inclination towards self-protection: SOS contains some of the most intense, emotionally scabrous music to grace the UK or US charts in a long time. Case in point: Kill Bill, the album’s calling-card, is hardly your typical pop radio fare. It’s an unapologetic, avowedly sober murder ballad, in which SZA sings over a diffuse boom-bap beat about killing her ex-boyfriend so that no other woman can ever have him. The production is plush, comically light, gilded with soft doo-wop harmonies, but the lyrics are brazen, galvanised and monomaniacal. Although named for the Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill’s revenge fantasy provides no real emotional payoff; its narrative is a cry of pure fatalism, with no return for its narrator other than a split-second of bloodlust. I heard SOS at a listening session a week before its release, and when Kill Bill concluded – with SZA’s emphatic “Rather be in hell than alone” – you could hear much of those in attendance let out an audible “oof”.
This week, the song finally hit No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after a long run in the Top 5, nearly five months on from the release of SOS. The album spent nine weeks at No 1 on the Billboard 200, making it the longest-charting No 1 by a woman since Adele’s 25 seven years before, despite not yet being available in any physical formats.
SZA’s success feels like a win for a kind of pop music that’s in short supply right now. The songs that had been holding Kill Bill from the top spot, Morgan Wallen’s Last Night and Miley Cyrus’s Flowers, feel boilerplate in their emotion, presenting easily digestible versions of post-breakup sadness and post-breakup empowerment respectively. SOS is captivatingly messy, not just in its sad, funny, sexually frank lyrics, but in its production, which makes room for a country-emo hybrid, 90s-indebted rap, and plugs samples of Björk and Ol’ Dirty Bastard into the same song. SZA’s remarkable voice, somehow husky and mellifluous at the same time, is instantly distinctive – but seemingly unlimited in its applications, so broadly does she modulate it here – and is the unifying factor; it allows her to experiment far more widely than a lot of her contemporaries. The closest comparison in recent memory might be Janet Jackson’s unimpeachable output at the turn of the 90s – a time of commercial and critical dominance in which she experimented with nascent genres such as trip-hop and contended lyrically with both her newfound status as a sex symbol and a deepening depression”.
Whilst I disagree that Pop lacks realness, and the likes of Miley Cyrus provide music that is not as affecting and challenging, it is clear that the leaders and shape-shifting innovators of most genres are women. That may be a big claim, but I see very few genres that are either defined by or what they are because of male artists. From brilliant rising artists like Iraina Mancini and Holly Henderson, through to the legends who are putting out stunning music years into their career, I cannot help but feel music is made much stronger and more extraordinary by women. There are brilliant male and non-binary artists who are geniuses and staggering talents. Kae Tempest and Antony Szmierek are favourites of mine. Loyle Carner is another artist I have a lot of love for. They are not to be downplayed or seen as inferior. My point is that, whilst this obvious dominance and brilliance from women is coming through and shows no signs of slowing, it is not being reciprocated by the industry. I have written extensively about festival imbalance. Bills are starting to even out when it comes to genre, but the headline spots are largely occupied by male artists. Even if professional studios feature very few women, there are incredible self-producing artists that are inspiring women to go into production – and studios and the industry should recognise that are affect change and a better working culture.
Also, I still find radio playlists are a little skewed towards male artists. So much brilliant and impactful music is being overlooked and put aside to make way for men. I hope that things change next year. With so much sexism and gender inequality throughout the industry, how long will this go on?! There are so many visionary and exceptional women in music that are ensuring that the music made today will be heard and admired decades from now. I have asked before whether change will come. Whether the strength of female artists will be noticed and respected. I feel we will see some improvements. It is amazing (though not surprising) that so much phenomenal music is being made by female artists. It is a shame that the industry is so slow to bring about parity. From there being fewer opportunities for women (compared to men) to the abuse and discrimination many face, it is obvious things need to get better! Even if there is a long way to go, there are shoots and leaves blossoming that point towards parity and recognition. I want to embrace and celebrate male and non-binary artists, as they are essential and brilliant. I do feel that, notably, women are putting out music with that extra edge and depth. This year is definitely no exception! Everyone hopes that we see huge leaps forward regarding inequality and discrimination. I do feel that 2024 is…
A year where things get a lot better.