An Exploration of the Female Presence in Different Musical Genres
The popular music industry has been markedly male-dominated throughout its development during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Male singers, songwriters, and producers have long outnumbered their female counterparts, and even today, the number of women in the music industry is notably small. According to a study conducted by Dr Stacy L. Smith of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, between 2012 and 2021, 76.7% of musical acts featured on the Billboard Top 100 Chart were men, while only 23.3% were women. Additionally, the same study found that a sparse 12.7% of songwriters during the same ten-year period were women. The study does acknowledge that the female presence in certain genres, such as Pop and Dance, is higher than in traditionally masculine genres, including rock; even so, women continue to struggle for recognition in nearly every musical genre.
Due to the fact that particular kinds of music are considered to be more masculine, including rock and rap, female artists tend to be constrained to certain genres that are considered more inherently feminine. This is due to both the societal perception of these genres and the lack of precedent for women attempting to find a space within a male-dominated industry. Female singers and songwriters are forced to create space for themselves in traditionally male genres, while male artists often have the freedom to explore the genre of their choosing, making their involvement in stereotypically feminine genres less noteworthy. Similarly, female fans of genres such as rock and metal can feel just as marginalised as the musicians, with a 2014 article by The Guardian establishing the sentiment that ‘I shouldn’t have to like pop just because I’m a girl’. Thus, female musicians tend to spread themselves across many genres, however thinly, because of the necessity to create a space for women to enjoy and engage with the genre.
This essay will explore the challenges faced by female musicians, as well as how these difficulties have led female voices to become more thinly spread over various genres. In order to make a space for themselves in the music industry- especially in traditionally masculine genres- female musicians must often create particular niches for themselves within their chosen genre. This makes female-created music, regardless of its genre, inherently different from the music of male musicians. Through the examples of Queen Latifah and Mitski, I will demonstrate that the female presence in popular music, although sparser than that of their male counterparts, spans more genres of music than the male presence due to the unique struggles and experiences of women in the music industry.
The popular music industry is steeped in gender stereotypes and expectations. Certain genres are overwhelmingly dominated by both male fans and musicians, meaning that female listeners and artists are forced to establish their own spaces within the genre in order to enjoy it. One of the most notoriously exclusive genres towards women is hip-hop. According to the aforementioned study by Dr Smith, between 2012 and 2021 only 6.4% of rap and hip-hop songs were written by women. Despite the lack of female representation in the genre to this day, the influence of certain prominent female rappers on the music industry cannot be understated. As Gwendolyn D Pugh explains in her 2007 article about hip-hop and feminism, ‘Hip-hop is a cultural phenomenon that expands beyond rap music. Hip-hop has been defined by many as a way of life.’ This assertion makes clear that the sentiments present in popular hip-hop will not exist in a musical vacuum; rather, they will be taken on by the listeners. While male hip-hop artists in the 1980s and 1990s often employed misogynistic and demeaning language towards women, female rappers began to use their platforms to discourage violence and sexual abuse towards women and to create an environment within hip-hop where female musicians could flourish.
One of the most prominent examples of an artist who found success in the male-dominated genres of hip-hop and rap is American rapper Queen Latifah. Latifah, often referred to as ‘hip-hop’s first lady’, established herself in perhaps one of the most notoriously misogynistic musical genres and gained popularity, effectively paving the way for future female rappers and hip-hop artists to thrive. Britannica describes how her ‘success in the late 1980s launched a wave of female rappers and helped redefine the traditionally male genre’. By establishing herself as a powerful force within an industry of men, Latifah was able to create opportunities for other female rappers to succeed.
One of the most prevalent issues in hip-hop music that were vehemently opposed by Latifah was the derogatory depiction of women, both in song lyrics and in music videos. Margaret Hunter and Kathleen Soto describe in their 2009 article regarding women of colour in hip-hop how ‘the commingling of sex, race, objectification, and violence in contemporary hip-hop has resulted in a “pornification” of the genre’. Harmful depictions of women as sex workers deserving of abuse pervaded the industry, and due to the lack of popular female rappers, it was difficult for women to establish a platform in order to speak out against this misogyny. As her commercial success began to increase, Latifah made an exceptional effort to voice her disapproval of this aspect of the genre. Her critically acclaimed 1993 song U.N.I.T.Y. focuses on the sexism and violence faced by women- especially women of colour- at the hands of men, and the song’s commercial success helped to bring these ideas into the mainstream. The song repeats the phrase ‘Who you callin’ a bitch?’; a simple yet powerful proclamation meant to speak against the dehumanisation of women in popular rap songs such as the 1992 song by Dr Dre entitled ‘Bitches Ain’t Shit’. While Dr Dre’s song espouses the benefits of mistreating women for sexual pleasure, Latifah proclaims, ‘Every time I hear a brother call a girl a bitch or a ho/ Tryna make a sister feel low/ You know all of that gots to go’. While the most popular male rappers of her time were encouraging their male audiences to engage in sex with prostitutes who ‘ain’t shit’ and to ‘gets the fuck out after [they’re] done’, Latifah used her popularity to make it clear to women that ‘A man don't really love you if he hits ya’. As Hunter and Soto explain, female fans would often distance themselves from the subjects of these degrading songs in order to avoid ‘feelings of degradation or humiliation’. However, Latifah’s lyrics resonated with all women, and her message of unity opened a conversation about misogyny within the music industry that brought on a change in the hip-hop scene and a rise in female rappers. As a 2015 Refinery 29 article puts it, ‘Latifah called out the misogyny in hip-hop at a time when women in the industry weren’t being given opportunities to ask for much at all. She infused feminism into rap music when female artists were barely allowed through the door. And then she left it open.’
As previously mentioned, there are certain genres of music that are generally viewed as more feminine; however, the past few decades have seen the rise of music that embodies a uniquely feminine sound that is unable to be recreated by male and masculine musicians. There is often overlap in the themes addressed in the music of male and female artists, with some popular themes for both genders including love, loss, political discontent, and a desire to have fun. However, there is a unique experience about which male musicians struggle to write: the female experience.
Joelynn Snyder-Ott provides a twentieth-century perspective on the female experience in relation to artistic expression, explaining that “we know the sum total of our experiences reflects in our individual statements as artists, but as women artists we have been forced to see the world, ourselves, and other women as men see us”. Snyder-Ott goes on to explain that female artists are often encouraged to present their works through a male gaze, but she also asserts that female artwork will always differ from that of men and will therefore always be devalued. Although these statements from her 1974 article may seem dated, the lack of women in the music industry is enough to confirm society’s devaluation of female art. However, in recent years certain female artists have leaned into their feminine experiences and utilised them to create music that is unable to be replicated by male musicians. As Gayle Wald explains in her 1998 article about female rock musicians, ‘the performance of girlhood by contemporary female rockers encompasses a wide range of musical and artistic practices by women’. Although her article was written well before the work of the artist I intend to cover in the following paragraphs, her words certainly predict the change in female pop music that was to come in the following decades.
An artist whose work represents this inherently female musical style is the Japanese-American singer Mitski. Mistki rose to mainstream popularity by producing a type of music that contained an almost unprecedented representation of female love, anguish, and struggles. Mitski defines her music as dealing with the experiences of modern women, and thus she creates a particular sound that is unable to be penetrated by men. Although Mitski recognises the inherent femininity of her albums, she specifies this definition of feminine in an interview with the Guardian, explaining, ‘when I say feminine album, immediately the perception is that it must be soft and lovely, but I mean feminine in the violent sense’. She specifies that her music deals with ‘a lot of pent-up anger or desire without a socially acceptable outlet’, and that her music expresses the desires and pain of oppressed and silenced women throughout history.
Much like Latifah, Mitski has been outspoken about her struggles as a woman in the music industry. In an interview with The Ringer, she admitted that most of her love songs are not about other people so much as they are about ‘music and trying to pursue it and not feeling loved by it. A lot of the ‘yous’ in my songs are abstract ideas about music.’ As the previously cited statistics prove, it is exceedingly difficult for women to enter and succeed in popular music, and female artists are forced to create a unique style in order to avoid being overshadowed by male musicians. Mitski has established her niche as a singer who expresses the emotions of underrepresented women from all backgrounds. In her interview with the Guardian, she explains the intended message of her songs, stating that they are about ‘desiring, but not being able to define your desire, wanting power but being powerless and blaming it on yourself, or just hurting yourself as a way to let out the aggression in you.’ This is a desire and powerlessness faced around the world by women who are forced to live under the control of the men in their lives, and Mitski is determined to use her platform as a way to highlight these issues and give voice to the women who are not in a position to speak their minds. She expands on this in the previously mentioned interview with The Ringer, describing her songs as ‘a way to talk about a shared connection between anyone living under patriarchy who is not identified as male.’ Mitski is aware that she is only one of the billions of women who have suffered at the hands of men; however, she utilises her platform to provide a voice for all women.
Lyrically, Mitski has become notable for her ability to capture uniquely raw feelings of rage and frustration that can only be felt by a woman in a patriarchal society. In her 2012 song ‘Wife’, Mitski details the lament of unseen wives and mothers with lyrics such as ‘I cannot bear you a son, I have tried/ But if I am not yours, what am I?’ She also addresses the isolation and loss of self dealt with by many women after marriage, lamenting, ‘I daydream I'd give him a name of my own/ For I, even mine, even mine is unknown.’ These lyrics describe in heartwrenching tones the loss of female identity in a society that stakes all of a woman’s value on having children and creating a family. Women who do not live up to this ideal are considered failures, while those who do often lose themselves in the process. She also addresses the expectation that women should always be physically attractive to men, and in her 2012 song ‘Brand New City’ she declares, ‘If I gave up on being pretty, I wouldn't know how to be alive.” Her statement is furthered in the 2018 song ‘Nobody’, in which she describes society’s obsession with the bodies of women with the lyrics ‘I've been big and small/ And big and small/ And big and small again/ And still nobody wants me.’ Mitski is acutely aware that the constant struggle to fit into societal beauty standards is one that is felt most heavily by women, and her lyrics act as a form of catharsis through which female listeners can validate and give voice to their emotions. Her struggles within the music industry, along with her real-life struggles as a woman, allow Mitski’s passionate lyrics to resonate with women, who feel when listening to her music that they have found a place of understanding within rock music.
Similarly to other female artists, Mitski has not been immune to criticism- especially from men. She explains in her interview with the Guardian that ‘people cannot fathom the fact that maybe a woman created something from nothing, and that she has control over what she makes.’ Mitski has dealt first-hand with the disbelief of male artists and critics, who cannot reconcile her femininity with her artistic prowess. Further, she describes how some male critics attempt to romanticise and simplify her writing process by implying that her lyrics must flow out of her in a sort of peaceful, spiritual experience. Mitski rebels against this idea, and she asserts that her songwriting process is just as technical and difficult as that of any professional male musician. She rejects the notion that she exists as a sort of vessel through which some inner poet speaks, and she maintains that this view of her writing process is meant to undermine the value of her work. Despite the ideas of these critics, Mitski has proven herself more than capable of producing impassioned songs that outline the need for more female representation in all aspects of society, but especially in music.
Women have been systematically barred from success in the music industry for decades. Between the constant threat of harassment- with 67% of female artists claiming to have faced sexual assault within the industry- to critics that are quick to reject the authenticity and value of female music, women have always struggled to establish themselves in music. Thus, while male artists are afforded the luxury of existing within their chosen genres and being judged solely on their work rather than their genders, female artists are forced to either establish their place in a male-dominated genre or create an entirely different and overwhelmingly female style of music. In order to gain the freedom needed to produce their own music without being constantly compared to male musicians, female musicians must speak out against a misogynistic system and strive to establish themselves in an industry that is constantly rooting for their downfall. Gayle Wald describes how modern female singers and songwriters have discovered ‘new ways of promoting the cultural visibility of women within rock music,’ and she asserts that women in music ‘disrupt patriarchal discourse within traditionally male rock subcultures.’
Queen Latifah and Mitski have both found great success in their respective genres by focusing on women’s issues and creating a much-needed space for women in the music industry. Queen Latifah made waves with her ability to establish herself within a particularly misogynistic genre without catering to a male audience with self-deprecating or gender-deprecating lyrics. Furthermore, she actively fought these stereotypes in order to create more space for women within hip-hop. Artists like Mistki, on the other hand, are able to establish their place in the otherwise male-dominated world of alternative and rock music by creating uniquely feminine styles of music that are completely inaccessible to male musicians. Women produce vastly different music from men due to necessity. Female artists are not able to find a space within musical spaces with ease, and they diverge from both male artists and other female artists in order to prove that they are worthy of their place in the spotlight. Ultimately, female artists cannot be separated from the effects of their gender on their experiences within the music industry. Christiane Harassowitz and Britain Scott describe in a 2004 journal article the important role music plays in ‘women’s everyday lives, particularly when those women live in cultures where their voices are otherwise silenced.’ Through embracing ideals of femininity and equality in their work, Queen Latifah and Mitski both demonstrate the inherent need for women in the industry to use their platforms across various genres in order to assert the female right to exist within the modern popular music industry.
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