WHM: Women in Music

SZA

Solána Rowe, more popularly known as SZA, has consistently been playing a big role in the expansion and revitalization of the R&B genre, especially through her exploration of new, experimental sounds. Her 2017 album, Ctrl, filled with its one-of-a-kind electronic production and unabashed openness of her experience balancing her relationships and stage life, provides a resonant and remarkable listening experience. She grew up being virtually the only black girl in the room, being raised Muslim in the mostly white suburb of Maplewood, NJ. Lots of her songs have become anthems for girls, especially ringing true for young black women. The artist and her music have monumentally helped them maneuver their way through life and inspire them to make a difference in whatever way they can: “I feel good being a black woman; I’ve always felt good. I don’t want to speak negativity into existence.”

Beyoncé

Few musical forces are as relentless and impactful as Beyoncé. She has the most Billboard hits, Grammy nominations, and MTV Video Music Awards of any woman. Beyoncé is unafraid to take chances in her work, and her bravery has resulted in tremendous album sales and sold-out stadium tours—not to mention a paradigm-shifting attitude around feminism and intersectionality. Beyoncé has increased the prominence of hip-hop culture and black language in her pop songs, and has easily demonstrated time and again that commercial musical successes and great art do not have to be mutually contradictory. Furthermore, Beyoncé is a fervent defender of social change. Beyoncé released “Formation” in February 2016, a song in which she overtly recognizes and praises blackness with lines such, “I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros / I enjoy my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils.” The video for the song, which was Grammy-nominated for Best Music Video, also acknowledged the recent events of Hurricane Katrina and the Ferguson riots, bringing awareness to important causes. Through her years of activism, she has consistently encouraged women to recognize their power and never bow down to the pressures placed on them by society: “I don’t like to gamble, but if there’s one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself.”

Taylor Swift 

Throughout her long career, Taylor Swift has been ridiculed, with critics constantly stripping significance off her incredibly undermined successful career. Nonetheless, she has never given in or taken a step from her rightfully owned spot on the podium. Having released a prolific amount of music throughout her fifteen-year career, including nine studio albums and close to two hundred songs, Taylor Swift has been recognized as one of the main contributors to the sphere of musical influence: “[Taylor Swift] has changed the music industry first-hand,” claims Jack Antonoff, Swift’s right-hand man in every sense of the world.  Her recent decision to re-record albums, specifically to revoke the ownership of her first five albums from the tyrannical hold of her former label recorder Big Machine and producer Scooter Braun, has been making headlines for the past year following her release of the re-make of her second studio album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version).

In taking a public stand to protect her music, she is re-writing the future for women in the music industry. Swift is standing up for equal opportunity in a community in which men are largely praised and in which women are often looked down upon. She uses her power, including her massive social media following, to amplify her voice exponentially and without fear. She reminds young girls that there is always room to be the first trailblazer in a group of followers and to live with courage. Her lyrics are full of lyrics that embody her feminist legacy: “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man.” (The Man, Lover 2019)

Patti Smith

Patti Smith is associated with completely inspiring an entire generation of singer-songwriters, specifically empowering women all over the world to leave their mark on the music industry. Influenced by her literary muse, French-born poet Arthur Rimbaud, Smith’s debut album, Horses, is the definition of an iconoclastic record. In the months after the record’s initial release, the Patti Smith Group played in shabby downtown New York dive bars. They became associated with the center of a global movement and the “godmother of punk” epithet that she is still known for today.  She holds a rare intelligence, and the unique way she sees things and goes about producing eye-opening records is nothing short of extraordinary. She combines her imagination, allusions, and political or pop-cultural perspectives to create truly inspiring work. You only need to read her songs and poetry to realize where she’s coming from. After having read her memoir, Just Kids, which highlights her eccentric youth living in culture-rich New York with photographer, best friend, and lover Robert Maplethorpe, I was able to gain even more of an appreciation for the influence she has made in the music industry. If you’re interested in learning more about the living legend, I would highly recommend taking a peek at her memoir, Just Kids. It is a one-of-a-kind re-telling of Manhattan in the ’70s and transportation back into the birth of the punk rock scene in the city, in which you can immerse yourself to fully understand the reason behind Smith’s devotion and desire to leave a mark on the musical world:  “To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It’s freedom.”