Canadian singer-songwriter Kiesza, known for “Hideaway.” (Izzy Fincher/CU Independent)
“What we really need is a femininomenon,” Chappell Roan sings in her hit song, “Femininomenon.”
It seems Roan’s call has been answered, at least in the music industry. Today, female powerhouses are dominating the charts. From Taylor Swift selling out The Eras Tour to Sabrina Carpenter taking TikTok by storm with hits like “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please” and Roan herself launching the next dance craze with “Hot to Go”, female artists are shaping the music scene.
The past year has been a significant one for women. In 2023, “Barbie,” with its predominantly female cast, became the highest-grossing film of the year. In 2024, Caitlin Clark changed the landscape of women’s basketball, with the NCAA women’s championship becoming the most-watched basketball game, professional or collegiate, in five years. Swift’s tour also broke records as one of the highest-grossing and most-discussed tours in music history. These cultural milestones seem to have influenced a continued rise of female talent in the music industry.
But the music world has seen female powerhouses before. Madonna, the ambitious blonde who took the industry by storm in the 1980s, is a prime example.
“The tides really started turning toward more female dominance in mainstream pop starting with Madonna,” said Mike Barnett, a professor of songwriting and music in the rock era at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Barnett credits Madonna with pioneering female ownership of her music.
“In her early career in the 80s, she took control of her business and ownership of her work, which was rare for female artists at the time.”
Barnett also points to Taylor Swift’s battle with her former manager, Scooter Braun, as another example of a woman reclaiming control in the industry. Swift left Braun’s company in 2019, accusing him of mistreatment and manipulation. Braun later sold the rights to Swift’s first six albums. To regain control of her work, Swift re-recorded the albums, labeling them “Taylor’s Version,” a move that only boosted her popularity.
“It’s good to see that she regained control of her own music and came out on top,” Barnett said.
Despite these victories, the music industry remains male-dominated behind the scenes. Barnett noted the persistence of gender inequality in many fields, including music.
“My mother was making ten cents on the dollar of what men were making in the ’70s and ’80s. That hasn’t changed much,” he said.
Still, Barnett is hopeful that the rise of female stars can help change these dynamics.
“Female prominence in pop culture can only help (gender inequity),” he said.
Jeffrey Nytch, a professor of composition and director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music at CU Boulder, links the current wave of female artists to the broader cultural moment sparked by the “Me Too” movement in 2017.
“We’ve always had ‘pop divas’ like Whitney Houston, Cher, Madonna and Beyoncé. What feels different now is that our female pop icons are part of the broader cultural moment of female empowerment,” Nytch said.
Both Barnett and Nytch are optimistic about the future. Barnett believes that talent now speaks louder than appearance and often, gender.
“If something’s good, it’s good. It doesn’t matter who makes it,” he said.
Barnett sees this as part of society’s gradual evolution toward gender equality.
“I’d like to think we’re at an inflection point, and if today’s pop stars can help drive us forward, that’s exciting,” Nytch added.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Alyssa Buccaro at alyssa.bucaro@colorado.edu.
