Over the last few months, the connection between music and gender has intrigued me. Particularly, the rarity of men frequently listening to female artists. I don't know where this idea came to me, but I asked all my male friends which female artists they listen to, and to my surprise, most of them could not name one they had recently listened to. Even my closest friends, who are exposed to plenty of female artists by me, do not listen to any in their own time, even when they frequently acknowledge that they like certain artists. Women on the other hand listen to a more even gender breakdown, with a bit more women. I, for instance, have flipped between male and female artists as my number one most listened-to artist for years. Obviously, my friends are not representative of the entire world- so I took to statistics.
The Argus, an English newspaper, listed the top ten songs streamed on Spotify in 2022, and only one of them was by a female artist. Shockingly no, it's not by Taylor Swift, but Kate Bush, with a song written nearly forty years ago.
As I'm sure you all know, this song regained popularity following its appearance in the climax of season four of Stranger Things. A show directed and written by a vast majority of men and created by the famous Duffer Brothers, whose most famous controversy involves them abusing multiple female coworkers. On a positive note, it was the female music supervisor Nora Felder credited with the idea to include this song, undoubtedly one of the most successful moves of her career.
But don't worry because Swift does make an appearance, as the only female in the top five most streamed artists of the year, beaten out for first place by Bad Bunny. In this entire article, those are the only two women mentioned. That is insane.
But that comes with a caveat. Her most streamed song of all time is I Don't Want to Live Forever. A song she made in collaboration with Zayn Malik of One Direction.
The Grammy nominations aren't looking too good either, with a historical bias in favor of men that doesn't seem to be calming down any time soon. In 2022, only 14% of nominations went to women, with a grand 1% increase in representation from the all-time average.
I don't have a grand conclusion for these findings. I don't believe my friends are secretly misogynists for their taste in music. I think this all comes down to a subconscious bias due to our society that holds men's accomplishments above that of women. Despite my bringing this to my friends' attention, they are going to like what they like, for whatever reasons they like it.
To any man reading this, I ask that you pay attention to what you add to your playlist, and what albums you buy. If you liked that song you heard on the radio, why didn't you save it on Spotify? I bet you don't have an answer, and I don't you need one necessarily, just keep in mind next time you skip that Olivia Rodrigo song or zone out when your friend's playing Taylor Swift. Get out of your comfort zone. Look up popular female artists in your favorite genre or ones whom your favorite male artists have collaborated with.
These gender discrepancies will not change if our consumption remains the same.
For fun, here are some songs my male friends like by female artists that they still never added to their playlists.
Fiona Apple - Criminal; pop, jazz, hip-hop
Sabrina Carpenter - because i liked a boy; pop
Wallice - disappear; indie, alt-rock
Boygenius - Not Strong Enough; indie-rock
Remi Wolf - Photo ID; funk, disco pop
Olivia Rodrigo - get him back!; pop
Pom Pom Squad - Head Cheerleader; rock, indie, punk
Hole - Celebrity Skin; alternative, rock
Oh, and shoutout to AJ and Ruben for being the only two friends I asked who could name any female artists they had listened to in the last week.
Hey Kyleigh, I love seeing female artist on top of any category of music but agree that gender shouldn't have anything to do with what kind of music you listen to and exposing all music, male or female artist, to every gender helps expose the improvements of female artist in particular.
Kyleigh, Taylor Swift has clearly taken pop artist to a whole new realm . She is multi talented, sings songs that people want to listen to regardless of age , and really knows how to market herself. I like the music that you blogged about.
Hi Kyleigh! I really like you writing style and enjoyed the fact that you included the fact about your friends. Additionally, it was interesting to learn about the statistics you gathered as it made me reflect on the artists I listen to. In reflecting, I realized that I too gravitate more towards male artists. After reading your blog, however, I am convinced I need to expand my horizons.
Hey Kyleigh! I completely agree that women listen to a more even gender breakdown, with a bit more women! I would say that I listen to an equal amount of men and women artists. I loved learning about Kate Bush and her song that appeared in the climax of season four of Stranger Things.
I have grown up hearing stories about my maternal great grandparents' love of music and the parties they would throw, particularly around Christmas time. Large neighborhood get-togethers, always topped off with plenty of guitars and booze. My grandmother, Debbie, is the oldest of four, and her and her brothers and sisters adore recounting stories of their father’s parties every time they get together, especially to the younger generations. My great grandfather, John Watson was a gifted guitar player and vocalist and music was a bonding element of his friend group. My grandmother most fondly remembers him playing country artists such as Conway Twitty and Johnny Cash. During every one of these Saturday night parties, the children would be tucked away in the back bedrooms, my grandmother, the oldest, naturally tasked with keeping them in check. But of course curiosity would give in and she would stay up into the early hours, peaking around the corner, and listening to t...
Hi everyone! My name is Kyleigh, and I'm a Junior at Converse :) I'm from the coast of SC, specifically Georgetown. I come from a very artistically inclined family but have never had any experience with playing music myself (aside from our extensive recorder curriculum). I grew up in dance and playing soccer, spending the rest of my time drawing or reading. Currently, my favorite artists are The Growlers, Anna Bates, Indigo de Souza, and Pom Pom Squad. A song that I absolutely cannot get enough of is Last Man on Earth by Anna Bates. I love Bates' music, and this song in particular, primarily because of her timbre and accent. It's sort of this old-school, transatlantic voice that I rarely encounter in modern music. I also love the rhythm and beat of this song. It's one of those songs you can feel and resembles the energy of a powerful monologue in a play. As prefaced by the prompt, this isn't a song that can be related to necessarily; it takes place in this ...
Psychedelic Rock was born out of Britain in the 1960s and is a subgenre of Rock. Similar genres include Acid Rock and Jazz, Stoner Rock, and Occult Rock. This style of music attempts to replicate and induce feelings brought on by hallucinogenic drugs. Most often, the feelings artists intend to invoke are that of LSD, most commonly depersonalization, dechronization, and dynamization. The goal for these artists is to detach the listener from reality. Due to its vague descriptors based on generally unobjective perceptions, there are many different ways artists can utilize aspects of psychedelic rock in their music. It is more about the feeling the music evokes than specific techniques or instrumentation, but there are commonalities in how many artists achieve this. Common musical elements include electronic sound effects, extended instrumental solos, and improvisation. The music is often disjunct and is inspired by Jazz and the Blues and in some case...
Hey Kyleigh, I love seeing female artist on top of any category of music but agree that gender shouldn't have anything to do with what kind of music you listen to and exposing all music, male or female artist, to every gender helps expose the improvements of female artist in particular.
ReplyDeleteKyleigh, Taylor Swift has clearly taken pop artist to a whole new realm . She is multi talented, sings songs that people want to listen to regardless of age , and really knows how to market herself. I like the music that you blogged about.
ReplyDeleteHi Kyleigh! I really like you writing style and enjoyed the fact that you included the fact about your friends. Additionally, it was interesting to learn about the statistics you gathered as it made me reflect on the artists I listen to. In reflecting, I realized that I too gravitate more towards male artists. After reading your blog, however, I am convinced I need to expand my horizons.
ReplyDeleteHey Kyleigh! I completely agree that women listen to a more even gender breakdown, with a bit more women! I would say that I listen to an equal amount of men and women artists. I loved learning about Kate Bush and her song that appeared in the climax of season four of Stranger Things.
ReplyDelete