Popular music has been one of the most important forms of media for the past 20 years.
As a child, it was the way for me to be exposed to pop culture and music. Each pop star showcased a specific attribute of the current day’s cultural direction.
I first remembered the power of female pop stars in the late 2000s. Lady Gaga was an anti-patriarchy reformist who pushed the limits of gender and femininity. Britney Spears gave us the aspirational girl next door who was able to transition what it meant to be America’s sweetheart gone bad. Beyoncé broke the mold for the Black female artist by being able to reach across multiple genres and build an audience that rivals almost no current-day artists.
Their talent and uniqueness helped shape the culture within the music industry and instilled a love for femininity and empowerment into the young women of the time.
The most recent memory of pop female singers was in the 2010s when we saw the dominance of Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey, and Rihanna. These artists fulfilled different categories of the pop genre. Taylor Swift occupies the singer-songwriter category, Katy Perry with electro-pop, Ariana Grande in R&B leaning pop, Lana Del Rey with alternative pop, and Rihanna with dance and R&B pop. Each had strong images supporting their music styles like Lana Del Rey’s hyper-feminine, “sad girl” aesthetic and Rihanna’s bold and street-inspired clothing choices.
Though many of these artists continued to make music into the next decade, the beginning of the 2020s showed a large lack of female pop figures with similar popularity and status as their predecessors. This gap in pop music was more likely due to the rise and dominance of hip-hop in the mainstream. The global pandemic also made it so that large financial contributors to the industry and artists like concerts and festivals were shut down.
At the same time, an artist who started a new generation of pop music was Billie Eilish. With her debut album coming in 2017 when she was only 16 and consistently putting out music, Eilish’s success was a sign of the pop resurgence that would come. Her music, which fell into the indie and alternative pop genre, was a refreshing and new take on the previous pop sound. Her style which was primarily baggy and comfortable made her stand out from the previous pop artists. She was relatable and her down-to-earth nature made her appealing to a new audience.
While Eilish’s success steadily rose, in 2021, the rise of a new star, Olivia Rodrigo, would ensue. Rodrigo started her singing career as a Disney Channel star. Her public breakup with a fellow Disney costar made her young fanbase flock toward her initial single “Driver’s License” which was written about him. She steadily grew in popularity and later that year released her album “SOUR”. Rodrigo’s emphasis on the angst of teenage years and her sound, which took notes from rock, shifted her music toward a pop-punk sound. Though the pop-punk genre was popular in the 2000s but eventually fell out of the mainstream, this resurgence in her music fulfilled something young female teens of the 2020s were needing. Rodrigo’s lyrics focused on angst and heartbreak spoke to this new op audience and solidified her place as a top pop artist.
As the stress of the global pandemic lifted, a steady stream of new artists emerged over the past couple of years.
Most notably Sabrina Carpenter has skyrocketed to pop girl fame in the last year with her top hits of “Please Please Please” and “Espresso” spending weeks in the top 10. Carpenter’s aesthetic is centered around a hyper-feminine and old Hollywood glamor. Though she has been able to maintain steady success over the past year, her music is less focused than her contemporaries. She has talent and stage presence and I think a more focused voice in her sound or lyrics could help her establish a firmer place within the current female pop genre.
Other artists have more recently gained popularity like Tate McRae and Chappell Roan. Though their stardom is much newer, they each are crafting distinct places in the industry and genre. McRae focuses on the performance and dance aspects of pop and Roan concentrates on the songwriting and queer-focused elements of the genre. Both have immense talent and have the ability to place themselves high in the genre because of their unique styles.
Pop music has gone through a large change through the past twenty years, and I believe that it has the potential to be saved by the women who have emerged. With the emphasis on women’s rights which has been one of the most talked about topics over the past year, a resurgence in the empowered women figures is wanted. Media has a great effect on our outlook and young girls having role models that positively impact their view of their autonomy and empowerment is important. To me, the pop women of this new era have started and have the potential to push the industry much further.
Women have an impact on the world and pop girlies sing it.
