2014 has been a whirlwind—especially for the music industry, and for its leading ladies. Artists like Ingrid Michaelson and Taylor Swift had their best years yet. From slews of controversy to reaching milestones, women truly took over music in 2014.
In a fun twist this year, Taylor Swift stripped her cutesy, adolescent, country-ish music and became the pop queen of 2014. With 1.287 million copies of her album 1989 sold in the first week of their release, it’s no surprise she had a huge influence this year.
By far the coolest thing T-Swift did this year was her “Blank Space” video. It’s an already-amazing song, and the video helps enhance the message that put the sexist critics in their place. It’s about how the media portrays her and her relationships and the idea that she is constantly blowing through guys and becoming overly jealous. It was made to combat the question on everyone’s mind when we hear a T-Swift song: “Who is this about?” Surprise, it’s about the media.
Even during an Australian radio show, T-Swift spoke on her discomfort with the assumptions most people make about female musicians by saying:
“That’s a very sexist angle to take, no one says that about Ed Sheeran. No one says that about Bruno Mars. They’re all writing songs about their exes, their current girlfriends, their love life, and no one raises the red flag there.”
She has truly blossomed into one of the most influential women in music, and if I’m honest, I’ve never liked Taylor until now. This new sound is really working well for her, and while I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore “Swifter,” I’m definitely a huge fan.
Another significant moment of this year was Beyoncé’s MTV Video Music Awards performance. Not only was this one of the best 14 minutes of my life, but it also had one of the greatest effects on 2014. During the performance, the word FEMINIST was projected on the screen in bright, large letters, and the true definition of feminism was given in the words of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an influential Nigerian writer.
This was so amazing because of the millions of people that tuned in to watch the VMAs; the definition of feminism always seems to be misconstrued, so to have the true message of feminism be defined alongside a powerful woman like Beyoncé was immensely powerful. It was “***Flawless,” to say the least.
Ingrid Michaelson also made a huge statement this year with her song “Girls Chase Boys.” The song is catchy and fun, but it’s the music video that really caused some buzz. The video takes the 1988 music video for the song “Simply Irresistible” by Robert Palmer and does a little gender-bending. The “Simply Irresistible” video is very gendered, and at times sexist, so it fits perfectly with the message. She completely recreated the video, but, instead of just using women, she uses men and women—sometimes you can’t even tell who is who. She interplays scenes with all men in full make-up but then switches one of them for a woman; you have to focus pretty hard to see the truth. It’s a powerful statement on gender and sexuality, and also one of my top songs of 2014.
“Simply Irresistible” Video
“Girls Chase Boys” Video
I could probably go on and on about female musicians because of all of the incredible moments they created in 2014. Sia brought up issues of privacy for artists and how music can be perceived without putting a face to it. Nicki Minaj stuck up for women in hip-hop and their ability to write their own music. To top everything off, in September a milestone was reached when eight of the top ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100 were sung by women for the first time ever. It’s so important to see such huge representation of women in the music industry, but even better to see them fighting for what they believe in.
http://open.spotify.com/user/dutastyjams/playlist/78ankYYlTj0Jyx3WOZnzHT
