Defining Female Artists

I’ve been thinking about female singers and songwriters lately, and that maybe I’m due for a new definition of what makes a great one. Female artists have been just as much of an inspiration to me as male artists (maybe more, sometimes.) So I think it’s safe for me to say that I’ve never had a misogynistic view of women writing songs and becoming artists in their own right. But I always find myself criticizing female artists more often than not and I can definitely explain why.

It’s no mystery to anyone that knows me or knows my work that I have the utmost respect and adoration for Joni Mitchell. Despite some of the cliched generalizations that follow her, I think she’s the ultimate example of a female artist with a strong identity and a keen, personal connection to her words. I feel what she sings so much that I want to crawl out of my own skin, in a good way. Literally and intellectually, she embodies the artist’s ownership of their own work. At once, she’s pensive and wry, able to fit such a wide range of reactions and modes into a record and sometimes even a song. I will always be envious of her mastery.

Naturally, I get defensive when a female pop artist today cites Joni as an influence, yet more often than not, creates work that very loosely resembles her. It’s as if these women take her lightly and I don’t understand how anybody well-acquainted enough with her work, recognizing her as an influence, could do that. I’m starting to wonder, though, if that’s an unfair assumption to make.

Mitchell was an anomaly. She was poetic, catchy, accessible, beautiful, honest and sophisticated without seeming erudite. It may be too much to ask to demand that women in music today must emulate all of that. Personally, I don’t think it’s a stretch to shoot for that, but that kind of artistry isn’t meant for everyone. Some women want to write very sleek and catchy pop songs without heeding much to poetry. And then there are those that are making their best effort to be poetic, and the matter of whether one artist is more eloquent than another has to be subjective; everyone is entitled to have an opinion on what they like and don’t like. Women like Taylor Swift and Sara Bareilles may not be as poignant to me as Joni is, but that shouldn’t undermine their work, should it? Those two specifically have reached and affected so many people in a way that Joni didn’t when she was younger and maybe can’t now.

For whatever my opinion is worth, it is gratifying to see a bold, self-aware female articulate her thoughts and experiences in a profound way. Women like Joni, Carole King, Nina Simone and Emmylou Harris* (not to mention many, many others) have that effect on me. And what is important in my connection to those women is that I try to understand the historical and personal context of where they came from and what they did in reaction to it. Attuning myself to that doesn’t mean I get music more than the next person, but it certainly helps me enjoy it more. They sell their convictions well and I get the feeling they tried their hardest to put forth the best performances and songwriting they could on record. I guess I don’t sense the same urgency from some female artists today. I don’t see their personalities shine through their records (Swift excluded). Unfortunately, I often see the businesswoman before the artist (Swift most definitely included).

And maybe that’s the root of my problem. I lament that marketing and revenues take precedent over artistry, but I understand why that’s the way it is. I’ve seen how powerful female artists can be by establishing a deeply emotional and intangible relationship to their craft and projecting it to the masses. Perhaps I’m pining for something that’s unrealistic in today’s landscape, but I’ll gladly hold out hope.

*While I mostly was referencing older artists, I definitely had modern day women in mind, such as Bjork, Feist, Fiona Apple, Alela Diane and Annie Clark among others.

EDIT: I regretfully forgot to mention Neko Case. She’s one of the best singers alive.