Eight Incredible Women Making Strides In The Modern Music World

Posted On March 24, 2021

Samantha Colleran, March 2021

Women have always been an essential part of the music world, although they never get the credit they deserve. Going as far back as the 20s, we see women making strides in the music industry, yet they aren’t properly credited or given the same attention as their male counterparts. It still happens today. In honor of Women’s History Month, I wanted to bring some attention to just a few of the many incredible musical women who are doing some pretty cool things in music today! There are so many more that are not included on this list, so if I missed a favorite feel free to comment below!

Maggie Rogers

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know Maggie Rogers is a major factor in my creation of this blog. I took a deep dive into her career in order to write a series of papers for a class I took during my freshman year of college, and writing those papers deepened my love and respect for Maggie. She began singing and writing at a young age, and a few of the projects she worked on in her teen years landed her a spot in the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music (NYU Tisch). She got her big break when Pharrell Williams sat in on a master class she was taking, and she played him a song called “Alaska” which she said could have been worked on a little more. The song draws an emotional response from Pharrell, and almost overnight Maggie became a sensation. 

With the sudden influx of record labels knocking on her door and asking her to sign on their label, Maggie became incredibly overwhelmed. She used her knowledge from classes at NYU to develop her own 20 page business plan, which allowed her to retain the ownership of all the masters of her music under a self created label called Debay Sounds, while simultaneously licensing her music under a reputable label (Capitol). She was the only woman in the room presenting this well thought out business plan that detailed every single point of her career to a group of men, at the young age of 22 she was the one in control of her own career, and if that’s not badass I’m not sure what is. (Heard It In A Past Life is also one of the greatest albums ever in my opinion, if you haven’t listened to it yet I highly recommend you do!)

Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Bridgers has been in music for longer than people think, but she’s been quietly making these incredible strides that have finally started to get some recognition. Performing as a solo artist as well as with other bands including boygenius (Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus) and Better Oblivion Community Center (Conor Oberst), Phoebe has been making incredible music with strong messages for a long time. Her debut album Stranger In The Alps features a track titled “Motion Sickness” which gained a lot of attention for its raw honesty about suffering from emotional abuse and manipulation from an older man (Ryan Adams), yet still missing them at times. A lot of people were connected to the message, and Bridgers immediately found her niche. Punisher solidified her space in the music world, she shares her honest thoughts about depression and never being fully satisfied with where she is in life with listeners. You’ll find yourself getting lost in her whimsical voice and hauntingly gorgeous lyrical content. I can listen to both Stranger In The Alps and Punisher for hours on end.

Bridgers also created her own record label, Saddest Factory, with a goal of signing artists who are authentic and make good music. There’s really no limit to who the label signs, Phoebe wants people with “a unique human experience” because it makes for a better business model. With the label, Phoebe wants to give those who don’t often have a platform a space to create music, especially women and people of color. It’s a damn good idea, and seeing a strong woman take charge and do something like this gives me so much hope for the future of the industry. 

Little Mix

Leigh Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards (and of course Jesy Nelson, but I respect her decision to step away from the group so I will not be speaking in depth about her), better known as Little Mix, are among my absolute favorite women in music. Ever since the beginning of their career, they’ve been changing the game. They’re the most successful girl band in the entire world, and have matured and grown as people and as artists. From writing powerful anthems about topics like loving yourself, sisterhood, and friendship, to speaking openly about important world issues including LGBTQ+ rights, the impacts of online bullying, mental health (specifically anxiety), and racism within the music industry, the girls of Little Mix have been standing their ground and working their asses off since day one to prove that they’re worthy of their success. I’ve spoken about them in depth on here before, but I wanted to take another moment to highlight them, especially with everything they’ve been through in the past few months. These girls are thrown so many obstacles and they handle them with such dignity and bravery. They don’t take anyone’s shit, especially from the men who have tried to take control of their careers, and it’s truly so inspiring to see such strong women leading the girl group world. 

Olivia Rodrigo

Surely everyone has heard “drivers license” at least once at this stage of 2021. Olivia Rodrigo, an actress part of the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series cast, has had her second dose of success this year. Following her big break with the Tik Tok famous track “All I Want” in 2020, “drivers license” has taken her success as a young person in entertainment to a whole new level. The perfect storm of COVID isolation madness, drama surrounding the backstory and lyrics of the song, and Olivia’s obvious vocal talent led the song to break tons of records, including most streams in a day for a non-holiday single on Spotify. The song has been on the charts since its release in January, which is crazy to think about, especially since she’s so young and only just getting her foot in the door of the music side of entertainment. Olivia is also the first Asian American woman to hold the No. 1 spot on the iTunes and Spotify charts which is an incredible achievement to have at the age of 17! This is only the beginning for Rodrigo, and I can guarantee she’ll become even more successful when she releases future projects, one of which is rumored to be releasing some time this year. 

Dua Lipa

Dua Lipa, the disco pop quarantine queen we all needed to survive the beginning months of COVID’s world takeover, has had quite the successful year. Her sophomore album Future Nostalgia was one of the most talked about and incredible albums of the insanity we called 2020. She explored a number of subjects on this album and turned it into a disco revival that we all deserved to dance our asses off to. She’s grown so much as an artist and a songwriter, seeing the transformation from her first album to the beauty of Future has been such a wonderful journey. She recently won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album and had one of the best Grammy performances, both of which have brought more attention to the album and to Dua. 

One of the most important tracks she wrote for this album flips the notion of ‘boys being boys’ around and opens up the conversation of how women have to change their actions and appearances to appease men. Walking with keys between our knuckles, making sure to be home while it’s still light out, laughing in uncomfortable situations just to avoid being harmed, Dua openly sings about these things women have to do in order to stay safe in the world. The lyrics serve as a call to action in a way; we need to stop shrugging off male behavior as “boys being boys” and instead teach boys how to treat girls with respect. It’s a subject matter that feels all too relevant in today’s world, and Dua’s inclusion of the track on Future Nostalgia is so important. 

Lizzo

Lizzo is one of the most talented women in music at the moment. She’s been in the game for a while, but the sudden discovery of her 2016 single “Truth Hurts” back in 2019 has launched her into an unspeakable level of stardom, and if anyone were to receive the attention and Internet love, Lizzo is the one who deserves it the most. It took her a really long time to get where she is in her career, and all of the hard work she’s put into her art has finally begun to pay off. (She almost quit music the day she released “Truth Hurts”. Could you imagine what life would be like without Lizzo making music for us?) Her music is full of feel-good vibes, insanely powerful vocals, and jaw dropping flute solos, it’ll have you feeling all levels of confidence! 

Not only is Lizzo an incredible musician and songwriter, she’s outspoken about self love and body normativity. She wants people of all sizes to love their bodies and for society to recognize all bodies as normal. You’ll always find Lizzo uplifting her fans, she’s constantly making sure they practice self love and know just how unique and incredible they are. Whether she’s sharing messages of love on her social media accounts, singing her empowering lyrics, or (when live shows were a thing) having bonding moments with her audiences where she has them say her personal mantra along with her (“I love you, you are beautiful, and you can do anything”), Lizzo creates a safe space for those who may not necessarily have a voice in everyday life. She’s one of the most refreshing and beautiful female presences in music, and I can’t wait to see what Lizzo’s musical future has in store! (She’s also working on a new Amazon reality series where she’ll be looking for full figured models and dancers to join her future tour, and she’s executive producing the series so be sure to keep an eye out for that drop!)

There are obviously way more women doing incredible things in the world of music, but these are just a few of my favorites! Please comment your favorite women in music below, and let me know your thoughts on the girls who made the list as well!