I noticed a shift in my listening habits this year. My Spotify Wrapped will undoubtedly reveal that I listened to more female-identifying artists this year than male-identifying artists. It’s been a particularly strong year in pop, but women dominate the music industry in other genres. Singers, producers, rappers, songwriters, and, yes, frontwomen to rock bands are a few examples of women in music in 2024. In the 2020s, some of the most critically acclaimed albums in many genres were made by female artists. Yet, there was a time when many listeners and critics didn’t take women very seriously in any genre. Male listeners often didn’t buy music made by women. And gender is often used to qualify music. “It’s good music for a girl band” or “ I really don’t relate to rock bands with female lead singers” were statements I heard when talking about music. I don’t know if things are different now among male listeners, but in the 2010s critics seem to be starting to take women in music much more seriously.
YOU KNOW I’M BAD AT COMMUNICATION. In 2013, HAIM released their first album, Days Are Gone. The group is composed of the three Haim sisters: Este, Danielle, and Alana. The sisters’ careers started as musicians in a family band that featured their father Mordechai “Morti” Haim on the drums and their mother Donna on guitar. Rockinhaim wasn’t a serious act— a cover band that exposed the girls to public performances, weddings and charity events. In 2005, Este and Danielle joined a girl band called Valli Girls signed to Columbia Records. After appearing on The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants soundtrack, the HAIM sisters left the group. The three sisters together formed a band in 2007 briefly before Danielle started touring as a backing musician for other groups. Este, meanwhile, pursued a degree in ethnomusicology at UCLA. After being accepted into Scarlet Fever, Cee-Lo Green’s all-girl backup band, Danielle decided to start playing her original music rather than playing for other groups, which brought the HAIM sisters back together.
YOU KNOW THERE’S NO RHYME OR REASON. In 2020, HAIM released their Grammy-nominated album Women in Music, Part III. The title of the album pays tribute to the veteran female singer-songwriters from the folk era to the present. HAIM is a feminist symbol and the group is involved in feminist causes and explores feminist themes in their lyrics. The band rejects the title “girl band.” Alana said that she considers the label “an insult.” After all, why must we qualify good music? HAIM’s career coincides with the shift away from rock-based alternative music, but it’s clear that the band is influenced by rock. While you could easily classify. While you could easily label HAIM as a soft rock or pop rock group, their R&B influence is something that makes them stand out from other similar-sounding groups. HAIM has interesting musical arrangements–saxophones, three-part harmonies, twangy country guitars–but it’s the rhythms and Este’s bass playing that drive what would be ordinary songs into a frenetic energy. What would be background music for a commute or in a grocery store takes your full attention. It’s distracting in the best way possible.
Mixtapemotions 