In the ’60s, James Brown said it’s a man’s, man’s, man’s world. In 1998, James would be very, very, very wrong.
Women rule pop music: They take home the Grammys (Record of the Year, Song of the Year and New Artist all went to women in ’98), they’ve teamed up to make Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair tour the summer’s most popular package show for two years in a row, and from Celine Dion to LeAnn Rimes to Natalie Merchant to Shania Twain to Erykah Badu, they sell in the millions.
Fall releases skewed heavily toward solo female acts such as Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, Lauryn Hill, Jewel and Whitney Houston. This pounds home the point that record companies, ever-mindful of just how important the late fall/Christmas season is, have put their faith in the women. According to SoundScan, Morissette’s “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie” has sold 914,000 copies in its first three weeks, or 460,000 more than U2’s best-of set. Jewel’s “Spirit” has sold more than 300,000 CDs in less than two weeks, and Houston’s “My Love Is Your Love” has sold 123,000 copies in less than two. At several points this fall, five of the top 10 CDs on the national charts were by solo female artists.
“Certainly, if you look at this year and the releases by female artists, you’re coming awfully close to covering the top of the charts,” said John Ganoe of the Recording Industry Association of America. “Solo female artists in pop music are very, very strong right now. Country music, for example, is now shaped to a tremendous extent by female artists.”
Even women who don’t shift all that many units, such as Lucinda Williams and Joni Mitchell, both with new CDs out in the past few months, are hailed as critics’ darlings for their songwriting, their CDs touted as some of the year’s best.
And this doesn’t even count big-time new acts like Dallas’ own Dixie Chicks, Australia’s Natalie Imbruglia and Ireland’s Sinead Lohan.
Janna Brown doesn’t think of herself as part of a growing trend or shift in the market when she buys a Celine Dion or Sweet Honey CD. The Ft. Worth photographer just appreciates that in female artists she can hear music that echoes what’s going on in her life.
“Women get more airplay, so they’re known more,” said Brown, 46, vice president of Pleiades Productions, an organization that has produced concerts featuring female artists for years. “Part of it is they’re strong women — they come across as independent. When I think of Celine Dion, she seems like a planted, strong-willed woman. And Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow are very strong. They’re very independent and confident in themselves. (And) anybody can apply the music to themselves.”
That last comment, industry experts say, pinpoints the current popularity of women’s music. Truth is, there are numerous factors at work. For example, the music often has a maturity not found in pop music. A solid country, hip-hop or pop-rock song with intelligent lyrics (be it by Hill or McLachlan or Nashville’s Deana Carter) — one written from a personal perspective touching on universal themes — hits home to a lot of music fans looking for something to identify with, according to Steve Ralbovsky, senior artist and repertoire executive with Interscope Records.
“What works best right now is female singer/songwriters,” said Ralbovsky, who signed Nanci Griffith to Elektra several years back and Lohan to Interscope last year.
“There’s a lot more personal-relationship dialogue in the music,” said Ralbovsky. “It’s more a time of internal reflection, and people like Sarah and Jewel and Tori write about relationships and internal thoughts. People are looking for more depth — there’s a search for something beyond the quick hit, a depth beyond the fleetingness of so many bands that come and go. And there’s a richer resonance of the human experience in these women’s writing.”
Simple economics is also pushing the growth of solo female artists: Because more women have their own businesses and have better jobs than ever before, they have more discretionary income. According to Business Women’s Network president Edie Fraser, women now account for 50 percent of all leisure travel spending, make 51 percent of all auto purchases, and make nearly 50 percent of all computer purchases. Naturally, this has affected the recording industry. According to the RIAA, last year was the first in which women purchased more music than men, 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent.
One of those women is Ft. Worth’s Tracy Morse, a developmental editor with the Dryden Press who has bought CDs by Amos, Crow, Emmylou Harris, Jewel and Shawn Colvin.
“There’s more women artists now,” she said. “It’s been the trend, and it’s encouraged women to buy more music. And not to say anything bad about male artists, but the women are really into their music and put a lot of effort into their lyrics. And you hear their music everywhere.”
The fragmenting of rock radio also deserves credit for the rise of female artists. Rock used to be classic and alternative: Now there’s mainstream, adult album alternative, light-alternative, and on and on. Many female artists (especially Crow and Morissette) sound right at home in several of these formats. At the same time, mainstream country has embraced the strong story lines and independent sentiments at the heart of Carter and the Dixie Chicks, among others.
“So there’s a lot more women with a certain sound able to find a home than when there was just rock and classic rock,” said Morty Wiggins, senior vice president for marketing at A&M Records. “It’s created an opening for these artists to show their potential. One thing these women have in common is great songs.
“More people appreciate female rock singer/songwriters now. It’s an interesting phenomenon. Before, if you were a female and you didn’t have a mainstream pop hit, you were toast.”
All of which might make it even harder for male singer/songwriters.
“It’s difficult to think of CDs by solo male artists that have done really well,” said Ganoe. “You’re hard-pressed to think of one. Right now they’re certainly not dominating the landscape.”
Nobody is saying there’s been a definite turn away from signing solo male singer/songwriters, and some point to the attention paid to Shawn Mullins.
But neither Mullins’ major-label debut nor the debuts of highly touted male singer/songwriters Jude or Eagle-Eye Cherry have broken into the national Top 40.
“There’s a lot of great male singer/songwriters, but that’s not manifested by the charts,” said A&M’s Ralbovsky. “Male singer/songwriters will put together bands so they’re not perceived as a singer/songwriter — they want a band identity. “Look at Jakob Dylan or Dave Matthews. They’re the singer and principal songwriter in those bands, but the perception is that a band identity is better.”
What ensures that women’s popularity will continue — and perhaps become even more prevalent — is that all of the above factors show no sign of changing.
“They are versatile enough to move across the gamut,” said Pleiades Productions’ Brown. “Celine Dion can sing the whole gamut. I think this will continue as long as what they’re singing is what the public wants — and most of ’em provide exactly what the public wants.”
