“The only issue here is we have a beautiful voice but we need some way to market her” said the executive.
“I say we have her lose five or six pounds and have her be the poster woman for speaking about sexuality and women’s rights,” said another caucasian male.
“ We have enough cute pop stars we need her to be something different from the rest,” said the last executive.
“What about who I want to be?” I said.
I sat in a board room with various label executives speaking about how I was going to be branded. I am not the first female in the entertainment industry to be oppressed right before my own eyes. It happens everyday to countless women in the entertainment industry regarding issues such as equal pay, sexualization, and self worth. ThThis entails my body and how I want to be portrayed to society. Even though it is my body and my career I still need to adhere and answer to how I will best be sold as a brand. Women in the industry come down to the concept of being a brand. Recently women in the industry have decided to become more vocal about their stance on this issue and that is what I plan to do with this blog. Through my own experiences in reality television and the music industry I will take you through the world of women in the music industry.
On Friday February 19, 2016 pop singer Kesha was given her final answer by a female judge in a New York court room to whether or not she would be allowed to leave her six album contract with Sony. She was denied her plea and the statements she made against her producer Dr. Luke. Kesha made a statement to the court room that she was drugged and raped by her producer and creator Dr. Luke. In society today we need a system to decide whether someone was raped or not. This is a case that needs to be addressed in society and in the music industry because women are oppressed everyday. Dr. Luke. Amid early 2016 this is one of the largest cases of female oppression in the industry. Kesha filed charges over two years ago against Dr. Luke and through my next blog posts I will examine this case in dept. Cases like this shows to many women that are victims of sexual abuse to not come forward.
There are many inspiring women throughout the music industry who use their music to spread awareness about the issues women face in the industry and the world. Lady Gaga is a front runner for using her music to spread awareness about various issues that hold true to her. Being awarded woman of the year in 2015 she takes the gold for aspiring young women. This year she released a song called “Until it happens to you” depicting college rape on campuses symbolizing how she is a survivor of rape herself. More females in the music industry need to use their music to make a difference and have a voice to the various oppressions they are victims to. I am using my first single I just released called “If only” to depict the stigma of mental illness regarding depression and anxiety to spread awareness on the issue. These small steps are the various ways women in the industry can make a difference with their success.
I want people to understand that it is not just women in the industry that need to take a stand. More men need to to stand with women especially in the way they portray women through their lyrics and songs. An example is Kanye West who openly sheds a poor light on his wife Kim Kardashian, ex Amber Rose, and Taylor Swift. His vulgar point of view on various women in his life sends the wrong message to our youth and people throughout the music industry.I believe a song is a freedom of speech for the artist to express themselves however but outside of his music there needs to be more support for females in the industry especially from men.
The underlying question throughout my posts is going to be what can we do about this? In a perfect world women in music would be able to sexualize themselves as they choose not because they are a part of a brand. I would be able to write music that speaks to the world and spreads messages about causes I am passionate about without having to worry about my brand. I want to question how genuine are the motives of certain females in the industry such as Beyonce and Taylor Swift. We have artists in the music industry such as Lady Gaga and Demi Lovato who profess their views on various issues all over the internet but very rarely do we hear from women like Beyonce. We have ultimately let ourselves become objects in music and we have failed to see the power we have with the art we portray to the world.
xo Sabrina
FEIE FATALE 