From Chappell Roan to Sabrina Carpenter, it’s nearly impossible to scroll through social media or walk across campus without hearing a pop song by a woman. Their prominence has sparked conversations about this new wave of girly pop stars and their impact on the genre and pop culture at large.
As the landscape of pop music evolves, these new female artists are bringing a shift in mindset and aesthetic along with their award-winning music. Melissa Woodul, Trinity alum and assistant director of annual giving for outreach and engagement, primarily listens to indie folk but is a Chappell Roan superfan. She said that while there has always been a host of talented female pop artists, the current generation of artists are marked by a celebration of femininity that is unapologetically indifferent to the male gaze.
“I think there’s not a rise in women in pop, but it’s shifted away from the male gaze,” Woodul said. “You saw this when Katy Perry tried to come out with her [song ‘Woman’s World’]. It was this women’s anthem of the summer, or whatever, and it flopped so hard, because I feel like Katy Perry is from a different generation of women pop.”
This shift away from the male gaze is one of the main draws for feminine pop music fans. Camille Semmes, junior English and communication double-major, described girly pop music as the musical embodiment of sparkles — a quality she associates with the Barbie movie songs from her childhood. Semmes explained that this pop music often embraces femininity to the extreme, celebrating womanhood and sexuality without pandering to men.
“I feel like there’s a lot of hyper-feminine femininity to the point where it’s almost unappealing to the male gaze, especially with queer female pop stars. I’m thinking Chappell Roan, obviously,” Semmes said. “It is so beyond traditional femininity that it’s making a statement.”
However, despite the success that female pop artists have had in the past few years, not everyone is a fan of hyper-feminine pop music. Many opponents of the genre argue that pop music, especially pop music by women, is not real music. Woodul emphasized that this resistance is rooted more in misogyny than any genuine critique of musical quality.
“That’s just sexism,” Woodul said. “Why does the male version of something have to be the real one, or the default or the expectation or the standard? Is women pop the same as male pop? No, but that’s a good thing. It means that there’s a diversity of expressions out there. One is not inherently better than the other.”
As for artists and songs to check out, there is a wealth of music to choose from. Jorge Romero, sophomore global Latinx studies and Spanish double-major, listens to pop music by women almost exclusively. His favorite artists are Tate McRae and Sabrina Carpenter. For specific songs, he suggests “Busy Woman” by Sabrina Carpenter and “Miss Possessive” by Tate McRae.
“With Sabrina, it definitely is her witty lyricism and approach when it comes to sex. It’s very comedic. It’s very funny. It’s very feminine. And also her current branding of herself is just very kind of vintage 80’s, 60’s style, with that hyper-femininity is very attractive to the eye,” Romero said. “Tate McRae [has] sort of the same vibe, she is leaning more into this Y2K style of music, but also the dancing — that’s the one thing that really got me into her is that she incorporates so much dancing into her music.”
For Woodul, her favorite song by Roan is “Red Wine Supernova,” and Semmes suggests “Love Me Anyway.” for its “soft and frilly” quality. Additionally, Semmes said that music by Addison Rae is well worth a listen, especially her songs “I got it bad” and “Aquamarine / Arcamarine” made in collaboration with Arca, an experimental electronica artist.
