Current female singers that don't use good looks and sexuality?

[mids2019]

I was having a discussion with my daughter's about dining, specifically women, and both said you have to be good looking and sexy to be a singer. The girls quoted Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Due Lipa, Sabrina Carpenter, Tate McRae etc. as exmaples. To my heart's dismay I had to agree......It all was tipped off by Olivia Rodrigo's nurses dress in her newest video.

Looking at the men though the likes of Ed Sheeran, Sam Fender,Alex Warren etc. can get away with jeans and a jacket. The double standards are quite apparent and I feel that girls with good singing voices are being dissuaded from careers in music because of a false impression you need to be attractive and willing to use your sexuality to make it in a career.

An I over reacting or is their an inherent sexism and exploration in the music industry?

I wouldn’t class Nashville Pussy as metal - straightforward hard rock.

Not sure I really agree with women in metal taken less seriously? Certainly in the past but not now surely with so many amazing women in the genre?

Yes it’s a very white genre (although check out Nova Twins) but that’s ok. Hip hop is a very black genre. And not being overweight is fine too - most musicians take their health and fitness very seriously these days as it’s the only way to get through the rigours of touring without getting ill/injured. And playing a two hour show every night for months on end is basically an extreme endurance sport.

Edited: post was supposed to be quoting:

“To a certain extent - but then I think a lot of male stars - especially in boy bands and the like - are also put under pressure by the industry (and the public) to lose weight, dress well, wear skin tight trousers etc .....”

What you describe is the maximum effort expected from men and only in some parts of the industry. Whereas for women it’s pretty much a standard expectation that they shave their bikini line and get up there in a leotard to sell their songs. Ok, not every female singer does this but it’s still clear that women’s bodies are an important part of what the music industry sells.

Cat Burns

I find it so depressing that most young, female singers seem to think that the only way to catch people's attention is to look like strippers and perform in their underwear, but then it was ever thus. Just look at Madonna last weekend - 67 years old and still wearing her underwear to perform in and still thinking she's sexy and provocative when she's had about four face lifts. Honestly, I just find her sad these days.

But yeah, there are a few. Lorde, Billie Eilish and anyone whose music is more grungy and rock than pop or RnB.

Well a female singer who looks like Lewis Capaldi is unlikely to have his fame because image matters more for women.

I actually quite like Taylor because she doesn’t writhe around in next to nothing & is probably the biggest star.

I agree with you about Ed Sheeran, but a lot of male singers are also very attractive. I think Sam Fender is beautiful, Alex Warren is cute, Harry Styles, Bruno Mars, Shawn Mendez, Hozier, Bieber, the Jonas Brothers, etc. - none of them are painful to look at. Depends on taste of course, and it’s much more overt for women, but I think it’s probably much harder to break into the industry if you’re not attractive.

Adele was very large when she became famous and it was just off the back of her talent. I think she's equivalent to Lewis Capaldi, who is a perfectly average looking man with extra body weight.

Interesting thread, interesting point made earlier in the thread that the massive American women artists (Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina and Taylor Swift) perform and attract sales mainly from girls and perhaps gay men. It’s not as though you get hoards of slavering 20 something men at these concerts, in the main, the men that are there are either awkward dads or gay. So is this some sort of inverse patriarchy thing going on that young girls have embraced that dressing up in sexualised clothes is a good things and are attracted to it without men really being involved?

@RoseField1 I think she has a far more attractive face than Lewis and she is ultra groomed and a little tweaked now which we haven’t seen with Lewis.

I don't know lots of the younger singers necessarily but I think what I've noticed in recent years with young women in general is that the body positivity message seems to mean dressing in quite sexually provocative outfits no matter what your body is like.

Each to their own, but I remember Lola Young at Glastonbury with two belts over her boobs and she was quite chubby. That's quite a different look to anything when I was growing up. Madonna was always provocative but that's her thing and she was always fit (and I mean that in the literal sense. She worked out).

I see some youngsters at work with crop tops and low cut stuff but often quite overweight and they don't care. We can see it as progress in a way but I don't think it looks nice.

So yeah things are quite sexed up I'd agree @mids2019 ...but this generation have grown up pouting at cameras and plastering themselves all over Instagram. My friend's teen daughters seem to be obsessed over their looks on a way I never was or my friends growing up. Sad really.

Now she is, but when she became famous she wasn't. Facially you may be right.

Chappell Roan does not cater to the male gaze at all. She makes really good pop music and wears fun outfits. My DDs like her. Just have to filter out some of songs which aren’t appropriate (like Casual).

Whereas Sabrina Carpenter, very talented but I wouldn’t let young DDs watch her music videos or stage performances as they are hyper sexual.

Not recent, but Fleetwood Mac and Kate Bush are also good musical role models for young girls.

Yeah, cocaine addiction is something all young women should aspire to…

I think it is less that you have to be good looking in order to be a successful singer, and more that women in the public eye tend to take care over their appearance. The majority of women, probably your daughters too, are attractive anyway, but typically less “polished” than your average celebrity woman. When a woman becomes famous they typically spend more time, money, and effort on their appearance. I don’t think they’re using their sexuality to make a career, but kind of the reverse. They’re using their success from their careers to improve their self confidence by keeping their face, hair, and bodies looking their best.

Brooke Combe? She’s definitely gorgeous though!

I love her and her music but her stage outfits are often not much more than a bra & knickers albeit tasteful ones!

Agree with the previous suggestion of Cat Burns, normal looking woman who dresses in normal clothes.

I’m not a fan of her music but I don’t think you can get any realer than Zara Larsson, that girl has no filter and is super honest. Good on her.

Sofia Isella, she deffo isn't going for sexy in her style and her music is quite different to stuff like the others you've mentioned. More topical.

If you go back 40-50 years the music industry was heavily male dominated with female artists in the minority, and any female artist really struggling to be taken seriously. I think women have staged something of a takeover since the noughties in particular, and there are all kinds of bands and individual artists, some of whom are more glamorous than others. I think it's image which is more important than looks. The right one that appeals to the intended audience for the records.

I listen to a lot of smaller female artists (smaller in terms of fame level). Off the top of my head:
Adrienne Lenker dresses quite masculine (jeans and a t shirt)
Katy Kirby mostly wears jorts
Arlo parks is usually dressed modestly
Fiona Bevan has a hippie vibe.

all very talented women but not in the spotlight as much. I wonder if there is a link between spotlight and dressing more provocatively?

Olivia Dean - she looks classy and beautiful on stage. She's always smiling and looking like she's having a blast. Nothing to do with the male gaze.

And Lucy Dacus! She dresses classically and femininely. She’s absolutely stunning

I agree about the leotards. I was watching an old No Doubt performance on YouTube recently and it was nice to see Gwen Stefani wearing trousers and DM boots. She still does so could add her to the list although she is beautiful but doesn't market herself on it.

Also PJ Harvey - how could I forget ? But they're more alternative, pop stars are totally different.

Gwen Stefani is not someone we want as a role model.