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25 Tracks to Wrap Up an Iconic Decade for Women
The 2010s allowed female artists to finally be themselves
In her 2016 single “Cyber Stockholm Syndrome,” British-Japanese musician Rina Sawayama sings about a sad girl going to a bar by herself and having a blast alone in the corner. Her lyrics embody a decade in which we allowed female musicians to be more than just eye candy. “Came here on my own,” Sawayama declares. “Party on my phone.” She’d rather be engaging in an online fantasy of her own particular creation.
Historically, female musicians have been relegated into two categories: singers and dancers. Men produced and played the instruments, and women looked hot and sang about loving men. Of course, there have always been outliers of women who pushed beyond those boundaries. Alice Coltrane’s spiritual jazz in the ’60s; Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s kooky no wave funk in the ’70s; Grace Jones’ cabaret disco in the ’80s; Björk’s meditative industrial in the ’90s. But before this decade, these women were aberrational fringe artists. At the end of the 2010s, mixed-genre, multitalented women are the norm.
Female artists like Grimes and Charli XCX are two of the most innovative producers today; Cherry Glazerr’s Clementine Creevy and St. Vincent’s Annie Clark play a more engaging riff than any man. When Rolling Stone asked Grimes if “Flesh Without Blood” was about a breakup, she said she didn’t write about love anymore. It was “a diss track about a false friend” — a theme historically reserved for men.
These female releases are a far cry from the Britney Spears, Shakiras, and Fergies that dominated the charts in the 2000s.
The 2010s have been killer for innovative and autonomous women. The glossolaliac Grimes and meticulous FKA twigs both introduced us to their alienesque mystiques. Beyoncé’s less palatable sister, Solange, finally achieved mainstream acclaimed with A Seat at the Table. (Beyoncé also released one of her edgiest albums yet this decade.) Rap-house spitfire Azealia Banks blew everyone’s minds with “212,” which begins with fantasies of Parisian cunnilingus. Charli XCX released Pop 2, a mixtape that at times sounds as jarring and innovative as Kanye West’s Yeezus…
