In the music industry, specifically the rock scene, finding women in bands has never been an easy task. It has always been inherently more difficult for women to make it in such a male dominated industry. However, in recent years many female artists have emerged and begun to make their mark on rock and roll. To make it as a female rocker you have to be tough, you have to be strong, and you have to be a badass. Here are a few of my favorite women in the scene today.
Hayley Williams during a performance of a “Passionfruit” cover at BBC 1 Radio Live Lounge. The song is originally performed by Drake.
Hayley Williams of Paramore
Front woman Hayley Williams is the epitome of a badass woman– and the lead singer of my absolute favorite band. She is also a business woman with her own hair dye company called goodDYEyoung. She is not afraid to truly experience her emotions and she shows her fans that vulnerability is not something to hide from. She is very vocal about her struggles with mental health and the strong friendship she has rebuilt with her bandmates after hard times. Her strength is what makes her such a light in the music industry. That, and her killer vocal range. Paramore’s latest album, After Laughter(2017) is a celebration of friendship, heartbreak and all the feelings in between. Put on your glitter tears and dance until you cry.
Jenna McDougall performing at The Vans Warped Tour in 2016.
Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive
Jenna McDougall is a feisty Australian woman with a strong voice, big heart, and daring personality. The latest Tonight Alive album, Underworld(2018), has been described their most honest release to date. It has songs about the human experience, the strange love affair that people have with loneliness and depression, and the dark sides of ourselves that we don’t want to acknowledge. In an interview withSubstream Magazine, McDougall had this to say about how fans were responding to the brutal honesty ofUnderworld:“I think that a lot of the times, something big is working through me and it doesn’t freak me out, I think it’s amazing, and I don’t take it as a personal compliment. I just think it’s beautiful that I’m a part of it, but I don’t think it’s got anything to do with me in a way. It’s not because of me, it’s that somebody related to something that I also relate to.”
Lynn Gunn performing in Birmingham, UK.
Lynn Gunn of PVRIS
Lynn Gunn is a powerhouse in her electronic rock band PVRIS. Her passion for what she does is very apparent on stage and in the way she carries herself. She doesn’t believe that women and men should be differentiated in the industry. It is all just music to her.
The power of representation is a very strong thing and it’s evident in Lynn’s career. In an interview from Brum Live, she said: “A big thing for girls in music is just seeing other girls doing it and thinking ‘Oh, I can do that too!’ – that’s what happened to me, so if we contribute to that and add to that it would be great, and then eventually the whole ‘girl being in a band’ thing won’t exist and it will just be a band.”