Black women have always had their part in making what the music industry is now; however, they didn’t receive the same opportunities that other artists would have for the same amount of talent. This is still seen in today’s era of music, where you see very few black women in mainstream music, even if they deserve to be. If they are, it was much harder for them to get to this point. With that, there are three specific women, especially in the pop genre, who I think deserve more love and belong in the mainstream music community.
1. Rayvn Lenae: I am lucky enough to say that I’ve already seen her perform live. Back in 2022, Rayvn opened on Omar Apollo’s “Prototype Tour.” Back then, I had just been exposed to her music, but since then, her music has become a staple for me. I remember a year after I saw her live, my TV Production class in high school did a music video project and one of my classmates made a music video to Rayvn Lenae’s “Recess,” reigniting my interest in her music.. More recently, her song “Love Me Not” went viral on TikTok and she started to get the widespread love that she deserves. I feel like “Love Me Not” is such a fun song to listen to and that more of her music should garner similar attention. She needs more spotlight, rather than a quick TikTok trend. If you listen to the track, it sounds like a cute pop song that I personally believe many would adore if they kept it in their rotation because I sure do!
2. Flowerovlove: I feel like people might steer away from her because she’s popular on TikTok, however, her music is actually high quality. First, I think we as a society need to drop the notion that all people on TikTok who make music make bad music. That’s not true. Not everyone is a Leah Kate, some people do make good music like Addison Rae, Nessa Barrett and Flowerovlove. Her two biggest songs, “breaking news” and “a girl like me,” went viral on TikTok after the persistent self-promotion she carried out for them. Since then, she has been perfecting her skill and consistently working on new music and doing more performances, which led to my personal favorite, “I’ve Seen Ur Ex.”I think that her vocals on this song fit so well and the lyrics are so memorable, making it a very fun listen. I am so surprised about how few streams this song has compared to her others, and I highly encourage you to listen to it when getting into her music. Her vibe kind of reminds me of Sabrina Carpenter’s, but Flowerovlove definitely has her own sound that really sticks out to me.
3. Rachel Chinouriri: If you can’t tell by now, my music taste is typically built from TikTok. I’m not the most proud of it, but I definitely do learn about more music through this app. Very recently, I discovered Rachel Chinouriri’s song “All I Ever Asked” and immediately loved it. The lyrics were just amazing, and the flow from the verses and chorus melted beautifully together. Although it is sadder and more emotional than her other songs, I thought it truly was an amazing track. This led me to listen to her album, “What A Devastating Turn of Events,” and I found that her music is very fun to listen to and that her voice is pure magic. Another song off that album that I love is “Never Need Me,” which honestly is too good. This track was much more upbeat and fun than the aforementioned song, and kind of reminded me of Tate McRae’s debut album, “i used to think i could fly.” I love both these tracks individually and think that Chinouriri’s voice is so unique yet so beautiful. If you end up listening to her, you can see her live either starting this week as she opens for Sabrina Carpenter’s European leg of her “Short n’ Sweet Tour,” or her upcoming headline “All I Ever Asked For Was A North American Tour”. Alongside her undeniable talent, she, along with Flowerovlove and Ravyn Lenae, deserve mainstream media status.