The Backlash Has Begun

Helen Of Troy hates to monger doom, but after reading Dan Cairn’s insightful prediction for the future of female pop we can’t help but think that the current comparatively wide-open windows of opportunity for female musicians might be slowly closing.

Cairns sees the Mercury Prize nomination of Florence And The Machine, La Roux, Bat For Lashes, Lisa Hannigan and Speech Debelle (pictured) as the first nail in the coffin for interesting lady pop, as the outsiders become the insiders and pop, inevitably, eats itself. Of course, as Cairns states, interesting female artists will still be making music, but a record company exec is less likely to take a chance on a new interesting lady artist when the zeitgeist lies elsewhere.

Helen Of Troy is currently undecided as to whether this industry shift will bring positive or negative results. While we’d hate to see any truly talented musician turned down because their face doesn’t fit, we equally hate to see shitehawke musicians succeed just because theirs does.

Whatever happens, it would be nice to think that, even when the fickle wheel of fortune points again to boys with guitars, some genuine headway has been made for boundary-pushing women in pop/rock over the past five years. Only time (and second and third albums) will tell, but here at Helen Of Troy… we’re feeling pretty positive.