https://instagram.com/p/BejhBJdhOHW
If you're still fuming over the ignorant and
tone-deaf comment made by the president of the recording academy, you're not alone. Shara Nova from My Brightest Diamond responded by sharing some of the shit women in music go through in a male-dominated industry riddled with sexism. She started the hashtag
#SheSteppedItUp as a tribute to female artists that have broken boundaries, and paved the way for her and others. Women have long stepped up, created new genres and soundscapes, ripped their heart out to put it on paper, produced records and beats from scratch, only to have their work reduced and diminished, or never to be given proper credit. When will the industry step up?
mybrightestdiamond's response:"@recordingacademy Neil Portnow’s statement that women need to “step it up” is angering and very ignorant of the reality women face and to deny the enormous obstacles that exist for us. How many times was I literally told “you’re just a girl”? It took me more than 15 years before I called myself a composer because that was a word that applied only to men. No one THOUGHT to SUGGEST I study composition. “Just sing, honey.” Today I find myself in rooms with men about 98% of the time. One has to ask the question Why. I want to thank @officialmeshell for posting and for highlighting women who stepped it up. There are so many women who have paved the path before me, who I won’t ever know the names of, and who got spit out, tired, sick, raped and abused for being creative punks writers composers and geniuses. @recordingacademy can do better. We start by being open to what women bring to the table which is DIFFERENT. We start by telling girls they can write. That they can have the courage to put their ideas forward and not be shut down. In the meantime I’m gonna go back to WORK cause I plan to keep letting my songs talk for me.
#shesteppeditup"
“Women in music don’t need to “step up” – women have been stepping since the beginning of time. Stepping up, and also stepping aside. Women OWNED music this year. They’ve been KILLING IT. And every year before this. When we celebrate and honor the talent and accomplishments of women, and how much women STEP UP every year, against all odds, we show the next generation of women and girls and boys and men what it means to be equal, and what it looks like to be fair.”
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ONTD, please share your favorite music by women that have stepped it up.