5 Female Artists That Have Changed the Music Industry

Music has so many meanings to people, for me it is a way to communicate and share my emotions, I can send a song that says what I can’t say in person. It is a way to communicate, a creative outlet for artists, and a way to keep people sane and calm in a crazy, busy world. So many female artists have been able to change the music industry and make an impact that will continue their legacy after they are gone.

Photo: Gilles Petard via People

The Queen of Soul is hard to forget and she is one that will live on forever. Aretha Franklin has touched so many lives and will continue to do so as her songs and involvement in the music industry will never be forgotten. As the first female to be inducted into the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and one of the most honored artists in the Grammy’s history, Franklin will be very hard to forget. She completely changed the music industry at her peak.

While she struggled to get started with her music, once she signed with Columbia Records in 1960 her music career began to take off. The classic song that so many people adore and, ironically, respect is “Respect”. This song was life-changing for her, awarding her two Grammys and a number-one hit on the R&B and Pop charts. Franklin’s voice is one that is loud and proud, she puts her all into her music and it is very easy to tell how passionate and gleeful she is just by listening to her songs.

Photo: Rachel Luna via Billboard

Billie Eilish is one who has more recently changed the music game. Starting music at a young age and receiving so many awards by now, at the age of 21, is almost unbelievable. Eilish was young when she started to dabble in music, her parents were music artists, and her older brother, Finneas, was in a band. Music surrounded her so it was inevitable that she was to start at some point.

Finneas’ band was working on a song and asked 13-year-old Billie to record it, this ended up being one of her biggest songs to this day, Ocean Eyes. Time goes on and Billie continues to make EPs and singles with Darkroom Records, which she signed to in 2016. Billie’s voice is so unique and she pulls from her own emotions and transfers them to a beautiful, and relatable, song.

Her songs have a quiet darkness to them that I feel most people can somewhat relate to with mental health struggles being very common. Eilish blew up quickly, and with so many hit songs she became the youngest person to win a Grammy for album of the year in 2020 with When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? She was also the second person to receive awards for the “big four” categories, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

Photo: Evan Agostini via Rolling Stone

Stevie Nicks is an icon and “the Queen of Rock and Roll”. With an outstanding career with Fleetwood Mac and on her own, what can’t she do? From such a young age, Stevie knew that she wanted to be a performer and when she was 18 years old she already had a 5-year contract with a record label.

Nicks and her husband, Lindsey Buckingham, joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, and that is where her career really starts. Their historical album, Rumours, was produced in 1977 and it contains some of their biggest songs such as “Dreams”, which is now a staple in my playlist, “Go Your Own Way”, and “Don’t Stop”. Stevie decided to take a shot at her own solo career in 1981 and she wrote countless amounts of hit songs.

Throughout her life, Stevie was juggling the band and her solo career, with only a small break from the band in the 90s. Her passion for performing only kept her going, she performed with Fleetwood Mac and on her own up until 2020 when the pandemic hit. While the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, Stevie was inducted as a solo artist in 2019 for her unbelievable songwriting skills and her emotional effect on her listeners.

Her songwriting skills are remarkable and she continues to advance and improve the music industry to this day. Her name will forever go down in history.

Photo: Kevin Winter via The New York Times

Lizzo is a name that just about everyone knows, whether it is from her music or her advocation for the plus-sized and black community, she is known by many. Lizzo, just like many other artists, was singing gospel music at a young age, which brought her to love music. However, she continued with the classical music route for quite some time as she started playing flute and went to school to receive a musical performance degree.

Her original plan was to play in choirs and at music halls in an orchestra. She had an enlightenment moment and decided to quit school and start her music career by herself. When she was living in Houston, she was doing everything she could for her music career, she slept in her empty recording studio and lived out of her car. However, eventually, she gained some momentum when she moved to Minneapolis, and she gained some momentum when Prince allowed her to work and perform with him. This kind gesture will be forever remembered by Lizzo as she said, “To be embraced by Prince, I am eternally grateful for that”.

Her first album for a major recording label put her on the map with songs like “Good as Hell” and “Juice”. The single “Truth Hurts” was recorded in 2017 but did not blow up until 2019 when it was featured in a movie. Since then she has been nominated for many Grammys and has received 4 of them.

The impact she has is not just tied to the music industry, in 2022 she launched her own shape-wear brand, Yitty. Size inclusivity is very important for her and she was able to make an impact with this brand. Lizzo says, “Body positivity only exists because body negativity is the norm”.

Photo: Richard Avedon via Vogue

Finally, I can’t write this without including Whitney Houston herself. She was born for stardom with her mother and cousin being renowned artists in gospel, pop, and soul. By the time she was 15, she was already hunting for a record label to sign her. She didn’t receive a recording contract at first, but her modeling career took off when a photographer saw her natural beauty. From this, she became one of the first black women on the cover of Seventeen magazine. Nevertheless, music was always her calling, so she diverted from that path, and eventually, a label found her vocal talent.

She spent the next two years of her life working with a record label on her debut album. This album was released in 1985 when she was only 22 years old. Stardom immediately came to her with this album bouncing in and out of the top charts for around 4 months. Her music career only went up from there and she even starred in and wrote singles for movies. However, music was not her only passion, in 1989 she founded the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children.

This foundation helped children across the globe who are in need and unable to acquire the basic needs in life. In 2006, Guinness World Records named her the most-awarded female artist of all time. With 2 Emmys, 6 Grammys, 14 World Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, 28 entries in Guinness World Records, and 16 Billboard Music Awards under her belt, she was rightfully given the title of most awarded female artist of all time for the Guinness World Records in 2006.