If the music industry were run by women, how would it be different? The Cut wandered the Grammy Awards after-parties last night, posing this question to all the insiders we could find — including Mya (at Universal Music Group’s after-party presented by American Airlines and Citi) and JoJo (at Warner Music’s post-ceremony soirée). Some thought women are already running the industry: Many noted Taylor and Adele, but a few cited Atlantic Records chairman and COO Julie Greenwald as the most important woman making moves. DJ Henri had the most succinct response: “There’d be a lot less shit and a lot more juice.” Read on to hear from Sofia Reyes, Garcelle Beauvais, and more.
Mya
“It would be more creative and more organized because women know how to multitask. We love productions. We are fine-detail-ists. We love arrangements, color schemes, punctuality … even though it takes us a little minute to get ready, we know what that means, so we will tell people three hours in advance to be somewhere at a certain time so that they show up on time. We live in a society today that is a very fast-paced situation. I think that artists’ development would exist more fluidly if women were more front-runners and in executive positions. We are nurturers by nature. We take the time to connect and get to know someone, that’s our nurturing side. I think women project that better and don’t treat people like cattle.”
DJ Henri
“I feel like there’s so much music out there at the moment and a lot of it’s not really thought out. If women were in charge, there’d be a lot less shit and a lot more juice.”
Amy Wadge
“My music industry is run by women, because my manager is a woman, and there are three women in my management team. I think underground it is being run by women because there are some very, very strong women in the industry. I mean Taylor, she smashed it with her speech tonight, Adele — there are strong, strong women, and I think the trick of being a strong woman is letting men think they’re doing it all. And that’s what is happening in this industry. That’s what I do with my own husband.”
Garcelle Beauvais
“It’d be more about empowering, coming together, and having girl power as opposed to wanting to rip each other out or try to take credit for other people’s fame. Less ego and probably more fun, more dance music. More dance music for sure.”
JoJo
“The president of my label, Atlantic, is Julie Greenwald, so it’s cool to have a woman like that on my side and to look at. She’s a bad bitch. If women ran the industry, I want to say that we’d be more loving and gentle, but women can be really hard on each other. Perhaps we’d hold each other to an even higher standard. I feel like women are capable of more things than men; we’re able to juggle a lot of things. Perhaps we’d be moving forward more, negotiating in a more productive way. We bear children, we carry them, we have jobs simultaneously — we’re just capable of much more.”
Sevyn Streeter
“God, every song would be a tad bit more emotional — nah, just kidding. I think, surprisingly, the records would be very well-balanced. I say this all the time: Women, we’re so in touch with our emotions whether we’re angry, upset, sad, mad, excited, whatever. We’re so in touch with them and we know how to evoke them very, very well, and to evoke that feeling out of other people. If we ran the music industry, everything that you feel in a record would be intensified, you know?”
Joy Villa
“It’d be so good! First of all, there’s a lot of strong, confident women that are coming up and me being a strong confident woman, I’m a feminist, absolutely 100 percent. I see a lot more feminists, men and women, but I think that if women ran the industry it would be less about the body shaming, for sure. We would be less competitive and more nurturing. Shine theory, I love it. [Sings] Shine bright like a diamond.”
Noelle Scaggs, Fitz and the Tantrums
“I think we actually do. At this point, I’ve gotta give it up for ladies. We’re killing it right now, and I think we have been for a while. I love seeing all of these women executives stepping up to the plate. Julie Greenwald is one of ours and she’s a genius. And powerhouses in the business: Beyoncé — I’m sorry, she’s the queen, Adele is the queen, like, there’s so many amazing, talented women that are getting their due and I love that. I love being a part of that movement.”
Sofia Reyes
“I think that women are starting to run the music industry. There’s so many cool new artists, girl artists that are so talented and amazing. Two nights ago I went to see Alessia Cara’s concert, she’s an up-and coming singer. I love her! I’m a singe,r too, an up-and-coming singer, and I feel like we’re kind of like starting to run the industry.”
