It’s time to listen. From Beverley Knight MBE to Mahalia, Arlo Parks to Jamelia, 12 insiders tell Natty Kasambala what it’s really like to be a Black woman working in the music industry
It’s impossible to talk about music without talking about Black women. From Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock’n’roll, to Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, we’ve pioneered (if not invented) soul, disco, pop, R&B and rap. Aretha Franklin was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. while Whitney Houston won 657 awards in her too-short career. Rihanna is the second bestselling female artist of all time, pipped only by Madonna. Every year, Beyoncé sets new standards for what it means to be one of the biggest artists in the world.
But here in the UK, Black women have had a historically complicated relationship with the music industry. While our talents are routinely harvested for songwriting and backing vocals, at the time of writing, there are just four Black women (Jazzy, Jorja Smith, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice) in the UK Top 40 singles chart – only one of them is from the UK, and none of them are dark-skinned. Meanwhile, the album chart features just one Black British woman in the Top 100, and she is part of a group (Leigh-Anne Pinnock from Little Mix). Last year, a report by Black Lives In Music found that in the music industry, Black women are being paid 25% less than white women and 52% less than white men. At all levels, there’s an ongoing battle to be seen, heard and taken seriously.
Recently, we’ve seen some promising exceptions. Little Simz, Jorja Smith and Arlo Parks are picking up awards and challenging norms, while Raye has become a poster girl for creative freedom since topping the charts with Escapism after leaving a major label. But the question remains: Why are the majority of success stories for Black British women in music stories of independence? Perhaps years of being mishandled, misunderstood and dismissed has culminated in us defying the odds and dismantling the industry model altogether.
I wanted to speak to some of Britain’s best talents to create a portrait of what it’s like to navigate the world of music as a Black woman. What’s it like to be told you don’t fit the mould of a popstar? For your voice to be silenced in boardrooms? From Beverley Knight to Mahalia, incredible women shared stories of resilience, defiance and success, and provided insight into why the industry they’re propping up is failing so many. There’s so much to be inspired by, but there’s also a buzzing impatience: for progress, for prop
