In 2011, The Atlantic published a review of 2011’s five music industry trends. The first listed trend: “Girls Really Do Run the World.” Lady Gaga, Adele, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and Brittney Spears were among the biggest names in music last year, and female super stars who were relegated to singing choruses for hit male rap songs the year before, put out their own smash hits.
Has the female domination in music carried on since then? This year’s Grammy Awards hollered a resounding yes. Adele walked away as by the far the industry’s most talked about winner, receiving gold for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Short Form Music Video. Taylor Swift was also considered a big winner, taking Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song.
Little girls rocking out with newly crafted pink metallic guitars hope that this trend continues and prepare to take the music world by storm in the next years. And they’re making their dreams known across the Internet. The search term “girls guitars” is a new phrase that is gaining traction on the web according to Google Trends. It first appeared in cyberspace in late 2007 and has attracted a steady flow of Internet searchers since 2009.
Girls’ guitars manufacturers such as Daisy Rock and sites such as GuitarItUpForGirls.com are feeding and meeting a new desire among young girl and female guitarists to play music on their terms, riffing out on electric guitars in “midnight purple” and “violet burst.” The all-female band The Bangles has even designed a signature electric girl’s guitar in sleek black with a floret pattern running across the neck.
Los Angeles Women in Music (LAWiM) shares these girl-focused guitars with budding female artists. Aside from hosting events such as singer songwriter and young talent nights, the nonprofit organization that has been a proponent of gender equality in music since 1986 and whose mantra is “empowerment, support, and education” for women in music, provides scholarships and musical instrument gifts to women and girls. The two most recent gifts delivered via LAWiM’s community outreach have been guitars, and their most recent Comet Award Winner, Gaby Moreno is a Guatemalan, Hendrix-playing, singer songwriter guitarist who won the John Lennon Songwriting contest in 2006, was nominated for an Emmy for co-writing the theme song for Parks and Recreation and has toured with Tracy Chapman and Ani DiFranco.
This week’s Billboard.com top 10 rock songs reflect a male-only club. How long before women and men are equally represented in rock? Ask the hundreds of girls who will buy a rocking guitar today.
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