With all of our favorite female artists that are rumored to drop new music this year, it’s safe to say that 2024 is going to be a great year for music. We’ve already gotten new releases from Ariana, Beyoncé, and even Olivia Rodrigo who dropped a deluxe version of her 2023 pop-rock album GUTS.
In honor of all the new music that we have already gotten and the music we’re highly anticipating to come out later this year, I wanted to talk about a few of the female music artists I’ve been obsessed with, whose songs have been stuck in my head, and why they inspire me to be who I am today.
Megan Thee Stallion
Ever since I heard her hit singles off of her mixtape Fever released in 2019, I was hooked and joined the Megan train. One of the things I love about Megan’s music is that it exudes a powerful energy that instills a wave of confidence in all that listen to her. It has a vibe that makes people want to dance and lyrics that girls feel are the perfect captions for their Instagram posts.
Her music allows people to feel good in their own skin and own who they are. Although her music career was (and still is) growing at a rapid pace, she didn’t let that stop her from pursuing what was important to her: getting a higher education and giving back to her community. She attended Texas Southern University and graduated with a bachelors of science degree in Health Administration. In accompaniment, she launched a non-profit organization called, The Pete-Thomas Foundation, the following year which strives to provide resources to underprivileged communities in her hometown Houston, Texas.
The way that Megan continues to stride through life with resilience and hard work is admirable to me as a college student who sometimes loses the courage to continue, however knowing that one of my favorite artists is able to have a successful music career while also achieving all her goals motivates me to keep going.
Halle Bailey
What inspires me about Halle Bailey is that she was able to seamlessly transition from the music scene, which is what she considers her safe place, into the film industry and had pretty prominent roles in two major motion picture movies in 2023. Although she isn’t new to acting as she has a few smaller roles here and there, she has never been a part of productions as huge as The Little Mermaid and The Color Purple.
Making and recording music for yourself as an artist and creating music for a character in a film are two drastically different processes, and Halle seems to do both with elegance and ease. It’s inspiring to see someone that’s in the limelight step out of their comfort zone and do something that no one expects them to do. This is one of the most effective ways to grow as a person and it shows younger people that taking the leap and doing something that scares them may just be the thing that changes their life.
Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo’s music has all of Gen-z crying and jamming out in their bedrooms, including me. I think the main reason for this is that because Olivia is Gen-z, she is able to eloquently express the angst, heartbreak, and existential dread that teenagers and young adults today experience through her brilliant songwriting skills and melancholic ballads.
As a person who likes to write, I admire her passion for her craft. From listening to her interviews where she talks about her songwriting process and inspiration for her music, it seems that she pours a lot of her heart in soul into her songs, which makes sense considering that a lot of them have a diaristic tone to them; this being one of the words that she uses to describe her catalog. Even though we are pretty close in age, I look up to Olivia’s willingness to create music that’s vulnerable and her drive to continue to elevate as an artist.
And the list goes on, but I’m going to cap it off here. If you read this all the way through and still haven’t streamed their music, what are you waiting for?